Joltin' Joe

Over the weekend, in a series of fits and starts, I read the entirety of Kostya Kennedy's baseball opus:  56: Joe DiMaggio and the Last Magic Number in Sports.  To start out, I read at least 56 consecutive pages of this book, all detailing Mr. DiMaggio's magical summer of 1941 in which he hit safely in 56 straight major league games . . . a record that Mr. Kennedy touts as the one pro sports record that will never be equalled and the most incredible achievement in sports according to various peers and experts.

Now, I don't know much about professional baseball.  I quit watching baseball some years back after the players strike and I've never returned as a full fan (though I do follow my boyhood team, the Detroit Tigers, a bit). I also watch very little pro basketball (rather watch college).  But as I read about the summer of '41, Mr. DiMaggio's record does impress me as having no rivals in other sports . . . not even Wilt Chamberlain's 100 pt. game, or his 50+ points-per-game average, or his 55 rebounds in one game seem as incredible as hitting safely in 56 baseball games.  But I'm no expert, just a lover of people and great biographies, which this book certainly is.

For example, how about hitting safely in 56 straight games while being a 2-pack a day smoker and drinking 12 cups of coffee a day?  Kind of makes the steroid-laced players of today wilt in stature a bit, and perhaps they've chosen the wrong drugs to lift them into the record books.  Mr. DiMaggio also didn't work out, lift weights, or run.  He didn't train at all in the "off season".  He chased dames year round. And he hit safely in 56 consecutive games!

I enjoyed reading this book and for a while it took me back to the spring of 1977 when, as a skinny high school sophomore, I hit safely in every baseball game I played for the junior varsity baseball team.  I also batted 1.000 for the season.  Try topping that one, Mr. DiMaggio.  Mine's in the record books, too!  I was also chasing Becky at the time (though I've never actually caught her!) and I didn't start drinking coffee until I began pastoring and needed extra energy to survive.  I quit smoking when I was five years old.  And as for drugs, I only pop a few Advil to relieve the various stresses associated with writing this blog.  I've never quit, and my streak is still alive.