Results for Ted Williams
On this page:
 
Ted Williams
View Poster

- Ted Williams

Ted Williams
View Poster
  • While a senior in high school, the Yankees offered Williams $200/month to join their team; his mother declined, so he wouldn't move away and fail to complete high school
  • Nicknamed "The Kid," "The Splendid Splinter," "Teddy Ballgame," "The Thumper"
  • Played 19 seasons with Boston Red Sox
  • Last player to hit at least .400 in a season, hitting .406 in 1941
  • At 40, oldest batting champ in ML history
  • Two-time MVP (1946 and 1949), two-time Triple Crown (1942 and 1947)
  • Played in 18 All-Star games
  • Has record for reaching base in most consecutive games (84)
  • Only batter to hit home run off Rip Sewell's eephus pitch, in 1946's All-Star game
  • Was an expert fly fisherman and deep sea fisherman
  • Has two plaques in baseball Hall of Fame; the first one was not thought to be a close enough likeness to his portrait, so they made a second
  • In 1955, delayed playing, holding out for less money; in the middle of a divorce, didn't want the large paycheck
  • Inducted into Sportsman's Fishing Hall of Fame
  • Expert fighter pilot, flew as wingman for John Glenn

"God gets you to the plate, but once you're there you're on your own." – Ted Williams

"If you don't think too good, don't think too much." – Ted Williams

"Baseball is the only field of endeavor where a man can succeed three times out of ten and be considered a good performer." – Ted Williams

"I've found that you don't need to wear a necktie if you can hit." – Ted Williams

"Hitting is fifty percent above the shoulders." – Ted Williams

"There's only one way to become a hitter. Go up to the plate and get mad. Get mad at yourself and mad at the pitcher." – Ted Williams

"By the time you know what to do, you're too old to do it." – Ted Williams

Who2 Biography:

Ted Williams

, Baseball Player

  • Born: 30 August 1918
  • Birthplace: San Diego, California
  • Died: 5 July 2002 (heart failure)
  • Best Known As: The last major leaguer to hit .400

Ted Williams remains the last man to hit over .400 for a complete major league baseball season. He finished the 1941 season with a .406 batting average, going 6-for-8 during a season-ending double-header to push himself over the .400 mark. Williams played for the Boston Red Sox from 1939-42 and from 1946-60. (During World War II he served in the U.S. Navy. His 1952 and 1953 seasons were interrupted by his service as a Marine Corps pilot; he flew 39 combat missions in Korea.) Williams hit a home run in his last at-bat at Boston's Fenway Park, and finished his career with 521 homers and 2654 hits. He was inducted into baseball's Hall of Fame in 1966. His 1969 autobiography was titled My Turn At Bat, and his 1971 book The Science of Hitting remains a popular baseball manual. Late in life he suffered from congestive heart trouble and a series of strokes, and he died at age 83 in July of 2002.

Williams wore uniform #9... His nicknames include "The Kid," "Teddy Ballgame" and "the Splendid Splinter"... Williams hit .400 in 6 games in 1952, and .407 in 37 games in 1953, but both seasons featured too few at-bats to be considered official... Williams managed the Washington Senators (later the Texas Rangers) from 1969-72... In Korea Williams flew as wing man for future astronaut John Glenn.

 
 
Biography: Ted Williams

Ted Williams (born 1918) was one of baseball's most fearsome hitters. Despite five seasons lost to military service in World War II and the Korean War, the "Splendid Splinter" of the Boston Red Sox hit 521 home runs in his career and batted .344.

Always pursuing perfection in his sport's most difficult task, Ted Williams was nearly unstoppable in hitting major league pitches. He perennially led baseball in the two most important aspects of hitting-getting on base and driving in runners. He was the last player to hit .400, achieving that mark in 1941. For his total absorption in the game he loved, Williams was nicknamed "Teddy Ballgame." Long after his career ended, he continued to symbolize excellence in hitting and dedication to baseball.

Enjoyed Hitting the Ball

"The most fun in baseball is hitting the ball," Ted Williams told Dave Kindred of Sports Illustrated. "That's all I did … for 20 years of my early life." Williams was born on August 30, 1918 in San Diego, California. Growing up during the Great Depression, he played pickup baseball in a neighborhood park year-round. His mother worked tirelessly for the Salvation Army and his father ran a passport photography shop and worked late hours, allowing young Williams the freedom to play ball until dark. He even took his bat to school. He was a tall, thin teenager who pitched and played outfield in junior high school, American Legion and sandlot teams, and at Herbert Hoover High School. In his autobiography, My Turn at Bat, Williams said "there was nobody who had any more opportunities than I had, along with the God-given physical attributes and the intense desire."

As a teenager, Williams learned not to swing at balls that were out of the strike zone. Try as they might, pitchers could never get him to chase bad pitches. "Getting on base is how you score runs," Williams explained. "Runs win ball games. I walked a lot in high school, and in the minors I walked 100 times.… You start swinging at pitches a half-inch outside, the next one's an inch out and pretty soon you're getting nothing but bad balls to swing at."

