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Posted By: davidcycleback

That's an example was what I was saying, Eric. In your example, the 56 game streak would be popularly singled out as the astounding feat, while the 57 games with hits during the same span might go relatively unnoticed. The perception that the 56 games with hits is better than the 57 games with hits is, of course, irrational. If you mentioned it that way (56 versus 57), without mentioning the streak, about all fans and sports writers would pick the 57 games with hits as being superior.

I'm not trying to diminish DiMaggio's feat, but the question was is chance involve in popular records. My response is that there's chance involved, along with other things. What are popularly defined as feats and records reflects the psychology, tastes, aesthetic views, habits, predilections, biases and customs of the populace.