Ted Williams: Biography from Answers.com

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."

Ted Williams

Left fielder
Born: August 30, 1918(1918-08-30) San Diego, California
Died: July 5, 2002 (aged 83) Inverness, Florida
Batted: Left	Threw: Right
MLB debut
April 20, 1939 for the Boston Red Sox
Last MLB appearance
September 28, 1960 for the Boston Red Sox
Career statistics
Batting average	.344
Home runs	521
Runs batted in	1,839
Teams
As Player Boston Red Sox (1939–1942, 1946–1952, 1953–1960) As Manager Washington Senators / Texas Rangers (1969–1972)
Career highlights and awards
17× All-Star selection (1940, 1941, 1942, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960) 2× AL MVP (1946, 1949) Boston Red Sox #9 retired Major League Baseball All-Century Team
Member of the National
Baseball Hall of Fame
Induction	1966
Vote	93.38% (first ballot)

Early life

Ted Williams was born in San Diego as Teddy Samuel Williams, named after his father, Samuel Stuart Williams, and Teddy Roosevelt. At some point, the name 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 El Paso, Texas.

His paternal ancestors were a mix of Welsh and Irish and his maternal ancestors were of Mexican descent.^[4]^[5]^[6] Through his Mexican side he is related to Mexican Revolutionary General Pascual Orozco, who in turn shares descent from the Habsburg family of Europe, and related to Maximilian I of Mexico. Other sources claim his Mexican mother's family was Basque in origin. Of his Mexican ancestry he wrote: "If I had had my mother's name, there is no doubt I would have run into problems in those days, (considering) the prejudices people had in Southern California".

Williams lived in San Diego's North Park neighborhood (4121 Utah Street) and graduated from Herbert Hoover High School in San Diego, where he played baseball. Though he soon had offers from the St. Louis Cardinals and the New York Yankees, his mother thought him too young to leave home so he signed with the local minor league club, the San Diego Padres, while still in high school. He also had a minor league stint with the Minneapolis Millers.

He had a younger brother Danny who was wayward. When Ted started making some money in 1941, he had the house on Utah Street enlarged and completely renovated. Danny promptly backed a truck up to the house, moved out all the new furniture, including a washing machine and a sewing machine, and sold these items. May, who had been able to get Danny out of his previous scrapes, gave up this time and had him arrested. He spent some time in jail.

Early in his career, Ted stated that he wished to be known as "The greatest hitter who ever lived," an honor that he achieved in the eyes of many by the end of his career. Williams once stated his goal was to have a father walk down the street with his son, point to Williams and remark, "Son, there goes the greatest hitter who ever lived." 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 by leading the American League in RBI and finishing 4th in MVP balloting. Williams quickly became known as one of the most potent left-handed hitters in MLB. A myth that developed was that his eyes were the best in history, being able to read the words on a record album while it was spinning.

In 1941, he entered the last day of the season with a batting average of .39955. 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 falling short, explaining that "if I can't hit .400 all the way, I don't deserve it." He singled in his first at-bat, raising his average to .402, and followed it with a home run and two more hits in the first game. Williams went 2 for 3 in the second game, for a total of 6 hits in his last 8 at-bats, for a final average of .406. No player has hit .400 in a season since Williams. (Williams also hit .407 in 1953 (just 37 games), and in a six-game cameo in 1952.)

In his book, Williams acknowledges that "There was some great batting done that year [1941]" and mentions Joe DiMaggio and Cecil Travis, who hit .359. He continued, "I think, surely, to hit .400 you have to be an outstanding hitter having everything go just right, and in my case the hitter was a guy who lived to hit, who worked at it so hard he matured at the bat at a time when he was near his peak physically. The peaks met."^[7].

At the time, Williams' 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. The writers apparently concurred, voting DiMaggio the American League MVP award over Williams.

Williams also set a major-league record in 1941 for on-base percentage in a season at .551. That record would last until surpassed by Barry Bonds in 2002. In 1949, Williams reached base for the 84 consecutive games, the most ever. 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.