Williams began his professional career with the San Diego Padres, then a minor league team, in 1936. In December 1937 the Padres sold him to the Boston Red Sox. "The Red Sox didn't mean a thing to me," Williams wrote in his autobiography. "A fifth-, sixth-place club, the fartherest [sic] from San Diego I could go." Yet Williams would become synonymous with Red Sox baseball.

When he first came to spring training with the Red Sox in 1938, he was 19 and extremely cocky. The legend is that someone told him "Wait'll you see Jimmie Foxx hit" and Williams replied "Wait till Foxx sees me hit." In his autobiography Williams debunked the myth: "I never said that, but I suppose it wouldn't have been unlike me."

For all his bombast, Williams was a driven, obsessed young man. "I thought the weight of the damn world was always on my neck, grinding on me," he recalled. "I wanted to be the greatest hitter who ever lived. … Certainly nobody ever worked harder at it. It was the center of my heart, hitting a baseball."

A Smashing Debut

In 1938, at the Red Sox's farm club in Minneapolis, Williams led the league in hitting but almost ended his career when he smashed his fist into a water cooler. "I was impetuous, I was tempestuous," he recalled. "I blew up… I'd get so damned mad, throw bats, kick the columns in the dugout so that sparks flew, tear out the plumbing, knock out the lights, damn near kill myself."

Williams had a smashing rookie season in 1939, hitting 31 home runs and driving in 145 runs. His fielding was indifferent, but his hitting was electrifying. He had only one apparent weakness-an inability to hit to the opposite field. Standing close to the plate but refusing to swing at outside pitches, the left-handed-batting Williams pulled almost all his hits to right field. Many opposing managers eventually defended against him with the "Williams Shift"-moving the shortstop to the right-field side of second base. But even that didn't stop him.

"Hitting is a correction thing," Williams told Kindred. "Every swing you're changing. Every thought you're correcting. Every time up, you're thinking. My whole life was hitting." If he was battling a slump, Williams might have stayed up all night thinking about what to change.

In 1941, only his third season in the majors, Williams captivated the nation by chasing a .400 season batting average. For part of the year, Williams' quest was overshadowed by New York Yankee star Joe DiMaggio's record 56-game hitting streak. In the All-Star Game in Detroit that year, Williams hit a game-winning home run. On the last day of the season, Williams was hitting exactly .400, and Red Sox manager Joe Cronin offered him the chance to sit out a doubleheader. "I told Cronin I didn't want that," Williams recalled. "If I couldn't hit .400 all the way I didn't deserve it." He got six hits and finished at .406, a mark most experts believed would never be equaled. DiMaggio was named the league's Most Valuable Player that season, as the Red Sox finished second to the Yankees.

Hit the Top

The 1941 season was the first of six times that Williams won the American League batting championship. That year, he also won the first of four home run titles. He led the league in walks eight times and in runs scored six times. No batter other than Babe Ruth had so excelled in the three most important aspects of offense-hitting for a high batting average (.344 career mark), hitting for power (521 home runs) and getting on base.

"No hitter ever had more confidence at the plate than Ted Williams, every bit of it fully justified," observed baseball historians Lawrence Ritter and Donald Honig in The Image of their Greatness. "No player ever had better eyesight, better judgment of a pitched ball, a purer swing, more power, more intense concentration." Legends grew about Williams' 20/10 vision. He said he could see the rotation of baseballs pitched to him, discerning whether the pitch was a fastball or a curve.

In every at-bat, he was gathering new data. "A trip to the plate was an adventure for me, one that I could reflect on and store up information," Williams said in his autobiography. "I honestly believe I can recall everything there was to know about my first 300 home runs-who the pitcher was, the count, the pitch itself, where the ball landed. I didn't have to keep a written book on pitchers-I lived a book on pitchers."

After the 1942 season, Williams joined the Marines as a fighter pilot and flight instructor. He missed three seasons because of World War II, and the Red Sox faltered without him. In 1946, with Williams back in the lineup, Boston won the American League pennant and Williams won the Most Valuable Player award. Williams appeared in the World Series for the only time in his career, but hit a disappointing .200 with only one RBI, and the Red Sox lost to the St. Louis Cardinals.

The Red Sox just missed a pennant in 1948 by losing a one-game playoff to Cleveland. In 1949, they again came close, losing on the last day of the season to the Yankees. That year, Williams hit .343 with 43 homers and 159 runs batted in and was again Most Valuable Player. But in 1950, he crashed into an outfield fence chasing a fly ball during the All-Star Game, and suffered bone chips in his elbow which bothered him the rest of his career.

