Last Saturday night, Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Andre
Ethier was unable
to collect a base hit against New York Mets pitching. Prior
to that game, Ethier had compiled a 30-game hitting streak. Had
Ethier managed to get a hit he would have tied the Dodgers club
record set in 1969 by Willie Davis.
Unfortunately, thirty has been something of an
insurmountable obstacle when it comes to hitting streaks. Since
2006, Willy Taveras, Moises Alou, and Ryan Zimmerman have all been
unable to extend their hitting streaks beyond 30 games.
Every time a hitting streak is snapped, whether it be for
30 games, 15 games, or 3 games, it makes Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game
hitting streak in 1941 look all the more remarkable. It was seventy
years ago this month that the Yankees’ centerfielder began his
odyssey. May 15, 1941 would have been an otherwise forgettable day
in New York Yankees lore. That afternoon the Chicago White Sox
crushed them by a score of 13-1, handing them their fifth
consecutive loss. During the course of this drubbing, DiMaggio
managed to
stroke a single off Chisox southpaw Eddie
Smith. And then the hits just kept on coming.
For more than two months, game after game, DiMaggio kept
hitting. On July 17, 1941, the streak had
reached an unfathomable 56 games. More than
two weeks earlier, the Yankee Clipper had eclipsed the previous
Major League Baseball record 44-game hitting streak set by “Wee”
Willie Keeler in 1897 for the Baltimore Orioles. It seemed like
nothing could stop Joltin’ Joe. But all good things must come to an
end. On that evening in July in Cleveland, DiMaggio hit two hard
line drives but both were stopped by the glove of Indians third
baseman Ken Keltner. The streak was over.
Now when my father first told me about DiMaggio’s 56-game
hitting streak he made a point of telling me that the H.J. Heinz
Company had offered him $10,000 if his streak reached 57 games.
Given that Heinz was as famous for its “57 varieties” as it was for
its ketchup, why wouldn’t they capitalize on such an opportunity?
But for his part, DiMaggio said the offer
was only talk.
Talk or not, DiMaggio picked up right where he left off
and hit safely in 16 straight games. Had DiMaggio collected a base
hit in the 57th game, his hitting streak would have reached an
astounding 73 games. At the time, Major League Baseball had a 154
game schedule. DiMaggio’s hitting streak exceeded a third of the
season and reached nearly half a season. It should come as little
surprise that DiMaggio won his second of three American League Most
Valuable Player awards that season despite the fact that Ted
Williams of the Boston Red Sox hit .406. But DiMaggio’s streak
sparked the Yankees. During the latter part of the streak, between
June 7 and July 17, the Yankees
won 29 of 34 games. They went on to 101
games in 1941, finishing 17 games ahead of the Red Sox, and
then beat
the Brooklyn Dodgers in five games to win the World
Series.
In the seven decades that have elapsed, no player has come
close to matching DiMaggio, although not for lack of trying. In
1978, Pete Rose hit safely in 44 games, tying Keeler’s NL record.
Then in1987, Paul Molitor of the Milwaukee Brewers had a 39-game
hitting streak. I remember the night Molitor’s streak ended because
he was
interviewed by Ted Koppel on
Nightline. Molitor was kneeling
inside the on-deck circle when his teammate Rick Manning got
the game-winning hit against the Cleveland Indians. It might have
been the only time in baseball history a player got booed
by the hometown crowd for getting a game-winning
hit.
In more recent years, Philadelphia Phillies shortstop
Jimmy Rollins had a 38-game
hitting streak. Well, sort of. Rollins ended the 2005 season
by hitting safely in his final 36 games and then had hits in his
first two games of the 2006 season. Sorry folks. In my book,
Rollins’ streak doesn’t count. A hitting streak is strictly a
single-season record. You can’t pass DiMaggio by getting hits in 55
straight games in season and in two games the next with a six month
interval in between.
Now I realize MLB would like a record to be broken that’s
not linked to steroids or performance-enhancing drugs. And perhaps
it isn’t fair that a player start a hitting streak during the last
week of August. But having someone eclipse DiMaggio over the course
of two seasons instead of one would only serve to diminish the
meaning and significance of Joltin’ Joe’s achievement. It is worth
noting that during the 2006 season, Rollins’ double-play partner
Chase Utley would enjoy a 35-game hitting streak. That would match
what another NL second baseman Luis Castillo achieved in 2002 when
he was a member of the Florida Marlins.
Will anyone ever hit safely in 57 consecutive games or
more? It’s not likely. Yet one can never entirely discount the
possibility. That someone could be out there as we speak and it is
only a matter of time before he shows himself. As of
this writing, Boston Red Sox centerfielder Jacoby Ellsbury has
extended his hitting streak to 19 games. Could he be that
someone? He certainly has the speed to leg out infield hits. Then
again it’s probably too early to even think about it.
He’s scarcely a third of the way to
DiMaggio. But he is more than half way to
Dominic DiMaggio. The Yankee Clipper’s younger brother still holds
the Red Sox
team record with a 34-game hitting streak
set back in 1949. So perhaps Ellsbury should take this one DiMaggio
at a time.