Ted Williams pitched once during his career, on August 24, 1940. He pitched the last two innings in a 12-1 loss to Detroit, Williams allowed one earned run on three hits, while striking out one batter, Rudy York.^[8]

Williams said that his greatest thrill as a player was winning the 1941 All-Star Game with a two-out, three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning. Another memorable All-Star Game accomplishment came in 1946 in Fenway Park, a 12-0 blowout for the American League. Williams' 4-for-4, 5 RBI day was highlighted by a home run off Rip Sewell's notorious eephus pitch.

Among the few blemishes on Williams' playing record was his performance in his lone postseason 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 on 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 wrist from being hit by a pitch during a pre-World Series exhibition game against a team gathered from other American League squads, while the Cardinals and Brooklyn Dodgers were playing a best-of-three series to determine the National League champion. However, Williams never cited the injury as an excuse for his subpar play.

A broken collarbone and his famed plate patience cost Williams the 1954 batting title. He had the league's highest average, .345, but walked 136 times en route to just 386 at-bats. Williams thus lost the batting title to Cleveland’s Bobby Avila, who hit .341 in 555 at-bats.

In 1957, he hit .388 to lead the league and remarkably in 1958 at age 40, he led the league with a .328 batting average.

When Pumpsie Green became the first black player on the Boston Red Sox in 1959—the last major league team to integrate its roster—Williams openly welcomed him.

Williams ended his career dramatically, hitting a home run in his very last at-bat on September 28, 1960. The classic John Updike essay "Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu" chronicles this event and is often mentioned among the greatest pieces of sports writing in American journalism.^[9]

Playing style

Williams was an obsessive student of hitting. He famously used a lighter bat than most sluggers, because it generated a faster swing. David Halberstam's Summer of '49 recalls him warning teammates not to leave their bats on the ground as they would absorb moisture and become heavier. His devotion allowed him to hit for power and average while maintaining extraordinary plate discipline. In 1970 he wrote a book on the subject, The Science of Hitting (revised 1986), which is still read by many baseball players. Williams was known to discuss hitting with active players enthusiastically until very late in his life; a conversation with Tony Gwynn was filmed for television.

Williams lacked foot speed, as attested by his 19-year career total of only one inside-the-park home run, one occasion of hitting for the cycle, and just 24 stolen bases. (Interestingly, despite his slowness on the basepaths, he is one of only three players in history - along with noted speedsters Tim Raines and Rickey Henderson - to have stolen a base in four different decades.) Williams always felt that had he had more speed, he could have raised his average considerably and hit .400 in at least one additional season. Williams was considered an indifferent outfielder with a good throwing arm; he often spent time in left field practicing "shadow swings" for his next at-bat. Williams occasionally expressed regret that he had not worked harder on his defense.

Military service

World War II

Theodore Samuel "Ted" Williams
August 30, 1918 – July 5, 2002
Williams being sworn into the military on May 22, 1942.
Place of burial	Scottsdale, Arizona
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Navy United States Marine Corps
Years of service	1942-1946, 1952-53
Rank	Captain
Battles/wars	World War II Korean War
Other work	Baseball player

Williams served as a pilot during World War II and the Korean War. He had been classified 3-A by Selective Service prior to the war, a dependency deferment because he was his mother's sole support. When his classification was changed to 1-A following U.S. entry into the war, Williams appealed to his draft board. The board agreed that his status should not have been changed. He made a public statement that once he had built up his mother's trust fund, he intended to enlist. Even so, criticism in the media, including withdrawal of an endorsement contract by Quaker Oats, resulted in his enlistment in the Navy on May 22, 1942.

Williams could have received an easy assignment and played baseball for the Navy. Instead, he joined the V-5 program to become a Naval aviator. Williams was first sent to the Navy's Preliminary Ground School at Amherst College for six months of academic instruction in various subjects including math and navigation, where he achieved a 3.85 grade point average.