Pursuit of Perfection

At a peak salary of $125,000, Williams was the highest-paid player of his era. He became known as the "Splendid Splinter," "The Thumper," and later in his career, "Teddy Ballgame," because of his intense concentration on the game. Sports Illustrated reporter S.L. Price observed that Williams "bent his life into a furious pursuit of perfection."

Gruff and prickly, Williams had an explosive temper. Price characterized his speech as a "uniquely cadenced blend of jock, fishing and military lingo, marked by constant profanity" and described him as "alternately cold and warm, bitter and sentimental, obnoxious and funny, tough and generous-but always savagely independent."

In Boston, he was loved and loathed, with critics picking on his defensive lapses and me-against-the-world attitude. Fans sometimes called him "Terrible Ted." After being booed in one game for dropping a fly ball, he spat toward the stands. He never tipped his hat to the crowd or acknowledged their cheers. After hitting a home run in his last at-bat in Boston in 1960, he refused to take a curtain call.

"I should have had more fun in baseball than any player who ever lived," Williams said. "My twenty-two years in baseball were enjoyable, but many times they were unhappy too. … I felt a lot of people didn't like me. I did things I was ashamed of. … I was not treated fairly by the press." Critics said he wasn't a clutch hitter or a team player, walked too often, and didn't hustle. "They didn't think I was tryin'," he told Price. "God almighty, I was tryin'. But I was a long, skinny guy, couldn't run."

What he could do, like almost no one else who ever lived, was hit. "He lived to swing a bat, this tall, brash, fidgety youngster with the Hollywood good looks," wrote Ritter and Honig. "He seemed to be never without a bat in his hands, be it on the field, in the dugout, in the clubhouse, and even in his hotel room, where one day an errant practice swing accidentally smashed a dresser mirror to pieces."

Criticizing "gutless" politicians and "unfair" draft laws, Williams went back into the service during the Korean War. He missed most of the 1952 and 1953 seasons. Battling injuries, he announced he was retiring after the 1954 season, but changed his mind. In 1957, nearly 40 years old, Williams had an incredible season, hitting .388 and becoming the oldest player ever to win a batting championship. But he was miserable. "I spent the season being mad at the world for one reason or another," he said. "I don't think I said two words to the Boston writers all year." After the 1960 season, Williams, 42, retired, even though he had hit .316 that year. Historians would forever debate how high his career totals might have soared if he hadn't missed those seasons in the prime of his career.

Lived with Memories

In 1966, Williams was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. From 1969 through 1971, he managed the Washington Senators and stayed on as manager when they moved and became the Texas Rangers in 1972. They were a lackluster team and Williams had little success as a manager. With his baseball career over, he poured much of his energies into his love of fishing.

Williams remained active and outspoken after retiring to Florida. Despite three strokes in his 70s that left him partially blind, he led a petition campaign to get Shoeless Joe Jackson into the Hall of Fame. Williams was bilked by a scam-artist partner in the sports memorabilia craze of the late 1980s and lost nearly $2 million. His clean, readable signature was easily forged. His son, John-Henry, cruised stores nationwide to uncover forgeries, then opened a family-run memorabilia business. In 1994, Williams established the Ted Williams Museum and Hitters Hall of Fame in Hernando, Florida, and established his own annual Greatest Hitters Award. In 1995, Boston named a tunnel under Boston Harbor after him.

Fishing and fending off frequent interview seekers, Williams watched Red Sox games on television. He told one reporter: "No one pulls harder for them than I do … I'll always be a die-hard Red Sox fan." And he added: "… look at what a great game it is.… It's strong, and I'm like a kid sitting in front on my TV watching. … Baseball will always survive."

Further Reading

The Baseball Encyclopedia, Macmillan, 1990.

Ritter, Lawrence and Honig, Donald, The Image of their Greatness, Crown, 1979.

Williams, Ted, as told to Tom Underwood, My Turn at Bat: The Story of My Life, Simon & Schuster, 1969.

Sport, November 1998.

Sporting News, November 14, 1994.

Sports Illustrated, December 25, 1995; November 25, 1996; February 2, 1998.

 

(born Aug. 30, 1918, San Diego, Calif., U.S. — died July 5, 2002, Inverness, Fla.) U.S. baseball player, one of the greatest hitters of all time. Williams began playing professionally at age 17. He became an outfielder with the Boston Red Sox in 1939 and remained with the team until his retirement in 1960. Tall and thin, he was dubbed "the Splendid Splinter" but was also known more simply as "the Kid." A left-handed hitter, he compiled a lifetime batting average of .344, the eighth highest on record. He batted .406 in 1941, becoming the last .400 hitter of the century. His career slugging percentage (.634) is second only to that of Babe Ruth. Williams is the only player besides Rogers Hornsby to have twice won the batting Triple Crown (best average, most home runs, and most runs batted in in the same season). Despite losing five years of his career to service as a flyer in World War II and the Korean War, he hit a total of 521 home runs, capping his career with a home run in his final at bat. After retiring as a player, he managed the Washington Senators (1969 – 72) and became an accomplished fisherman.

