The Yankee Clipper had hit in 56 straight games when the Yankees arrived in Cleveland for a three-game series with the Indians in July 1941. New York won the first game, with Joe coming up with three hits. In the second game of the series, however, he would go hitless to the dismay of most of the 67,468 fans who showed up. They were convinced that if DiMaggio’s streak came to and end, Bob Feller would start for the Indians the next day. It was a Georgia boy who actually stopped DiMaggio. Jim Bagby Jr. was on the mound in the eighth inning when he forced DiMaggio to hit into a double play with the bases loaded.
One of Jim’s sons, Tom or Charlie, who captained the 1964 Georgia basketball team, will likely get a call from a sportswriter before the anniversary date. That usually happens every year. “It happened to my dad, too,” says Charlie, also a pitcher at Georgia and now an accountant in Tampa, Florida.
Recently, Charlie sent a copy of his dad’s type-written notes of how the streak came to an end, a page from an old manual typewriter that associates tragedy with his dad’s high moment as a big leaguer.
Jim Bagby Jr. was a second-generation pitcher for the Indians. His father, Jim Sr., known as “Old Sarge,” won 31 games in 1920 and was the first pitcher to hit a home run in the modern World Series—in 1920 against the Brooklyn Robins. (It was a year later when the team took the name “Dodgers.”) “Old Sarge” was born in this community near Crawfordville, just a few miles from Interstate 20.
If you review the record of the Bagbys, you could say that baseball was good to the family, except for the fact that players then made meager salaries. Both father and son played in the World Series (Jim Jr.’s time came when the Boston Red Sox of Ted Williams lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in 1946). When their playing days ended, the Bagbys had to seek gainful employment.
Bagby Jr. became a draftsman at Lockheed in Marietta after baseball and never thought that his singular moment was anything to boast about. “I was just doing my job,” he always said of his stopping DiMaggio’s last chance to advance the hit streak to 57 games.
Al Smith, Cleveland starter, loaded the bases in the eighth inning. Bagby was brought in from the bullpen. With the count at 1-1, Bagby threw DiMaggio a low fastball, and the Yankee centerfielder hit a hard grounder to shortstop Lou Boudreau. The ball hit a loose impediment in the infield, and Boudreau had to leap high to get the errant ball, which he flipped to the second baseman to force the runner, followed by a relay to first in time to double DiMaggio.
Twice in the game, DiMaggio hit wicked grounders down the third base line. Indian third baseman Kenny Keltner stabbed those deftly and then threw DiMaggio out at first base. Joe started a 16-game winning streak the next game.
Those type-written notes reflect a regrettable circumstance in Bagby’s life. Born with a severe cleft lip, he was the victim of cruel conduct throughout his career. Opposing players mimicked him and made fun of his speech. A heavy smoker, Bagby was stricken with cancer late in life. He was advised before surgery that he could only speak if a voice box was surgically implanted. Embarrassed by his speaking impediment for so long, he refused and wrote notes for the rest of his life.
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