Fellow Red Sox player Johnny Pesky who went into the same training program said about Ted "He mastered intricate problems in fifteen minutes which took the average cadet an hour and half of the other cadets there were college grads."

Pesky again described Williams' acumen in the advance training for which Pesky personally did not qualify: “I heard Ted literally tore the `sleeve target' to shreds with his angle dives. He'd shoot from wingovers, zooms, and barrel rolls, and after a few passes the sleeve was ribbons. At any rate, I know he broke the all-time record for hits." Ted went to Jacksonville for a course in air gunnery, the combat pilot's payoff test, and broke all the records in reflexes, coordination, and visual-reaction time. "From what I heard. Ted could make a plane and its six 'pianos' (machine guns) play like a symphony orchestra," Pesky says. "From what they said, his reflexes, coordination, and visual reaction made him a built-in part of the machine."^[10]

Williams received preflight training at Athens, Georgia; primary training at NAS Bunker Hill, Indiana; and advanced flight training at NAS Pensacola. He received his wings and commission in the U.S. Marine Corps on May 2, 1944.

He served as a flight instructor at Naval Air Station Pensacola teaching young pilots to fly the F4U Corsair. He was in Pearl Harbor awaiting orders to join the China fleet when the war ended. He finished the war in Hawaii and was released from active duty in January 1946; however he did remain in the reserves.^[11]

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

Korean War

On May 1, 1952, at the age of 34, he was recalled to active duty for service in the Korean War. He hadn't flown for some eight years but turned away all offers to sit out the war in comfort as a member of a service baseball team. Nevertheless Williams was resentful of being called up, which he admitted years later, particularly of the Navy's policy to call up Inactive Reservists rather than members of the Active Reserve.

After eight weeks of refresher flight training and qualification in the F9F Panther jet at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina, he was assigned to VMF-311, Marine Aircraft Group 33 (MAG-33), based at K-3 airfield in Pohang, Korea.^[11]

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 K-13, an Air Force base close to the front lines. For his actions of this day he was 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 39 combat missions before being pulled from flight status in June 1953 after a hospitalization for pneumonia resulted in discovery of an inner ear infection that disqualified him from flight status.^[12]. During the war he also served in the same unit as John Glenn and in the last half of his missions, he was serving as Glenn's wingman. 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 had a strong respect for General Douglas MacArthur, referring to him as his "idol".^[13] 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."^[14]

Summary of career

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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.

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 .3428. A single hit either way would have changed the outcome.

Because Williams's hitting was so feared, and it was known that he was a dead pull hitter, 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 Barry Bonds, and is still used to this day against players such as Ryan Howard, Carlos Delgado, 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.^[15]

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, and stubborn because of immense confidence in his own talent, Williams made up his mind that the "knights of the typewriter" were against him. Some seemingly were. After having hit for the league's Triple Crown in 1947, Williams narrowly lost the MVP award in a vote where one midwestern newspaper writer left Williams entirely off his ten-player ballot.

He treated most of the press accordingly, as he described in his memoir, My Turn at Bat. However, Ed Linn in his book listed hereunder in 'Further Reading' states that Ted's memoir is 'replete with factual errors' (Linn, p. 57). Intriguingly, both Ted and Linn spell Ted's mother's maiden name as Venzer but per the 'Ancestry of Ted Williams' in the Notes here, the family name in various census entries is cited as Venzor.

Williams also had an uneasy relationship with the Boston fans, though he could be very cordial one-on-one. He 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 stop tipping his cap in acknowledgement after a home run.

Sculpture of Ted Williams outside Fenway Park.

Williams maintained this policy up to and including his swan song in 1960. After hitting a home run in his last career at-bat in Fenway Park, 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 by making an appearance from the dugout. Boston manager Pinky Higgins sent Williams to his fielding position in left field to start the ninth inning, then immediately recalled him for backup Carroll Hardy, thus allowing Williams to receive one last ovation as he jogged on and off the field. But he did so without reacting to the crowd. Williams's aloof attitude led writer John 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, as it became clear that Williams's final home at-bat would be the last of his career.

