by Michael Fox

Created on: April 22, 2010

Being able to be at the top of one's game for a long period of time is something that can be very challenging for anyone to deal with. This is especially the case when it comes to baseball. Being able to be productive on a consistent basic is a difficult thing to do.

One of the most notable ways how a person has been productive in the game came in 1941. During the season New York Yankees star Joe DiMaggio went on a 56-game hitting streak. That is almost two months of games where Joltin' Joe got at least one hit in a game!

This is a record that is going to be unbreakable for all of time. For starters it is going to be difficult for a player to be able to get contact with the ball on every occasion. Each pitcher is different in more ways than just the hand that the pitcher throws with. Each one has his own throwing motion and styles of pitches that can be used. The unpredictability of the way a pitcher can work is something that will keep people from being able to try and top the 56 game record.

There is also the concern about fatigue. After a while the body can get tired after playing in so many games in a row. Eventually the player has to break down and go a game without getting a hit.

In fact one way how it can be seen as to why this record may never be broken comes from how no one has ever really come close to DiMaggio's record. Before he came along the old record was 45, a record set between 1896 and 1897 by Baltimore's Willie Keeler. In addition to this only four other people, including Pete Rose and George Sisler, have gotten a streak of 40 games or more.

Now some players have made valiant attempts at breaking the record in recent years. They all fell well short of it though. For example, in 2006 Philadelphia's Chase Utley went on a 35 game streak. Even the MLB online game where people can pick who gets a hit in a day has gotten to where a jackpot of $3 million to the first person to get a 57 game streak going simply because no one has reached that goal!

So, will anyone ever break this record? I honestly doubt it. Even the best hitters like Albert Pujols, Vladimir Gurrero and Ichiro Suzuki probably could not pull it off. Being able to get 57 straight games with a hit seems practically impossible to do.

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