My dishwasher was on an impressive streak lately of cleaning all dishes, glasses and utensils completely spotless, no matter how much crusted food and grease were left on them and how many days they waited before the machine was turned on.
Sadly, some leftover residues from a Bloody Mary pint glass ended the streak this weekend. I’m endlessly fascinated by modern dishwashers because, like many of you, I grew up in a household where we needed to thoroughly clean all dishes and then let the dishwasher clean them even more. I remain curious if dishwashers were always this efficient or when was the turning point.
In my mind, the dishwasher streak ending is a math equation. Since 99% of all items are cleaned, it continues to make sense to save water and time by loading the dishwasher without any pre-cleaning.
Society take streaks very seriously, especially in Sports.
Streaks are on my mind more than usual lately due to an unexpectedly fun interaction on Twitter recently. It started with me seeing this question posted, and since I’d just written about Rickey Henderson and MVP voting in the 1980s, I answered this way.
I read some of the other comments and noticed someone mentioned Paul Molitor in 1987. My first thought was, “uh oh, did I miss this in my manifesto last week?”
So I went back and checked the data and re-read my own words. I wasn’t trying to dunk on the guy. Honest. But I responded with this:
A few hours later, somebody else responded. Well, not just anybody. One of Paul Molitor’s former teammates responded:
Moments like these remind me that, for all of social media’s pitfalls, these are the interactions that still make it fun. What next went through my mind is two things.
I want to learn everything I can about Molitor’s 39-game hitting streak in 1987.
People really put a lot of weight into streaks.
So let’s do this.
Paul Molitor’s hitting streak began on July 16, 1987. Molitor had just come off the disabled list (as it was called then) due to a hamstring and right elbow injury.
That was Molitor’s age-30 season and it was already his 10th year in the majors. He was a two-time All Star, but I don’t recall “future Hall of Famer” being part of his reputation back then. Injuries were becoming a storyline for Molitor. He only played in 13 games in 1984 and was limited to 105 games in 1986.
As the attention increased nationally, LA Times columnist Mike Downey wrote: "the amazing thing about Paul Molitor's recent bat-o-rama is not that he has hit in 33 straight games but that he has played in 33 straight games.”
Molitor was exclusively a designated hitter during the entire streak, which prompted a Cincinnati radio station host to breathlessly stoke the fires by claiming Molitor should have an asterisk next to his streak if he passes Pete Rose’s 44-gamer from 1978 because he didn’t play defense.
The hitting streak ended on August 26, when future Red Sox pitching coach and manager John Farrell pitched nine scoreless innings, giving up three hits. Farrell had just been called up from Triple-A Buffalo eight days earlier. Brewers ace Teddy Higuera matched Farrell with TEN scoreless innings.
The game ended when Rick Manning singled home the game-winning run off reliever Doug Jones. The streak ended with Molitor on deck. During the on-field celebration, Manning went up to Molitor and said, “I’m sorry.”
The home fans — the Brewers fans! — booed the Brewers winning the game because Molitor was on deck. They wanted the streak to continue. Molitor graciously told reporters that Manning did the right thing by trying to win the game.
All three major TV networks, the MacNeil-Lehrer Newshour, and a dozen newspapers who do not regularly cover the Brewers were in attendance when the streak ended. Then-Brewers publicity director Tom Skibosh said there was “no comparison” between Molitor’s hitting streak and the media glut when the Brewers opened the 1987 season with 13 straight victories and were on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
The 1987 Brewers were full of streaks. A month after their 13-game winning streak, they lost 12 in a row and 18 of 20. Their record went from 20-3 to 22-21.
A leadoff hitter, Molitor stole 15 bases during his hitting streak. Out of his 68 hits, 27 of them were for extra bases. He even laid down two sacrifice bunts in the streak (both times, he had already extended the hitting streak). Molitor was slashing .370/.448/.596 when the streak ended and catapulted himself to a strong MVP candidate.
The Brewers went 24-15 during Molitor’s streak. They went from 11 games behind the first-place Yankees, to 7.5 games behind the first-place Tigers, but didn’t truly threaten for the division title. The Blue Jays later took over first place, then the Tigers caught them with a sweep on the final weekend to win the division.
Blue Jays left fielder George Bell won the MVP award, primarily because his 134 RBIs led the league and his 47 home runs were second-most.
Molitor, who played some second base the final month, was one of three infielders with a strong MVP case:
Red Sox 3B Wade Boggs .363/.461/.588, 8.3 WAR.
Tigers SS Alan Trammell .343/.402/.551, 8.2 WAR.
Brewers INF Paul Molitor .353/.438/.566, 6.0 WAR.
I don’t want to belabor the MVP voting, although I do stand by my original belief that if anyone got robbed, it was Boggs. I still think it’s super cool that Mark Knudson felt strongly enough about his former teammate to post an argument on Twitter.
Molitor’s 39-game hitting streak put him on the national stage and was one of the defining moments of his illustrious career. It was the fifth-longest longest in baseball since 1900. Nobody has hit in more consecutive games since Molitor’s streak.