In 1991 on Ted Williams Day at Fenway Park, Williams pulled a Red Sox cap from out of his jacket and tipped it to the crowd; it was the first time he had done so since his earliest days as a player.

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.

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 referring to 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.

In 1954, Williams was also inducted by the San Diego Hall of Champions into the Breitbard Hall of Fame honoring San Diego's finest athletes both on and off the playing surface.[3]

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.^{[citation needed]}

Family life

On May 4, 1944, Williams married Doris Soule, daughter of his hunting guide. Their daughter, Barbara Joyce, was born on January 28, 1948, while Williams was fishing in Florida.^[16] They divorced in 1954. He married socialite model Lee Howard on September 10, 1961; they divorced in 1967.

Williams married Dolores Wettach, a former Miss Vermont and Vogue model, in 1968. Their son John-Henry was followed by daughter Claudia (born October 8, 1971). They divorced in 1972.^[17]

Williams lived with Louise Kaufman for twenty years until her death in 1993. In his book, Cramer called her the love of Williams' life.^[18] After his death, her sons filed suit to recover her furniture from Williams's condominium as well as a half-interest in the condominium they claimed he gave her.^[19]

Both John-Henry and Williams' brother Danny died from leukemia.

Retirement


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

After retirement from play, Williams had one more duty in Boston—to help new left fielder Carl Yastrzemski in hitting. Williams then served as manager of the Washington Senators, from 1969-1971, then 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.

On the subject of pitchers, in Ted's autobiography written with John Underwood, Ted opines regarding Bob Lemon (a sinker-ball specialist) pitching for Cleveland Indians around 1951: "I have to rate Lemon as one of the very best pitchers I ever faced. His ball was always moving, hard, sinking, fast-breaking. You could never really uhmmmph with Lemon."

Then there was Ray Scarborough with the Washington Senators, who always seemed to do well against Boston. "He was a right-handed pitcher and he was nothing if not smart and crafty. Not only did he give the Boston right-handers a difficult time, but he was poison to their best left-handed hitter Ted Williams. Scarborough could decoy Williams better than any other pitcher in the league.

It was not just a matter of his selection of pitches, it was his motion as well. He would show fastball and then at the last minute go to his curve. Forty years later Williams paid Scarborough the ultimate accolade: He said that he probably chased more balls out of the strike zone with Ray Scarborough than with any other pitcher in the American League

Around 1950 largely at the urging of Williams, it was said, the Red Sox traded for Ray Scarborough, by then thirty-five. but it was too late for him, and too late for them. He lasted a little more than one season before moving on"^[20]

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 said the following about him:

“

The baseball slugger was possibly the most technically proficient American of the 20th Century, as his mastery of three highly different callings demonstrates... Can you think of anybody else who was #1 in America in his main career [hitting a baseball], probably Top 10 in his retirement hobby [fishing], and roughly Top 1000 in his weekend job [fighter pilot]? [John] Glenn springs to mind as military pilot, astronaut, and Senator, but each new career flowed from the previous one. The same is true for Jimmy Doolittle. Williams' three careers, in contrast, were uniquely disparate.^[21]

”

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, 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, exposed forgeries that were flooding the memorabilia market, and rationed his father's public appearances and memorabilia signings to maximize their 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 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.

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

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 at the age of 83 in Inverness, Florida, on July 5, 2002.

Though his will stated his desire to be cremated and his ashes scattered in the Florida Keys, John-Henry and Claudia chose to have him frozen.