For more information on Ted Williams, visit Britannica.com.

 
Columbia Encyclopedia: Williams, Ted
(Theodore Samuel Williams), 1918–2002, American baseball player, b. San Diego, Calif. At the age of 17 he began playing professional ball with the San Diego Padres of the Pacific Coast League. In 1938 he tried out with the Boston Red Sox in spring training, and a year later he joined the club as a regular outfielder. Except for service (1943–45) in World War II and again (1952–53) in the Korean War, Williams played continuously for the Boston Red Sox from 1939 until his retirement in 1960. One of the greatest natural hitters the game has ever known, he batted well over .300 in 1939 and in 1940; in 1941, besides hitting .406 to win the batting championship, he led the American League in home runs (37). In 1942 the tall, rangy left-hander, known as the “Splendid Splinter,” was again top batter in the major leagues with a .356 average, while leading the American League in home runs (36) and runs batted in (137).

Williams, controversial to some baseball fans due to his generally abrasive personality and frequently abusive behavior, helped lead the Red Sox to a pennant in 1946. Although opposing teams often employed the “Williams shift”—moving fielders toward right field, where Williams customarily drove his base hits—he continued to lead the league in batting in 1947 with .343, in 1948 with .369, in 1957 with .388, and in 1958 with .328. Williams had a lifetime batting average of .344 and hit a total of 521 home runs. He managed the Washington Senators from 1969 to 1971 and remained as manager when the franchise became (1972) the Texas Rangers but retired shortly afterward. After his death, Williams' body was the subject of highly publicized litigation among his children. His son and a daughter had had his body cryonically frozen, but their half-sister, who dropped her lawsuit after several months, asserted that Williams had wanted to be cremated.

Bibliography

See his autobiography, My Turn at Bat (1970, repr. 1988), and The Science of Hitting (1972), both coauthored by J. Underwood; biography by L. Montville (2004).

 
Quotes By: Ted Williams

Quotes:

"A man has to have goals- for a day, for a lifetime- that was mine, to have people say, There goes Ted Williams, the greatest hitter who ever lived."

"God gets you to the plate, but once your there your on your own."

 
Wikipedia: Ted Williams
Ted Williams
Ted Williams
Outfielder
Born: August 30 1918(1918--)
Died: July 5 2002 (aged 83)
Batted: Left Threw: Right
MLB debut
April 20, 1939
for the Boston Red Sox
Final game
September 28, 1960
for the Boston Red Sox
Career statistics
AVG     .344
HR     521
RBI     1839
Teams

As Player

As Manager

Career highlights and awards
Career Records
Awards
Notable Achievements
  • AL Triple Crown (1942, 1947)
  • Last player to hit at least .400 in a season (.406 in 1941)
  • Oldest batting champ in Major League history at 40 in 1958
  • All-Star - AL (x17)
Member of the National
Empty_Star.svg Baseball Hall of Fame Empty_Star.svg
Elected     1966
Vote     93.38% (first ballot)

Theodore Samuel Williams (August 30, 1918July 5, 2002), best known as Ted Williams, nicknamed The Kid, the Splendid Splinter, Teddy Ballgame and The Thumper, was an American left fielder in Major League Baseball. He played 19 seasons, twice interrupted by military service as a Marine Corps pilot, with the Boston Red Sox.

Williams was a two-time American League Most Valuable Player (MVP) winner, led the league in batting six times, and won the Triple Crown twice. He had a career batting average of .344, with 521 home runs, and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1966. He is the last player in Major League Baseball to bat over .400 in a single season (.406 in 1941). Williams holds the highest career batting average of anyone with 500 or more home runs. An avid sport fisherman, he hosted a television show about fishing and was inducted into the Fishing Hall of Fame.

Early life

Ted Williams was born in San Diego, California as Teddy Samuel Williams, named after his father, Samuel Stuart Williams, and Teddy Roosevelt. At some point, the name and date of birth on his birth certificate was changed to Theodore, but his mother and his closest friends always called him Teddy. His father was a soldier, sheriff, and photographer from New York and greatly admired the former president. His mother, May Venzor, was a Salvation Army worker from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.[2][3]

Williams lived in San Diego's North Park neighborhood (4121 Utah Street) and played his high school ball at Herbert Hoover High School in San Diego. Though he soon had offers from the Saint Louis Cardinals and the New York Yankees, his mother thought him too young to leave home so he signed with the local Padres (at that time, a minor league organization) while still in high school. He had minor league stints for his hometown San Diego Padres and the Minneapolis Millers.

Early in his career, he stated that he wished to be known as "greatest hitter who ever lived," an honor that he achieved in the eyes of many by the end of his career. Carl Yastrzemski said of Williams, "He studied hitting the way a broker studies the stock market."

