DiMaggio resumed his relentless pursuit of history. He stretched the streak to 49 on July 10 versus St. Louis in his first at bat after the break by collecting an obvious hit on a ground ball in the hole that shortstop Alan Strange barely managed to knock down. The Yankees won the rain-shortened contest 1-0.

An interesting coincidence emerged. In 1933, the end of DiMaggio's streak was preceded by a series of games in which he collected single hits, many of them bobbled by shortstops, and some of questionable merit. On July 10, the pattern reappeared.

On July 11, DiMaggio increased the streak to 50 as the Yankees won their llth in a row. Joe collected a hit in his first at bat for the fifth game in a row, and went on to collect three more, the last a home run off Jack Kramer, his 20th of the season. The next day, DiMaggio failed in his first at bat, then doubled off Eldon Auker his second time up to key a Yankee rally as New York went on to win 7-5, increasing the team's lead over Cleveland to five games. As the streak grew, so did the Yankee lead.

The Yanks next traveled to Chicago, and more than 50,000 fans turned out on Sunday, July 13, to see DiMaggio and the return of Chicago manager Jimmy Dykes who had recently been suspended for cursing out an umpire. DiMaggio singled off pitcher Ted Lyons in the second inning as Luke Appling muffed a ground ball. Joe collected another hit in the fourth and New York won for the twem straight time, 8-1. In game two, DiMaggio's only hit was a sixth-inning single off Thornton Lee, and the Yankees won in eleven, 1-0. The streak was at 53.

On July 14, the Yankees finally lost to Chicago, 7-1, but the pattern continued. In baseball parlance, Appling had been DiMaggio's "cousin" the day before. Today, it was Cub third baseman Bob Kennedy.

In the second inning, DiMaggio lofted a lazy fly behind second base. Billy Knickerbocker retreated, but the ball flopped out of his glove. DiMaggio stood on first, but the play was scored an error.

Joe broke his bat on the swing. He'd already given away the replacement he'd borrowed from Henrich for use in a USO raffle in San Francisco. Using another bat, he walked in the fourth. In the sixth, he took a big swing at a pitch from the White Sox'johnny Rigney, barely topping the ball, which rolled slowly down the third-base line. Bob Kennedy charged in, but DiMaggio easily made it to first. The hit pushed the streak to 54.

In the first inning of the final game of the series the next day, Joe grounded to Appling, who made yet another error. In the third, he hit the ball slowly to Appling's left. Both Appling and second baseman Knickerbocker dove for the bouncer behind second, but it squirted between them and the string was 55 games. DiMaggio later doubled, and New York won, 5-4.

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