Ted's eldest daughter, Bobby-Jo Ferrell, brought suit to have her father's wishes recognized. 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" to "be able to be together in the future, even if it is only a chance."^[22] Bobby-Jo and her attorney, Richard S. "Spike" Fitzpatrick (former attorney of Ted Williams), contended that the family pact, which was scribbled on an ink-stained napkin, was forged by John-Henry and/or Claudia.^[23] Fitzpatrick and Ferrell believed that the signature was not obtained legally.^[24] Laboratory analysis proved that the signature was genuine.^[24] John-Henry said that his father was a believer in science and was willing to try cryonics if it held the possibility of reuniting the family.^[25]

Though the family pact upset some friends, family and fans, a public plea for financial support of the lawsuit by Ferrell produced little result.^[25] Citing financial difficulties, Ferrell dropped her lawsuit in exchange that a $645,000 trust fund left by Williams would immediately pay the sum out equally to the three children.^[25] Inquiries to cryonics organizations increased after the publicity from the case.^[23]

In Ted Williams: The Biography of An American Hero, author Leigh Montville claims that the family cryonics pact was a practice Ted Williams autograph on a plain piece of paper, around which the agreement had later been hand written. The pact document was signed "Ted Williams", the same as his autographs, whereas he would always sign his legal documents "Theodore Williams", according to Montville. However, Claudia testified to the authenticity of the document in a sworn affidavit. ^[26] Ted's two 24-hour private caregivers who were with him the entire period the note was said to be created also stated in sworn affidavits that John-Henry and Claudia were never present at any time for that note to be produced.

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 family agreement.^[27]

According to the book "Frozen", co-authored by Larry Johnson, (who is a former executive from Alcor) Williams' head was accidentally damaged by a worker. Although Johnson didn't work at Alcor when Ted was initially preserved, he did witness the handling of the head during a transfer to its final container.^[28]

The Tampa Bay Rays home field, Tropicana Field, has installed the Ted Williams Museum (formerly in Hernando, Florida) behind the right field fence. From the Tampa Bay 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."

Quotations on Ted Williams

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"One of my best friends on earth and the greatest hitter I ever faced. And I faced a lot of guys, including Lou Gehrig. He was also a great friend to my wife Anne and me. He was a great American." - Bob Feller

"The way those clubs shift against Ted Williams, I can't understand how he can be so stupid not to accept the challenge to him and hit to left field." - Ty Cobb

"They can talk about Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb and Rogers Hornsby and Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio and Stan Musial and all the rest, but I'm sure not one of them could hold cards and spades to (Ted) Williams in his sheer knowledge of hitting. He studied hitting the way a broker studies the stock market, and could spot at a glance mistakes that others couldn't see in a week." - Carl Yastrzemski

"Ted Williams was the greatest hitter of our era. He won six batting titles and served his country for five years, so he would have won more. He loved talking about hitting and was a great student of hitting and pitchers." - Stan Musial

"He wanted fame, and wanted it with a pure, hot eagerness that would have been embarrassing in a smaller man. But he could not stand celebrity. This is a bitch of a line to draw in America's dust." - Richard Ben Cramer

"If he'd just tip his cap once, he could be elected Mayor of Boston in five minutes." - Eddie Collins (About Ted Williams' last game and his last home run)

Quotations by 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."

"Baseball's future? Bigger and bigger, better and better! No question about it, it's the greatest game there is!"

"I hope somebody hits .400 soon. Then people can start pestering that guy with questions about the last guy to hit .400."

"If there was ever a man born to be a hitter it was me."

"Hitting is fifty percent above the shoulders."

"If I was being paid thirty-thousand dollars a year, the very least I could do was hit .400."

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

Career batting statistics

Career	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	GS	RBI	BB	IBB	SO	SH	SF	HBP	GIDP	AVG	OBP	SLG
19 Years	2,292	7,706	1,798	2,654	525	71	521	17	1,839	2,021	86	709	5	20	39	197	.344	.482	.634