Major League Career

Williams moved up to the major-league Red Sox in 1939, immediately making an impact as he led the American League in RBIs and finishing 4th in MVP balloting. In 1941, he entered the last day of the season with a batting average of .3995. This would have been rounded up to .400, making him the first man to hit .400 since Bill Terry in 1930. Manager Joe Cronin left the decision whether to play up to him. Williams opted to play in both games of the day's doubleheader and risk losing his record. He got 6 hits in 8 at bats, raising his season average to .406. Williams also hit .400 in 1952 and .407 in 1953, both partial seasons; nobody has hit over .400 in a season since Williams.

At the time, this achievement was overshadowed by Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak in the same season. Their rivalry was played up by the press; Williams always felt himself slightly better as a hitter, but acknowledged that DiMaggio was the better all-around player. Also in 1941, Williams set a major-league record for on-base percentage in a season at .551. That record would last until 2002, when Barry Bonds upped this mark to .582. A lesser-known accomplishment is Williams' 1949 record feat of reaching base for the most consecutive games, 84. In addition, Williams holds the third longest such streak of 69 in 1941. In 1957, Williams reached base in 16 consecutive plate appearances, also a major-league record.

One of Williams' other memorable accomplishments was his game-winning home run off Rip Sewell's notorious eephus pitch during the 1941 All-Star Game in Fenway Park. He challenged Sewell to throw the pitch. The first time he threw it, it was a strike. Williams challenged Sewell again and this time hit a home run. Archival footage shows a delighted Williams hopping around the bases, clapping; he later said this was his greatest thrill in baseball. He later admitted that he was running toward the pitcher as he swung (therefore the hit shouldn't have counted).

Among the few blemishes on Williams's playing record was his performance in his lone post-season appearance, the 1946 World Series. Williams managed just 5 singles in 25 at-bats, with just 1 RBI, as the Red Sox lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games. Much of Williams' lack of production was due to his stubborn insistence into hitting into the Cardinals' defensive shift, which frequently involved five or six of the Cardinals' fielders positioned to the right of second base. This shift was a version of the Boudreau Shift, popularized by Cleveland Indians manager Lou Boudreau in an attempt to reduce Williams's effectiveness.

Williams was also playing with a sore elbow that he injured during a pre-World Series exhibition game, while the Cardinals and Brooklyn Dodgers were playing a best-of-three series to determine the National League champion. However, Williams refused to use the injury as an excuse for his sub-par play.

An obsessive student of batting, Williams hit for both power and average. In 1970 he wrote a book on the subject, The Science of Hitting (revised 1986), which is still read by many baseball players. He lacked foot speed, as attested by his 16-year career total of only 24 stolen bases, one inside-the-park home run, and one occasion of hitting for the cycle. He felt that with more speed he could have raised his average considerably and hit .400 over at least one more season.

Despite Williams's lack of interest in fielding, he was considered a sure fielder with a good throwing arm, although he occasionally expressed regret that he had not worked harder on his fielding. In his autobiography, My Turn At Bat, Williams admits that as a youngster his dream was that someday he would be walking down the street and a father, walking with his son, would point to Williams and say, "Son, there goes the greatest hitter who ever lived."

When Pumpsie Green became the first black player on the Boston Red Sox, it was Williams who made Green feel welcome on the team.

In a climactic ending to his career, he hit a home run in his very last at bat on September 28, 1960.

Military Service

Williams being sworn into the military on May 22, 1942.
Enlarge
Williams being sworn into the military on May 22, 1942.

Williams served as a United States Marine Corps pilot during World War II and the Korean War. During World War II he served as a flight instructor at Naval Air Station Pensacola teaching young pilots to fly the F4U Corsair. He finished the war in Hawaii and was released from active duty in January of 1946; however he did remain in the reserves.[4]

Press photo of Williams signing autographs in Kokomo, Indiana 1944.
Enlarge
Press photo of Williams signing autographs in Kokomo, Indiana 1944.

In 1952, at the age of 34, he was recalled to active duty for service in the Korean War. After getting checked out on the new F9F Panther at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina, he was assigned to VMF-311, Marine Aircraft Group 33 (MAG-33) in Korea.[5]

On February 16, 1953, Williams was part of a 35-plane strike package against a tank and infantry training school just south of Pyongyang, North Korea. During the mission a piece of flak knocked out his hydraulics and electrical systems, causing Williams to have to "limp" his plane back to US Air Force base K-13, also called Suwon Air Base. K-13 was the closest to the front lines, where he was.

He crash-landed his fighter jet and after scrambling out of the jet he made the comment, "I ran faster than Mickey Mantle." [citation needed] For bringing the plane back he was also awarded the Air Medal.

Williams stayed on K-13 for several days while his plane was repaired. Because he was so popular, GI's from all around the base came to see him and his plane. After it was repaired, Williams flew his plane back to his Marine station.

