[nanwynnfan]

I fully agree with others here; and batted balls in play generally fall safely for hits between .290 and .320 of the time, as opposed to average batting which gravitates to @ .265 - .275. Contact is key; and random chance plays a considerable part thereafter.

If we take the improbable hitter who runs a pattern of batting, as follows, over an entire season:

1 for 4
1 for 3
1 for 5
1 for 2
2 for 5;

and, no matter how you jumble the order, you keep him in that loop for 162 games, he will bat at a 6 for 19 clip, or .316, hardly extraordinary or astounding. However, he will have smashed DiMaggio's record by hitting safely in 162 consecutive games.

Moreover, in 1941 Ted Williams created 184 runs, 21,3% of his team's total. DiMaggio created 152 runs, 18.3% of the Yankee total.

What really screwed Ted and the Red Sox in 1941 was pitching: Sox pitchers gave up 750 runs, while the Yankee staff yielded only 631. Sox outscored the Yankees, 865 to 830, to no avail.