Notes

^ Greatest hitter - Williams or Ruth?
^ Simply one of the greatest hitters
^ IGFA Hall of Fame
^ Their devotion was religious - The Boston Globe
^ Ancestry of Ted Williams
^ Seidel, 2
^ ^ Williams, Ted, and John Underwood. My Turn at Bat: The Story of My Life. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1969. Updated 'Fireside' edition 1988 p. 69 ISBN 0671634232
^ The Chronology - 1940 | BaseballLibrary.com
^ [1]
^ Hitter, Ed Linn, p. 246/7
^ ^a ^b Mersky, p. 189
^ Mersky, p. 190
^ Leigh Montville, "Ted Williams: The Biography of an American Hero", p. 12
^ Montville, p. 13-14
^ Updike, John; "Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu" at newyorker.com
^ "Williams Family Values" Boston Magazine Accessed January 23, 2009
^ Hitter, Ed Linn, p. 355/7
^ (p 86)
^ "Williams children seek insurance money" St. Petersburg Times December 15, 2002 Accessed January 23, 2009
^ Halberstam, David. Summer of '49. New York: Perennial Classics paperback 2002, hardback orig. pub. New York, W. Morrow c1989.
^ Sailer, Steve (July 2002). "Ted Williams, RIP". isteve.com. http://www.isteve.com/Web%20Exclusives%20Archive-July2002.htm. Retrieved 2008-04-18. (scroll down to near bottom of page)
^ Ted Williams Frozen In Two Pieces, Meant To Be Frozen In Time; Head Decapitated, Cracked, DNA Missing - CBS News
^ ^a ^b Citrus: Williams' shift from will must be proved
^ ^a ^b No charges filed on Williams note
^ ^a ^b ^c Sandomir, Richard (2002-12-21). "Williams Children Agree to Keep Their Father Frozen". New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9502E3D81F3DF932A15751C1A9649C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all. Retrieved 2008-11-21.
^ [2]
^ ESPN - Leukemia claims son of Hall of Famer - MLB
^ http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2009/10/02/2009-10-02_book_reveals_chilling_details_of_how_cryonic_lab_thumped_remains_of_baseball_imm.html

References

Mersky, Peter B. (1983). U.S. Marine Corps Aviation: 1912 to the Present. Annapolis, Maryland: Nautical and Aviation Publishing Company of America. ISBN 0-933852-39-8..
Nowlin, Bill. The Kid: Ted Williams in San Diego. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Rounder Books, 2005. ISBN 1579400949. Discusses Williams' early life and extensively documents his ancestry.
Seidel, Michael (2000). Ted Williams: A Baseball Life. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-8032-9280-5.
SPORT magazine, April 1948.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ted Williams

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Ted Williams

Baseball Hall of Fame – Member biography
Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube
Baseball Library
Ted Williams: A life remembered - article at Boston Globe
Ted Williams Tribute - article at Sports Illustrated
Videos of Ted Williams Cryonics Debate
Ted Williams Museum
Photo of Ted Williams with Joe and Dom DiMaggio
Ted Williams: Hitter - slideshow by Life magazine
Ted Williams at Find a Grave Retrieved on 2008-07-11

Accomplishments

Preceded by Jimmie Foxx Joe DiMaggio Hank Greenberg Joe DiMaggio	American League RBI Champion 1939 1942 1947 1949 (with Vern Stephens)	Succeeded by Hank Greenberg Rudy York Joe DiMaggio Walt Dropo & Vern Stephens
Preceded by Joe DiMaggio Mickey Vernon Mickey Mantle	American League Batting Champion 1941-1942 1947-1948 1957-1958	Succeeded by Luke Appling George Kell Harvey Kuenn
Preceded by Hank Greenberg Hank Greenberg Joe DiMaggio	American League Home Run Champion 1941-1942 1947 1949	Succeeded by Rudy York Joe DiMaggio Al Rosen
Preceded by Hal Newhouser Lou Boudreau	American League Most Valuable Player 1946 1949	Succeeded by Joe DiMaggio Phil Rizzuto
Preceded by Lou Gehrig	American League Triple Crown 1942 and 1947	Succeeded by Mickey Mantle
Preceded by Mickey Mantle	Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year 1957	Succeeded by Herb Elliott
Preceded by Gil Hodges	Washington Senators/Texas Rangers Managers 1969-1972	Succeeded by Whitey Herzog

v • d • e Major League Baseball All-Century Team

Pitchers	Nolan Ryan · Sandy Koufax · Cy Young · Roger Clemens · Bob Gibson · Walter Johnson · Warren Spahn · Christy Mathewson · Lefty Grove