Williams eventually flew 38 combat missions before being pulled from flight status in June of 1953 after an old ear infection acted up.[6]. During the war he also served in the same unit as John Glenn. While these absences, which took almost five years out of the heart of a great career, significantly limited his career totals, he never publicly complained about the time devoted to military service. Biographer Leigh Montville argues that Williams was not happy about being pressed into service in Korea, but he did what he felt was his patriotic duty. Williams once said in an interview that becoming a Marine officer and a naval aviator were the two accomplishments of his life of which he was the most proud. [citation needed]

Williams had a strong respect for General Douglas MacArthur, referring to him as his "idol". [7] For Williams' fortieth birthday, MacArthur sent him an oil painting of himself with the inscription "To Ted Williams - not only America's greatest baseball player, but a great American who served his country. Your friend, Douglas MacArthur. General U.S. Army." [8]

Summary of Career

Williams's two MVP Awards and two Triple Crowns came in four different years. Williams, Lou Gehrig, and Chuck Klein are the only players since the establishment of the MVP award to win the Triple Crown and not be named league MVP in that season.

Amazingly, Ted Williams won the Triple Crown not once, but twice - in 1942, and again in 1947 after missing three years to WWII. In 1949, Williams led the league in home runs (with 43) and RBI (with 159, tied with Red Sox shortstop Vern Stephens), but lost the batting race to Detroit third-baseman George Kell. Kell had 179 hits in 522 at-bats, for a batting average of .3429, while Williams went 194-566, for an average of .34275. A single hit either way would have changed the outcome.

Williams's hitting was so feared, and it was known that he was a dead pull hitter, that opponents frequently employed the radical, defensive "Williams Shift" against him, leaving only one fielder on the third-base half of the field. Rather than bunting the ball into the open space, the proud Williams batted as usual against the defense. The defensive tactic was later used against left-handed sluggers such as Willie McCovey, and is still used to this day against players such as Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi, and David Ortiz who are also considered dead-pull hitters, and is appropriately called the infield shift.

Ted Williams retired from the game in 1960 and hit a home run in his final at-bat, on September 28, 1960, in front of only 10,454 fans at Fenway Park. This home run, a solo shot hit off Baltimore pitcher Jack Fisher in the 8th inning that reduced the Orioles' lead to 4-3—was immortalized in The New Yorker essay "Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu", by John Updike.

Renowned NBC sportscaster Bob Costas, reflecting on Williams unparalleled success as ball player, wingman, and fisherman, once asked Williams if he realized he was in real life the type of American hero John Wayne sought to portray in his movies. Replied Williams, "Yeah, I know."

Relationship with Boston media and fans

Ted Williams was on uncomfortable terms with the Boston newspapers for nearly twenty years, as he felt they liked to discuss his personal life as much as his baseball performance. He maintained a career-long feud with SPORT magazine due to a 1948 feature article in which the SPORT reporter included a quote from Williams' mother. Insecure about his upbringing, stubborn because of the immense confidence in his talents, Williams made up his mind that the "knights of the keyboard" were against him and treated most of them accordingly, as he describes in his memoir, My Turn at Bat.

He also had an uneasy relationship with the Boston fans, though he could be very cordial one-on-one. Williams felt at times a good deal of gratitude for their passion and their knowledge of the game. On the other hand, Williams was temperamental, high-strung, and at times tactless. He gave generously to those in need, and demanded loyalty from those around him. He could not forgive the fickle nature of the fans—booing a player for booting a ground ball, then turning around and roaring approval of the same player for hitting a home run. Despite the cheers and adulation of most of his fans, the occasional boos directed at him in Fenway Park led Williams to refuse to ever tip his cap after a home run, including his swan song in 1960. He also won many fans both in and out of baseball by twice serving his country in time of war, risking his life by flying combat missions in the Marine Corps.

A Red Smith profile from 1956 describes one Boston writer trying to convince Ted Williams that first cheering and then booing a ballplayer was no different from a moviegoer applauding a "western" movie actor one day and saying the next "He stinks! Whatever gave me the idea he could act?" But Williams rejected this; when he liked a western actor like Hoot Gibson, he liked him in every picture, and would not think of booing him.

After his famous home run in his last at-bat, Williams characteristically refused either to tip his cap as he circled the bases or to respond to prolonged cheers of "We want Ted!" from the crowd. Williams also refused to tip his cap as he was replaced in left field by Carroll Hardy to start the 9th inning, although he continued to receive warm cheers.

Williams's aloof attitude led Updike to wryly observe that "gods do not answer letters." Williams's final home run did not take place during the final game of the 1960 season, but rather the Red Sox' last home game that year. The Red Sox played three more games, but they were on the road in New York and Williams did not appear in any of them, and it became clear that Williams's final home at-bat would be the last of his career.

