This year marks the 70th anniversary of one of the sports records considered to be unbreakable: Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak.
It would be easy enough to rely on the old standard of writing a bit about each game as the Yankee Clipper makes his way into the history books. But Kostya Kennedy, a writer for Sports Illustrated, takes a more traditional approach with 56: Joe DiMaggio and the Last Magic Number in Sports.
Kennedy gives a real sense of the tension as “The Streak” begins modestly before building momentum until it was no longer just a source of interest for baseball fans, but for the whole country.It would be easy enough to rely on the old standard of writing a bit about each game as the Yankee Clipper makes his way into the history books. But Kennedy, a writer for Sports Illustrated, gives a real sense of the tension as “The Streak” begins modestly before building momentum until it was no longer just a source of interest for baseball fans, but for the whole country. Back in the day --- before television was even available for mass production --- radio and newspapers were the only source for news. “What did DiMaggio do today?” neighbors and co-workers would ask. “Did he get another hit?” Nowadays, if a batter makes it to 25 games, the spotlight shines constantly, with at-bat by at-bat coverage.
For all the drama Kennedy puts forth, once DiMaggio bettered the previous record of 44 games set by Wee Willie Keeler, everything that followed was just a matter of curiosity, since regardless of what would happen, he would own the new mark. The author a