Amid some of the stories surrounding Major League Baseball not named Barry Bonds was the 36-game hitting streak Jimmy Rollins carried into the season.

The Philadelphia Phillies’ shortstop extended his hitting streak to 37 games with a double on opening day.

There are a lot of reporters and naysayers out there that believe Rollins hitting streak should not count because he didn’t do it in one full season.

To many reporters and baseball pundits, he currently has a one-game hitting streak.

But the truth is that he has a 37-game hit streak.

Why is it so wrong to carry a streak from one season to another?

The answer is simple, it’s not wrong. What Rollins’ streak has done is take the focus, albeit slightly, off the Barry Bonds steroid investigation.

Granted, the fact that Joe DiMaggio’s major league-record 56-game hitting streak was completed in one season is what makes it so special. There may never be a player to ever come close to breaking that record, much like there may never be any players close to breaking Cal Ripken’s iron-man streak.

Some say that Rollins had a whole season to break the record last year, but failed to deliver in the other 126 games.

Rollins shouldn’t be penalized for running out of games. The season works in a way where it is difficult to put together any sort of hitting streak.

But, for Rollins to hit safely in 36 straight games last year is an accomplishment in itself. Not even such hitters like Bonds or the Cardinals’ Albert Pujols have ever hit in 30 consecutive games.

It brings to attention a similar situation at Eastern. Third baseman/catcher Ryan Campbell entered the season with a 14-game hitting streak, before adding on seven more games. Although his hitting streak officially ended at 21 games, nobody was close to putting an asterisk in the record book in front of Campbell’s name.

In fact, the school record Campbell was trying to catch belonged to former Panther Jeff Camman, who hit safely in 23 straight games spanning two seasons.

If it’s okay to count the 23 games Camman hit safely in, then there’s no reason to discount Campbell’s streak.

Would it be a similar situation to discredit Orel Hersheiser’s 59 scoreless innings pitched streak in 1988 if he did it between two seasons?

The only part I may disagree with Rollins’ hitting streak is that in the opener against St. Louis, Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa told Adam Wainwright not to walk Rollins on a 3-0 count.

It is highly unlikely LaRussa would have done the same thing if the Cardinals were up by two runs instead of eight.

The record should be achieved during the competition of a game, not as a sign of gratitude.

But to the skeptics out there, Rollins still has 55 games to go.

Marc Correnti is a junior journalism major. He can be reached at EIU3583@yahoo.com.