Hall of Fame Induction Speech

In his induction speech in 1966, Williams included a statement calling for the recognition of the great Negro Leagues players: "I've been a very lucky guy to have worn a baseball uniform, and I hope some day the names of Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson in some way can be added as a symbol of the great Negro players who are not here only because they weren't given a chance." (Montville, p.262).

Williams was referencing two of the most famous names in the Negro Leagues, who were not given the opportunity to play in the Major Leagues before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947. Gibson died early in 1947 and thus never played in the majors; and Paige's brief major league stint came long past his prime as a player. This powerful and unprecedented statement from the Hall of Fame podium was "a first crack in the door that ultimately would open and include Paige and Gibson and other Negro League stars in the shrine." (Montville, p.262) Paige was the first inducted, in 1971. Gibson and others followed, starting in 1972 and continuing off and on into the 21st Century.

Career Ranking

At the time of his retirement, Williams ranked third all-time in home runs (behind Babe Ruth and Jimmie Foxx), seventh in RBIs (after Ruth, Cap Anson, Lou Gehrig, Ty Cobb, Foxx, and Mel Ott; Stan Musial would pass Williams in 1962), and seventh in batting average (behind Cobb, Rogers Hornsby, Shoeless Joe Jackson, Lefty O'Doul, Ed Delahanty and Tris Speaker). His career batting average is the highest of any player who played his entire career in the post-1920 live-ball era.

Williams was also second to Ruth in career slugging percentage, where he remains today, and first in on-base percentage. He was also second to Ruth in career walks, but has since dropped to fourth place behind Barry Bonds and Rickey Henderson. Williams remains the career leader in walks per plate appearance.

Most modern statistical analyses place Williams, along with Ruth and Bonds, among the three most potent hitters to have played the game. Williams' 1941 season is often considered favorably with the greatest seasons of Ruth and Bonds in terms of various offensive statistical measures such as slugging, on-base and "offensive winning percentage." As a further indication, of the ten best seasons for OPS, short for On-Base Plus Slugging Percentage, a popular modern measure of offensive productivity, four each were achieved by Ruth and Bonds, and two by Williams.

In 1999, Williams was ranked as Number 8 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, where he was the highest-ranking left fielder.

Retirement

Ted Williams's number 9 was retired by the Boston Red Sox in 1984
Enlarge
Ted Williams's number 9 was retired by the Boston Red Sox in 1984

After retirement from play, Williams served as manager of the Washington Senators, continuing with the team when they became the Texas Rangers after the 1971 season. Williams's best season as a manager was 1969 when he led the expansion Senators to an 86-76 record in their only winning season in Washington. He was chosen "Manager of the Year" after that season. Like many great players, Williams became impatient with ordinary athletes' abilities and attitudes, particularly those of pitchers, whom he admitted he never respected, and his managerial career was short and largely unsuccessful. Before and after leaving Texas (which would be his only manager job), he occasionally appeared at Red Sox spring training as a guest hitting instructor. Williams would also go into a partnership with friend Al Cassidy to form the Ted Williams Baseball Camp in Lakeville, Massachusetts. It was not uncommon to find Williams fishing in the pond at the camp. The area now is owned by the town and a few of the buildings still stand. In the main lodge one can still see memorabilia from Williams' playing days.

He was much more successful in fishing. An avid and expert fly fisherman and deep-sea fisherman, he spent many summers after baseball fishing the Miramichi River, in Miramichi, New Brunswick, Canada. Williams was named to the International Game Fish Association Hall of Fame in 2000. Some opined that Williams was a rare individual who might have been the best in the world in three different disciplines: baseball hitter, fighter jet pilot, and fly fisherman. Shortly after Williams's death, conservative pundit Steve Sailer called him "possibly the most technically proficient American of the 20th Century, as his mastery of three highly different callings demonstrates." [1]

Williams reached an extensive deal with Sears, lending his name and talent toward marketing, developing, and endorsing a line of in-house sports equipment - specifically fishing, hunting and baseball equipment. He was also extensively involved in the Jimmy Fund, ironically later losing a brother to leukemia, and spent much of his spare time, effort, and money in support of the cancer organization.

In his later years, Williams became a fixture at autograph shows and card shows after his son (by his third wife), John Henry Williams, took control of his career, becoming his de facto manager. The younger Williams provided structure to his father's business affairs, and rationed his father's public appearances and memorabilia signings to maximize their earnings. Although many felt that Ted was being used by his son, there is no real evidence that the younger Williams was doing anything illicit or unsavory with his father's earnings.

One of Ted Williams's final, and most memorable, public appearances was at the 1999 All-Star Game in Boston. Able to walk only a short distance, Williams was brought to the pitcher's mound in a golf cart. He proudly waved his cap to the crowd—a gesture he had never done as a player. Fans responded with a standing ovation that lasted several minutes. At the pitcher's mound he was surrounded by players from both teams, including fellow Red Sox Nomar Garciaparra and fellow San Diegan Tony Gwynn. Later in the year, he was among the members of the Major League Baseball All-Century Team introduced to the crowd at Turner Field in Atlanta prior to Game 2 of the World Series.