The longest hitting streak in MLB history is Joe DiMaggio’s 56 gamer in 1941. DiMaggio’s streak was truly spectacular. Here are some interesting notes about it:
The Yankees went 41-13-2 during his streak. Yes, they tied TWICE.
Numerologists rejoice: DiMaggio had 56 singles, 56 runs scored and 55 RBIs during his 56-game hitting streak.
In 13 games, DiMaggio’s only hit came in the seventh inning or later.
Philadelphia A’s pitcher Johnny Babich told reporters he would end DiMaggio’s streak by getting him out in his first plate appearance, then not give him any hittable pitches after that. In his first at-bat, DiMaggio popped out. In his second at-bat, on a 3-0 pitch, DiMaggio swung at a pitch well outside the strike zone for a double to extend the streak. DiMaggio called it “the most satisfying hit” of his streak.
Joltin’ Joe only struck out five times in the 56 games.
After the 56-game hitting streak ended, he immediately started another 16-game hitting streak, so it was 72-of-73 games with at least one hit. His on-base streak was 74 straight games.
Baseball fans are fascinated by streaks, but I’ve always thought hitting streaks are mostly overrated. This is as a good time as ever to share an interesting comparison between DiMaggio and his biggest rival that year.
DiMaggio during his hitting streak from May 15 to July 16:
.408/.463/.718/1.181
Ted Williams during the EXACT SAME stretch of games:
.412/.540/.685/1.224
Or put another way, DiMaggio batted .408 during his famous streak over 56 games. Ted Williams batted .406 for the ENTIRE SEASON.
Objectively, Williams was better than DiMaggio during the streak and the entire season: a higher batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, more walks, more home runs, more runs scored, a higher WAR. (DiMaggio was admittedly much better defensively.)
Yet, DiMaggio won the MVP that year, ostensibly because people take streaks very seriously.
Outside of marrying Marilyn Monroe, DiMaggio is probably most known for his hitting streaks. When he was an 18-year-old playing for the San Francisco Seals in the minor leagues, DeMaggio [as it was spelled back then] had a 61-game hitting streak in 1933.
But apparently, there was controversy near the end of it. An official scorer was generous with a couple decisions on “hit vs. error” that kept the streak alive and needed a police escort from irate fans.
I read another story decrying how DeMaggio was allowed to swing with the count 3-0 and the only ballplayer ever allowed to do that was Babe Ruth when he’s chasing home run titles. [I only bring this up to remind you that getting upset about stupid unwritten rules goes back to at least 1933.]
When the streak ended, the size of the headline was akin to war.
Some streaks matter more than others.
I’m on a lifelong streak of always remembering to roll up my windows when I go through the carwash. This might be the most important streak in my life. I quadruple check every window every time, paranoid this streak will end.
The first five years of my job with the Albuquerque Isotopes, I didn’t miss a single game. I was proud of my Ironman streak. Yet, I missed the wedding of my cousin Tom and my close friend Ben, plus other important life events. This is more about work-life balance and priorities, but my streak was stupid. I deeply regret missing the weddings.
Speaking of Ironman, the most famous streak in baseball is Cal Ripken, Jr. playing in 2,632 consecutive games. It’s a mindboggling streak that lasted more than 16 years and galvanized a nation when he broke Lou Gehrig’s record of 2,130 that stood for 56 years. When asked about it, Ripken once said, “if you could play baseball every day, wouldn’t you?”
But throughout the streak, Ripken had lengthy slumps and bad years. Fans and media questioned whether it would be better to take occasional days off so he could perform better. When you look at Ripken’s career splits, his worst month was September. It’s normal for hitters to tire during a long season and offense usually drops in the final month, yet it’s natural to wonder if Ripken was even more tired, and if usual days off would have preserved him more.
A couple decades ago, I made a New Year’s Resolution to not eat any fast food the entire year. I made it, a full 365 days, so I kept my streak going for at least a few more years. I recall one time I was at an airport and absolutely starving. The only option was fast food. I didn’t want to ruin my “streak” so I went hungry. This was stupid. One day of fast food is better than starvation.
I don’t keep detailed records of this, but I’m almost positive my friend Gabe has a long streak of being the first person I know to get his Christmas cards in mail. He says he gets anxiety if he doesn’t do it right away and likes setting the tone for the holiday season. As someone who gave up sending Christmas cards a decade ago, I respect this streak immensely.
San Diego State’s basketball team once had a streak of 164 straight games they won when leading with five minutes remaining. It was irrational how much the streak mattered to me. I think it was the because the streak represented how the Aztecs had gone from a team that finds a way to lose to a team that finds a way to win. I was depressed for weeks when the streak ended.
A famous episode of Seinfeld revealed that Jerry has a long streak without vomiting. Jerry eats a black-and-white cookie and preaches how we can achieve racial harmony if we just look to the cookie. Later in the episode, Jerry feels sick and the vomit streak ends.
Streaks are frequently used by game designers to entice us to keep playing every day. Parents are worried that Snapchat Streaks get teenagers even more addicted to the platform and it’s unhealthy.
Streaks can be good for keeping us disciplined and telling us about a rare occurrence. But more times than not, streaks lie … or maybe I’m just really lazy and don’t want to wash the dishes ever again.