Bigger deal in 1941: hitting .400 or hitting in 56 consecutive games?

There's going to be a special TV program about Ted Williams being the most recent, and probably last, player to have a batting average (BA) of at least .400. In promotional excerpts the usual suspects are seen rhapsodizing about the entire nation following Williams in 1941.

Rk	Player	Year	BA	Age	Tm	Lg	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	SH	SF	GDP	SB	CS	OBP	SLG	OPS	Pos
1	Nap Lajoie	1901	.426	26	PHA	AL	131	582	544	145	232	48	14	14	125	24		9	13	1			27		.463	.643	1.106	*46
2	Shoeless Joe Jackson	1911	.408	23	CLE	AL	147	641	571	126	233	45	19	7	83	56		43	8	6			41		.468	.590	1.058	*98
3	Ty Cobb	1911	.420	24	DET	AL	146	654	591	147	248	47	24	8	127	44		43	8	11			83		.467	.621	1.088	*8
4	Ty Cobb	1912	.409	25	DET	AL	140	609	553	120	226	30	23	7	83	43		30	5	8			61	34	.456	.584	1.040	*8
5	George Sisler	1920	.407	27	SLB	AL	154	692	631	137	257	49	18	19	122	46		19	2	13			42	17	.449	.632	1.082	*3/1
6	Ty Cobb	1922	.401	35	DET	AL	137	613	526	99	211	42	16	4	99	55		24	4	27			9	13	.462	.565	1.026	*8/H
7	Rogers Hornsby	1922	.401	26	STL	NL	154	704	623	141	250	46	14	42	152	65		50	1	15			17	12	.459	.722	1.181	*4
8	George Sisler	1922	.420	29	SLB	AL	142	655	586	134	246	42	18	8	105	49		14	3	16			51	19	.467	.594	1.061	*3/H
9	Harry Heilmann	1923	.403	28	DET	AL	144	627	524	121	211	44	11	18	115	74		40	5	23			9	7	.481	.632	1.113	*93/H
10	Rogers Hornsby	1924	.424	28	STL	NL	143	642	536	121	227	43	14	25	94	89		32	2	13			5	12	.507	.696	1.203	*4
11	Rogers Hornsby	1925	.403	29	STL	NL	138	606	504	133	203	41	10	39	143	83		39	2	16			5	3	.489	.756	1.245	*4/H
12	Bill Terry	1930	.401	31	NYG	NL	154	708	633	139	254	39	15	23	129	57		33	1	19			8		.452	.619	1.071	*3
13	Ted Williams	1941	.406	22	BOS	AL	143	606	456	135	185	33	3	37	120	147		27	3	0		10	2	4	.553	.735	1.287	*7H/9

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 9/30/2016.

Williams fans love to point out that Williams hit for a higher BA than Joe DiMaggio during DiMaggio's 56 game hitting streak that same season: May 15 through July 16. Something I learned recently that impacts how we think about DiMaggio's streak is that the Yankee games were not on the radio in New York that season. Neither were the games of the New York Giants. As far as I know all the other teams had their home games on local radio. But this should make us wonder at least a little about just how different things were back then.

This afternoon on the MLB Network I heard Chris Russo talking about retiring Dodger announcer Vin Scully and asking Joe Torre, who was a Giants fan as a kid in Brooklyn, about people walking down the street and hearing the games from one house to the next on transistor radios. TRANSISTOR radios? Before the Dodgers and Giants moved to California for the 1958 season? I doubt that. But we can easily transfer our current perspective back in time in a way that may be inappropriate.

The stats above show that a .400 BA had been done a dozen times before 1941 in the modern era, which is generally traced back to 1901. It had only been 11 years since the previous .400 hitter.

Since 1941 the same number of batters had hit at least .370: 13. Here they are:

Rk	Player	Year	BA	Age	Tm	Lg	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	SH	SF	GDP	SB	CS	OBP	SLG	OPS	Pos
1	Ichiro Suzuki	2004	.372	30	SEA	AL	161	762	704	101	262	24	5	8	60	49	19	63	4	2	3	6	36	11	.414	.455	.869	*9/DH
2	Barry Bonds	2002	.370	37	SFG	NL	143	612	403	117	149	31	2	46	110	198	68	47	9	0	2	4	9	2	.582	.799	1.381	*7/DH
3	Nomar Garciaparra	2000	.372	26	BOS	AL	140	599	529	104	197	51	3	21	96	61	20	50	2	0	7	8	5	2	.434	.599	1.033	*6/HD
4	Todd Helton	2000	.372	26	COL	NL	160	697	580	138	216	59	2	42	147	103	22	61	4	0	10	12	5	3	.463	.698	1.162	*3/H
5	Larry Walker	1999	.379	32	COL	NL	127	513	438	108	166	26	4	37	115	57	8	52	12	0	6	12	11	4	.458	.710	1.168	*9H/D
6	Tony Gwynn	1997	.372	37	SDP	NL	149	651	592	97	220	49	2	17	119	43	12	28	3	1	12	12	12	5	.409	.547	.957	*9/HD
7	Tony Gwynn	1994	.394	34	SDP	NL	110	475	419	79	165	35	1	12	64	48	16	19	2	1	5	20	5	0	.454	.568	1.022	*9/H8
8	Andres Galarraga	1993	.370	32	COL	NL	120	506	470	71	174	35	4	22	98	24	12	73	6	0	6	9	2	4	.403	.602	1.005	*3/H
9	Tony Gwynn	1987	.370	27	SDP	NL	157	680	589	119	218	36	13	7	54	82	26	35	3	2	4	13	56	12	.447	.511	.958	*9/H
10	George Brett	1980	.390	27	KCR	AL	117	515	449	87	175	33	9	24	118	58	16	22	1	0	7	11	15	6	.454	.664	1.118	*5/H3
11	Rod Carew	1977	.388	31	MIN	AL	155	694	616	128	239	38	16	14	100	69	15	55	3	1	5	6	23	13	.449	.570	1.019	*3/H4D
12	Ted Williams	1957	.388	38	BOS	AL	132	547	420	96	163	28	1	38	87	119	33	43	5	0	2	11	0	1	.526	.731	1.257	*7/H
13	Stan Musial	1948	.376	27	STL	NL	155	698	611	135	230	46	18	39	131	79		34	3	1		18	7		.450	.702	1.152	*987/3

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 9/30/2016.

Ichiro Suzuki is the most recent but we don't get all mushy about it. It's not a record like the 262 hits that Ichiro had that same season. Ted Williams 1941 BA is not a record either.

There's probably no way to know but in 1941 were people more worked up about DiMaggio's 56 game hitting streak, which was a record, or with Williams .406 BA?

Ted Williams: the mythology of the final games of 1941. Thursday, October 13, 2011

DiMaggio hitting streak not on radio in New York. Saturday, July 16, 2016

Ted Williams hit .394 in 1941 against teams not the Yankees. Monday, August 15, 2016