In his last years Williams suffered from numerous cardiac problems. He had a pacemaker installed in November 2000 and underwent open-heart surgery in January 2001. After suffering a series of strokes and congestive heart failures, he died of cardiac arrest in Crystal River, Florida, on July 5, 2002.

The Ted Williams Tunnel in Boston (December 1995), and Ted Williams Parkway in San Diego (1992) were named in his honor while he was still alive.

Death

A public dispute over the disposition of Williams's body was waged after his death. Announcing there would be no funeral,[9] his son John-Henry Williams had Ted's body flown to the Alcor Life Extension Foundation in Scottsdale, Arizona, where the head was separated from the body and both placed individually into cryonic suspension.[10] Barbara Joyce Ferrell, Ted's daughter by his first wife, sued,[11] saying his will stated that he wanted to be cremated.[12] John-Henry's lawyer then produced an informal "family pact" signed by Ted, John-Henry, and Ted's daughter Claudia, in which they agreed "to be put into biostasis after we die."[13] Reportedly, cryonics arrangements were hastily made post mortem by John-Henry and Claudia per their family pact. Though this action upset many family members, friends, and fans, it seems to have been the children's right under the law.[14]

In Ted Williams: The Biography of An American Hero, author Leigh Montville makes the case that the supposed family cryonics pact was merely a practice Ted Williams autograph on a plain piece of paper, around which the "agreement" had later been hand-printed. The pact document was signed "Ted Williams", the same as his autographs, whereas he would always sign his legal documents "Theodore Williams". However, Claudia testified to the authenticity of the document in a sworn affidavit.[15]

Following John-Henry's unexpected illness and death from acute myelogenous leukemia on March 6, 2004, John-Henry's body was also transported to Alcor, in fulfillment of the controversial agreement.

Recently, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays home stadium of Tropicana Stadium has installed a Ted Williams Museum behind the right field fence. From the Tampa Bay Devil Rays website: "The Ted Williams Museum and Hitters Hall of Fame brings a special element to the Tropicana Field. Fans can view an array of different artifacts and pictures of the 'Greatest hitter that ever lived.' These memorable displays range from Ted Williams' days in the military through his professional playing career. This museum is dedicated to some of the greatest players to ever 'lace 'em up,' including Willie Mays, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, and Sadaharu Oh."

Career Batting Statistics

  Yr Team
G
AB
R
H
2B
3B
HR
GS
RBI
BB
IBB
SO
SH
SF
HBP
GIDP
AVG
OBP
SLG
1939 Red Sox
149
565
131
185
44
11
31
2
145
107
-
64
3
-
2
10
.327
.436
.609
1940 Red Sox
144
561
134
193
43
14
23
1
113
96
-
54
1
-
3
13
.344
.442
.594
1941 Red Sox
143
456
135
185
33
3
37
1
120
147
-
27
0
-
3
10
.406
.553
.735
1942 Red Sox
150
522
141
186
34
5
36
1
137
145
-
51
0
-
4
12
.356
.499
.648
1946 Red Sox
150
514
142
176
37
8
38
2
123
156
-
44
0
-
2
12
.342
.497
.667
1947 Red Sox
156
528
125
181
40
9
32
1
114
162
-
47
1
-
2
10
.343
.499
.634
1948 Red Sox
137
509
124
188
44
3
25
0
127
126
-
41
0
-
3
10
.369
.497
.615
1949 Red Sox
155
566
150
194
39
3
43
1
159
162
-
48
0
-
2
22
.343
.490
.650
1950 Red Sox
89
334
82
106
24
1
28
1
97
82
-
21
0
-
0
12
.317
.452
.647
1951 Red Sox
148
531
109
169
28
4
30
1
126
144
-
45
0
-
0
10
.318
.464
.556
1952 Red Sox
6
10
2
4
0
1
1
0
3
2
-
2
0
-
0
0
.400
.500
.900
1953 Red Sox
37
91
17
37
6
0
13
0
34
19
-
10
0
-
0
1
.407
.509
.901
1954 Red Sox
117
386
93
133
23
1
29
0
89
136
-
32
0
3
1
10
.345
.513
.635
1955 Red Sox
98
320
77
114
21
3
28
3
83
91
17
24
0
4
2
8
.356
.496
.703
1956 Red Sox
136
400
71
138
28
2
24
0
82
102
11
39
0
0
1
13
.345
.479
.605
1957 Red Sox
132
420
96
163
28
1
38
1
87
119
33
43
0
2
5
11
.388
.526
.731
1958 Red Sox
129
411
81
135
23
2
26
2
85
98
12
49
0
4
4
19
.328
.458
.584
1959 Red Sox
103
272
32
69
15
0
10
0
43
52
6
27
0
5
2
7
.254
.372
.419
1960 Red Sox
113