Hitting Streaks
It never ceases to amaze me about how people go on and on and on about hitting streaks, and the 56-game record long-held by DiMaggio. People act like this is the freaking best baseball record ever. Screw .400. Screw SEVEN NO HITTERS. In essence, a dude could go 1-4 four days of the week, but by gosh he has had a hit for twenty straight games. Send him to Cooperstown.
YES it is an impressive record for DiMaggio. It will be pretty hard to break. You have to be a good hitter to face that many pitchers and have at least some success off of them, day in, day out. But to me, the value lies more in the apparent NOVELTY of the statistic that the actual talent it takes. Want to measure how good of a HITTER someone is? Let's see them hit .400 over the course of a season.
Even my boy Timmy K is raving about the hit streak lately, with Johnny Damon's 29-game streak recently coming to an end: "The DiMaggio streak has lasted 64 years, and likely will last 64 more -- it was that incredible." (It's no coincidence the hit streak came to an end on my birthday, July 17. Many years in the future, I was already glowering about it.)
You know, I have read an extensive biography on Joe DiMaggio. One of the best-written, comprehensive baseball books I've ever read. But I am still not convinced that he deserved the MVP in '41. He hit .357. Ted Williams hit .406 that year!!!!!!!!! Meaning he had MORE SUCCESS than Dimaggio at the plate that year! So what if they weren't in perfect succession! Dimaggio hit .408 during his streak, only 2 points higher than Williams did the entire year.
I guess this spawns another discussion on what it means to be MVP. People say that it's more than an individual player's statistics, it's how he contributed to his team's success (like the Bank-ees. I mean, the Yankees). Well, Barry Bonds has won like 7 of 'em, and all those times his team went to the World Series........oh, wait, there was that one time (2002).
Forget the 56 game hit streak as "unattainable". The record that will never, ever, ever be broken is 7 no-hitters. Never.
posted by Emily @ 11:24 AM
9 Comments:
How about back-to-back no-hitters?
I think DiMaggio's streak is impressive, but the seven no-no's is more...
Think of how rare a no-hitter is...and think of how many guys go on a 25-30 game streak each season? Each game, you get about three or four chances to keep your streak going, you could go 1-4 or 1-5 over the course of 30 games and be on a streak, but as a pitcher, you have to throw 27 perfect at-bats in a row to get a no-hitter. If you mess up just once, make one small error, leave a slider up in the zone, you're toast and suddenly, the no-hitter is gone.
I've seen...
3 HR in a game...college and pro..Dan Johnson did it at Southern Utah in '01 and Jose Valentin did it at KC when he played for Chicago...
No hitter in (I think) '88 or '89 by Luis Acquino when he pitched for Omaha against (I think) Columbus...
And a few Grand Slams...
But no cycles or perfect games...
Which Joe D book? The Cramer one?
Chase Lambin hit three homers in three consecutive at bats in a game just last week in Syracuse, all of them solo shots.
Amazing feat in the home run category would have to be Tatis's 2 grand slams in one inning.
Joel-
No kidding? Do you remember the rest of the details? I just remember my dad was so excited, he told me to never forget that game, I'd never see another one again.
thanks for all the comments, guys...just got back from vacation. And yes, Greg, I was refering to the Richard Ben Cramer book :) have you read it?
Hey Emily, baseball fan here from Scotland. I have read the Cramer book about Di Maggio - it was absolutely superb. Have you read the Ted William bio, Hitter by Ed Linn, or how about Cobb by Al Stump - both also excellent.
Hey Colin, I am reading the Ted Williams biography (by Leigh Montville) right now. I have seen the Cobb book and heard it's excellent (as he was able to get closer to Cobb than most anyone). I'll keep a look out for Hitter, thanks! And I'll be checking out your blog.
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