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I know many of you guys will enjoy reading this. Historical baseball plus a healthy dose of statistics. Right down the center of the plate.

DiMaggio's Hitting Streak Is Overrated

Side note - the lone commenter, a relative?

I read the article and don't agree with it at all.It's easy to say this streak isn't special.This comes not from a ball player who knows how hard it is to get a hit in 56 games in a row I'm sure 38 games is the most anyone else hasin a row.The record isn't about batting average like he keeps pointing out.Not any of the hitters who have hit over 400 can atest to this streak..........Ok I've finnished ranting as this guy really ticks me off

People who try to act like they are smarter than everyone else get on my nerves. And people who spout a lot of jargon or twist a bunch of numbers take it to another level. This guy should have his computer, typewriter, pen, pencil, paper, or anything else with which he can write taken away.

The general understanding of consistency is to do roughly the same thing over and over again

You mean like get a hit for example?

There is no statistically significant difference in the three standard deviations (.93, 1.05, .90)

Ok now, citing someone who was consistently average or bad does not negate the consistency of someone good. Escobar getting a hit in every other game would demonstrate consistency and deliver a lower standard deviation but but only someone trying to distort the facts would argue that makes getting a hit every other game is as impressive or difficult as getting a hit every game.

The Streak cannot even be considered, more broadly, consistently good hitting, because too many (23) of the games were subpar (one hit in four or five at-bats)

The point is that low point was the low point. By the logic this guy uses if Dimaggio had hit exactly 1 single in 56 straight games for a standard deviation of 0 and no difference between his best game and his worst that would be more impressive than sprinkling in several 2, 3, or 4 hit games.

Tom Brady recently came within one foot of throwing a touchdown pass in his 53rd consecutive game, a shade short of Drew Brees’ all-time record of 54

Now you are just proving how unique the hit streak is. The consecutive TD streak Drew has at 54 was almost matched by Brady. The closest anyone has come to the hit streak is 44.

I agree Hershiser throwing 59 consecutive scoreless innings is impressive. And I agree Williams should get more recognition for the 84 game on base streak. As to Cabrera and Trout streaks getting 3/4 or 1/2 the way to a record is not worth making a big deal about. Perhaps if they had kept going more media attention would be received. Or perhaps getting a walk is still not considered as impressive as getting a hit. It makes a nice saying but no Virginia a walk is not as good as a hit. It can only drive in a run if the bases are loaded. It only advances runners if there was someone on first. Play some baseball Mr. Hirsh and then come talk.

Now, I am not saying that the Dimaggio hit streak stands alone at the top of all athletic accomplishments. But it is impressive and this article is nothing but a hatchet job by a hot air balloon trying to make themselves look smarter than the rest of us.

Sorry about the rant but this article got on a lot of my nerves.

Ok....i'm a lifelong diehard Yankee fan, but I have to say this. I think this article comes down to ones own beliefs of what constitutes "overrated".

Hitting in 56 straight is indeed special, but there are MANY more who have been more productive over 56 game spans throughout history, either through batting average, slugging, OB%, etc...While 56 is an incredible display of individual accomplishment others have probably done more over such a stretch in terms of generating team wins. So I guess in a sense that could be what some mean by "overrated".

Perhaps I'm simplifying this a bit too much, but the fact that no one has matched this record - or indeed even come that close - makes it very special in my mind. I'm not a Yankees fan, so no internal bias here, but the article strikes me as a guy looking to generate some publicity for himself in an overly saturated media environment, and to do so he tries to topple a long-respected baseball accomplishment.

The term "overrated" is so subjective and dependent upon context that it is meaningless, IMHO.

Ted Williams had a better year and no one has hit .400 since. if ted had played on the Yankees he would have and should have been MVP that year. especially when you look at the lineup around him.

Yeah OK get in that batters box, and, yes go get a hit in 56 straight games, AND play the ShXt out of centerfield, and be the best player on the field in most every game... yeah not really impressive at all... author needs a dope slap...

What is the most impressive streak in sports history? It's hard to say, but in my mind the thing we're keeping track of should play a significant role in achieving the desired objective of the game - winning. So winning games should top the list. That's why I consider the Lakers 33-game streak that led to a championship and the UCLA steaks of 88 games and 7 straight national championships to be pretty damn impressive. UConn women won 90 games in a row, but ... The NY Giants won 26 in row at the end of the season in 1916, but they still finished in 4th place.

For individual streaks, I think something that significantly helps your team's chances of winning would be more impressive. That makes Hershiser's 59-inning scoreless streak outrank DiMaggio because you'll never lose if you don't allow any runs. And I tend to think getting on base, any way you can by hit, walk or HBP is better than just base hits because runs are scored and games are more likely to be won by avoiding putouts. That puts Williams 84-game on-base steak ahead of Joe D as well in my book. But scoring runs and driving in runs would be even better than simply getting on base. But that is often out of player's control, a runner depends on someone else to score them, and a batter needs someone else on base to drive in unless it's a home run.

While it's less strongly correlated with winning than Hershiser's scoreless inning streak, my favorite (and choice for least likely streak to be broken) is Jack Taylor's streak of 187 consecutive complete games between 1901 and 1906. For his career, he had 279 complete games in 287 starts-- with a majority of the incomplete games in his final year.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/t/tayloja02.shtml

I would have to say that one will never be broken as well. It is VERY rare for any pitcher to complete even 1/4 of his starts in today's era of specialization. Nobody will approach Ripken's record of consecutive games played either.

James Shields (TB) had 11 complete games in 2011. You have to go back to 1999 for the next pitcher who had double figure complete games, Randy Johnson (ARI) with 12.

Even Robot pitchers, if invented and when allowed will have problems matching that statistic. They will rust, or the gearing won't operate