Tuesday, July 16, 2019

Hitting Streak

On this date in 1941, Joe Dimaggio hit in his 56th consecutive game, a record that has never been approached, never mind broken.

And during that streak, Ted Williams....posted a higher batting average (.412 to .408) and OPS (1.224 to 1.181).

2 comments:

RichardJohnson said...

Ted was the better hitter. Regarding who was the better overall player, I leave that to others. Though the Babe was THE best player,courtesy of being both a dominating pitcher and hitter.
Between Joe and Ted, Ted was the more interesting person. Ted definitely accomplished more outside baseball: fighter pilot and champion fisher. Joe outside baseball? A pitchman. Ted was not a good family man, and I believe that also describes Joe. Ted's repeated acts of kindness towards his young fans spoke well of him.

Ted, for the most part, did what he damn well pleased. At the same time, his work at the craft of hitting indicated a high level of self-discipline.Ditto his fishing. In addition, he took well to Marine Corps discipline.
I suspect he would have done well in life even if his baseball career had ended with an injury in the minor leagues. At least as a career man. Family man would have been about the same.

Assistant Village Idiot said...

For overall value, if I had to choose between them, I might pick Stan Musial. Williams was by far the better hitter than Dimaggio, but Joe played a more important fielding position and was exceptionally good at it.

Musial was between the two in hitting, an excellent fielder, an excellent baserunner, and easier to get along with in the clubhouse. Ted benefited from playing in more nationally-known Boston, Dimaggio even more playing in New York. Musial was a bit overlooked, even in his day, and he does not come up in conversation as much as he should now.