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Grandstander · 08-13-2007, 08:56 PM

Lou Gehrig:
See above. It was not randomness. It involved randomness.

To give this a more specific response, you are not properly differentiating between ability and results. That Dimaggio got 193 hits in 1941 is indeed an ability and it is also obviously a result. That 91 of those 193 hits were collected in a 56 game streak, is only a result and not an ability. It's not even a goal for a ballplayer because the goal is the maximum number of hits at all times, not the even distribution of them.

There have been plenty of ballplayers who have had 193 hits or more in a single season. That only Dimaggio assembled them in the particular pattern we are saluting is the product of flukery, random fortune. Any player who can produce 193 hits in a season, has a chance, based on nothing more than luck, of having a 56 game hitting streak.

It could have happened to any number of good hitters like DiMaggio who get lots of hits. It just happened to have happened to him.

As for the accomplishment itself, can you tell me one thing about it that in any manner, contributed to the Yankees winning more games than they would have won had Dimaggio had the same offensive season but without the streak? Over the course of those 56 games where he got 91 hits, would he have been any less valuable if in one game he had gotten one more hit and in game #30 or so, he had gone hitless? He still winds up with 91 hits in 56 games.

This is why I do not have a great deal of awe for that record. It was a fluke accomplisment, it is not even a goal in terms of winning ballgames, a tiny turn of fortune could have stopped it at any point, and it was not the product of any unique abilty of DiMaggio's.

DiMaggio getting 193 hits was not at all random, those hits arranging themselves as they did....that was what was random.

08-13-2007, 08:56 PM	#18 (permalink)
Grandstander Hall of Famer Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Parts Unknown Northern California Posts: 5,941	Lou Gehrig: See above. It was not randomness. It involved randomness. To give this a more specific response, you are not properly differentiating between ability and results. That Dimaggio got 193 hits in 1941 is indeed an ability and it is also obviously a result. That 91 of those 193 hits were collected in a 56 game streak, is only a result and not an ability. It's not even a goal for a ballplayer because the goal is the maximum number of hits at all times, not the even distribution of them. There have been plenty of ballplayers who have had 193 hits or more in a single season. That only Dimaggio assembled them in the particular pattern we are saluting is the product of flukery, random fortune. Any player who can produce 193 hits in a season, has a chance, based on nothing more than luck, of having a 56 game hitting streak. It could have happened to any number of good hitters like DiMaggio who get lots of hits. It just happened to have happened to him. As for the accomplishment itself, can you tell me one thing about it that in any manner, contributed to the Yankees winning more games than they would have won had Dimaggio had the same offensive season but without the streak? Over the course of those 56 games where he got 91 hits, would he have been any less valuable if in one game he had gotten one more hit and in game #30 or so, he had gone hitless? He still winds up with 91 hits in 56 games. This is why I do not have a great deal of awe for that record. It was a fluke accomplisment, it is not even a goal in terms of winning ballgames, a tiny turn of fortune could have stopped it at any point, and it was not the product of any unique abilty of DiMaggio's. DiMaggio getting 193 hits was not at all random, those hits arranging themselves as they did....that was what was random.