Which was the better 1941 accomplishment-DiMaggio's 56 game hit streak or Williams hitting .408?

Question

Please state your opinion and why.

Answer 1

This one isn't even close. I think Williams, without question, had the greater accomplishment.

Hitting streaks are cool things to follow, but what do they really mean? Would you rather have a guy go 1-4 in 10 straight games, or a guy who throws in the occasional 0-4 among his 2-4 and 3-5 games? Dimaggio's streak will be difficult to beat, but streaks are as much about luck as anything else.

Williams, on the other hand, hit .406 in a league where the average hitter hit .266, putting him about 60 points higher than Dimaggio. Williams also had a .553 OBP to Joe's .440, along with more runs and homers. I think that maintaining a .400 average through a 162-game schedule is far more impressive than any streak.

Another reason why I don't put too much stock in Joe's hitting streak is that he didn't draw walks. Williams, too, might have been able to get more hits if he didn't have one of the best eyes in the history of the game. He drew 147 walks to Joe's 76, which means that he passed on 71 more opportunities to get a hit. Great hitters don't always tend to have long hitting streaks, because they're more worried about getting on base any way they can, which means taking walks.

Streaks are cool, but ultimately have little value unless you're talking about a team winning streak. I think the guy that is the more productive player, and does the most to help his team win, has the better accomplishments. In this case, it's Williams.

Answer 2

DiMaggio's hitting streak is a better accomplishmenet. Ted Williams said the hardest thing to do in all of sports is to hit a baseball. DiMaggio was able to do so for 56 straight games and after Ken Keltner robbed him of a couple hits in game 57, Joe D went on another hitting streak-16 games. But that's not even his best streak. He once hit in 61 straight games for the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League. Maintaining a .400 batting average for a season is a pretty impressive feat, but you don't have to hit every day for that to happen. Also, a walk or a HBP doesn't count as a hit but they don't hurt batting average. An error or a sacrifice fly can also end a hitting streak but if the batter gets a couple hits the next game, he can still maintain his batting average. Also, during DiMaggio's streak, he helped pull the Yankees from the bottom of the league to the top. His hitting helped the Yankees win games and eventually capture the pennant. Williams hit .406 but didn't get the Red Sox into the World Series.

Answer 3

Ted Williams hit .406 in 1941....And yes Williams was the best hitter I have ever seen, barely beating out my favorite player Stan Musial...

Even more amazing than the 56 game streak is that if Cleveland Indian 3B Ken Keltner hadn't made 2 great plays in game "57" against Dimaggio the streak could/would have been 74 games!

I don't know about Williams and the winning thing since Dimaggio's Yankees won 9 World Series titles...

One of the very rare feats for a hitter is to hit more HR in a season than the number of times he strikes out...Dimaggio hit 361HR for his career and struck out 369 times, pretty amazing stuff...

I only know of 3 times that for a season a player hit twice as many OR more HR than the number of times he struck out...I don't include players who didn't play, 1946 or later!! Dimaggio played until 1951 so I know his career numbers!...If someone knows of another player(modern era 46-06) who did this I would like to hear about it, thanks..

Joe Dimaggio - 1941- 30HR - 13K
Yoggi Berra - 1950 - 28HR - 12K
Lou Boudreau - 1948 - 18HR - 9K

Edit!
Some keep talking about a 162 game season in 1941 - The ML baseball season was 154 games up until 1961 - In 1941 Dimaggio played in 139 games, Williams 143..

Answer 4

Williams definately. Hitting streaks are only for a while. Ted Wlilliams played 161 games in that season and hit over .400. DiMaggio's record may never be broken but it was only 56 games of of good hitting comared to 161 games for Williams.

Answer 5

Those two are the only records in the book that cannot be compared. They are both long term records. DiMaggio's may be the hardest feat. now that i watch Joe Mauer come close and he's only 23. So by this standard, hitting in 56 consecutive games i think is harder, but so is hitting above .400.

Answer 6

Joe D's accomplishment is greater. Others have hit .400. No MLB player has ever topped Joe D's 56 game hitting streak.

Answer 7

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Answer 8

DiMaggio, becaus ewith all this noise about people having a 30 game hitting streak, that's barely half of the record

Answer 9

56 game hit streak

Answer 10

they're both awesome, but I'd say the 56 game hitting streak