Infielders	Johnny Bench · Yogi Berra · Lou Gehrig · Mark McGwire · Jackie Robinson · Rogers Hornsby · Mike Schmidt · Brooks Robinson · Cal Ripken, Jr. · Ernie Banks · Honus Wagner

Outfielders	Babe Ruth · Hank Aaron · Ted Williams · Willie Mays · Joe DiMaggio · Mickey Mantle · Ty Cobb · Ken Griffey, Jr. · Pete Rose · Stan Musial

v • d • e Major League Baseball \| MLB All-Time Team

Lou Gehrig • Rogers Hornsby • Honus Wagner • Mike Schmidt (Infielders) • Johnny Bench (Catcher) • Paul Molitor (Designated hitter) Ted Williams • Willie Mays • Babe Ruth (Outfielders) • Walter Johnson • Sandy Koufax • Dennis Eckersley (Pitchers) • Casey Stengel (Manager)

American League MVP Award

500 home run club

Barry Bonds · Hank Aaron · Babe Ruth · Willie Mays · Ken Griffey, Jr. · Sammy Sosa · Frank Robinson · Mark McGwire · Alex Rodriguez · Harmon Killebrew · Rafael Palmeiro · Jim Thome · Reggie Jackson · Mike Schmidt · Manny Ramirez · Mickey Mantle · Jimmie Foxx · Willie McCovey · Frank Thomas · Ted Williams · Ernie Banks · Eddie Mathews · Mel Ott · Gary Sheffield · Eddie Murray
Italics denotes active player

v • d • e Boston Red Sox Retired Numbers

#1 Bobby Doerr • #4 Joe Cronin • #6 Johnny Pesky • #8 Carl Yastrzemski • #9 Ted Williams • #14 Jim Rice • #27 Carlton Fisk

v • d • e Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 1966

BBWAA Vote	Ted Williams (93.38%)

Veterans Committee	Casey Stengel

J. G. Taylor Spink Award	Charles Dryden

Outfielders in the National Baseball Hall of Fame

Aaron • Ashburn • Averill • Bell • Brock • Brown • Burkett • Carey • Charleston • Clarke • Clemente • Cobb • Combs • Crawford • Cuyler • Delahanty • DiMaggio • Doby • Duffy • Flick • Goslin • Gwynn • Hafey • Hamilton • Heilmann • Henderson • Hill • Hooper • Irvin • Jackson • Kaline • Keeler • Kelley • Kelly • Kiner • Klein • Mantle • Manush • Mays • McCarthy • Medwick • Musial • O'Rourke • Ott • Puckett • J. Rice • S. Rice • Robinson • Roush • Ruth • Simmons • Slaughter • Snider • Speaker • Stargell • Stearnes • Thompson • Torriente • L. Waner • P. Waner • Wheat • B. Williams • T. Williams • Wilson • Winfield • Yastrzemski • Youngs

v • d • e Texas Rangers managers

Washington Senators (1961-1971)	Vernon • Yost • Hodges • Lemon • Williams

Texas Rangers (1972-present)	Williams • Herzog • Wilber • Martin • Lucchesi • Stanky • Ryan • Hunter • Corrales • Zimmer • Johnson • Rader • Valentine • Harrah • Kennedy • Oates • Narron • Showalter • Washington

Persondata
NAME	Williams, Ted
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Williams, Theodore Samuel; Splendid Splinter
SHORT DESCRIPTION	American left fielder in Major League Baseball
DATE OF BIRTH	August 30, 1918
PLACE OF BIRTH	San Diego, California
DATE OF DEATH	July 5, 2002
PLACE OF DEATH	Inverness, FL

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Ted Williams

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