It was significant that the Baseball Hall of Fame recognized and inducted several former Negro League players along with Bruce Suter yesterday.America is endowed with a rich multi-layered history and the Negro Leagues is only a part of that heritage. With teams like the Baltimore Black Sox, Birmingham Black Barons and New York Cubans the league was also home to legends in the names of Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella, Cool Papa Bell and Don Newcombe. Between 1927 and 1939, the New York Yankees were a baseball dynasty. So were the Pittsburgh Crawfords of the Negro Leagues who were led by notable stars like Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson. It would have been interesting to have seen a Crawfords vs. Yankees showdown.
With the legacy left behind, the Negro Leagues are an integral part of baseball folklore. A sport that cherishes its myths and legends could do nothing but honor their past and contributions.-Chase Utley of the Philadelphia Phillies has hit safely in 31 straight games now. We've seen quite a few of these streaks over the years but none came close to 44 let alone 56. While the idea of hitting safely in consecutive games is an exotic one, is it really as important a record as we think? Is it more of a romantic chase made famous by Joe DiMaggio during a time when baseball was its innocent apex? Let's put in statistical terms since baseball is a game that worships stats. All things being equal, let's say a player goes 1 for 4 for 162 straight games. What does this imply? Well, that the player hit .250 and got 162 hits. Mediocre numbers. Going 2 for 3 is implausible since it would mean a .667 BA (not to mention 324 hits) for the season. In any case, does this record rank among what we regard as the greatest of feats?
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