Review of "56: Joe DiMaggio and the Last Magic Number in Sports," by Kostya Kennedy

 Review of

56: Joe DiMaggio and the Last Magic Number in Sports, by Kostya Kennedy, ISBN 9781603201773

Five out of five star

Entertaining recapitulation of an amazing event

 History has demonstrated that no record in sports is ever truly safe. When I was young I read an article that stated that no one would ever beat Jim Brown’s career record of rushing yards in the NFL. Now, he is ninth on the all-time list. Lou Gehrig’s record of 2,130 consecutive games played was considered unbreakable for decades, yet Cal Ripken Jr. broke it by playing in 2,6320 straight games. Yet, Joe DiMaggio’s record of  hitting safely in 56 straight games seems as safe as any other record.

 Each trip to the plate has a significantly different context. Among other things, there may or may not be men on the bases, the wind can be blowing either in or out, it can be hot and sunny or cool and damp, the pitcher could be tired or fresh and the pitches that the pitcher specializes in could be the type that the batter either hits or struggles with.

 Given all these variables, the trips to the plate by any individual batter cannot be modeled using the statistical technique of Bernoulli trials. This technique presupposes that all at-bats are essentially equivalent. That is the topic of a supplement in the book.

 The rest is a combination of a biography of Joe DiMaggio from birth to roughly the end of the streak. Points well made are that he was a very graceful player, covering ground in centerfield with a deceptively fast movement to the ball. He also hustled out every play, a tactic which kept his edge and gave him hits that others would not have obtained. DiMaggio was also emotionally consistent, sometimes to the point of being withdrawn. This helped keep him steady under the great pressure of achieving an incredible record.

 This is an excellent story about DiMaggio the ballplayer and the man. The context of captivating a nation that needed a diversion while a war was raging in Europe and Asia is also well covered. While 56 is a record that will likely fall at some point, it is indeed a magic number.

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