No other player has crossed the .400 line in a season since then, and probably never will. 454/.655 compared to a .312/.432/.496 line for Williams. Ted Williams is the best pure hitter I ever saw. He was neverbetter than in 1977 though, when he earned his lone AL MVP award. Most baseball fans know that Ted's last season was 1960 when he famously hit a home run in the last at bat of his legendary career. Williams also had a batting average of .388 in 1942, .356 in 1947, .328 in 1948, .345 in 1949, and .317 in 1960. In 1936 the 18-year-old posted an impressive .271 batting average on 107 at bats in 42 games for the Padres. On September 28, 1960, at Boston's Fenway Park, Red Sox star Ted Williams hits a home run in the last at-bat of his 21-year career. 5 - Ted Williams signed a five-year contract to manage the Washington Senators on February 21, 1969. Babe Ruth, 48 years old, pinch-hit in the 7th inning and flied out to right, but the all-stars won 9-8 on a Ted Williams home run. Cap Anson, 6. Ted Williams's .406 Average Is More Than a Number - The New York Times Ted Williams Was Robbed of More Than 140 Home Runs - Sportscasting He hit two All-Star-Game home runs at Fenway Park and finished the season at .342 with 38 home runs and 123 RBIs, and was named the American Leagues Most Valuable Player. 83-year-old Mainer still taking the field at Red Sox Fantasy Camp He won eight NL batting titles and hit .338 over a 20-year . August 30, 1918 Ted Williams was born on Friday, August 30, 1918, in San Diego, California. On the morning of Sept. 28 - the last day of the 1941 baseball season - statistics showed Ted Williams, of the Boston Red Sox, leading the major leagues with a batting average of .400. . Frank Robinson . The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball, Did not play in major or minor leagues (Military Service), Salaries may not be complete (especially pre-1985) and may not include some earned bonuses, Note, this is done in an automated way, so we apologize for any errors, & please. Your email address will not be published. Ted Williams served as a Naval Aviator during World War II and the Korean War. . . Ted went 4-for-5 in the first game [box], bringing his batting average to .404, then went 2-for-3 in the second game [box], ending the season with a .406 batting average, making him the last player to bat over .400 in a season. Ted Williams hits home run in last major league at-bat As well, he was the youngest player in the history of the game to achieve 1,000, 2,000, and 4,000 hits. On September 28, 1960, exactly 19 years after he went 6-for-8 to hit .406, Ted Williams played his last Major League game for the only MLB team he had ever played for. Do you have a sports website? He could have sat out the games and achieved the .400 average for the year, through rounding. Ted Williams. Williams did enjoy his .406 season, right down to the final hit on Sept. 28, 1941 a rocket that crashed into a bulky loudspeaker atop a fence in right-center field. It does not store any personal data. First, lets back it up to the start of the season-ending three-game series in Philadelphia. Stan Musial, one of the finest players in the majors during the late 1940s and in history, ended his holdout 75 years ago Saturday. That year, the mean and the standard deviation for batting averages were 0.28062 and 0.03281. . When his classification was changed to 1-A following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, he made an appeal to his draft board which was upheld. He'd gone 2-for-5 with a run scored in a rout of the Chicago White Sox, but all that did was improve his batting average . . Though Williams' .406 average was just a footnote in wire-service accounts in 1941, it's status grows more mythical with each passing year. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. Stan Musial 5. Three landmarks of baseball achievement are Ty Cobb's batting average of 0.420 in 1911. He played his entire 19-year career with the Boston Red Sox and is often referred to as the greatest hitter who ever lived. But perhaps there is no better bridge to the legendary past of Ted Williams than the Red Sox hitter who won back-to-back AL batting titles in 1999 and 2000 . Yankees outfielder Paul ONeill actually finished 1994 with a .359 batting average and was hitting .400 later into the season too. 16 hits shy of .400.Ichiro Suzuki, 2004: .372Hard as it is to believe, Ichiro actually did not spend a single day of his 2004 season at or above .400. The Red Sox were coming off a three-game series in Washington where Williams went 2-for-10, dropping his average from .406 to .401. . Williams was first sent, with teammate John Pesky, to the Navy's Preliminary Ground School at Amherst College in Massachusetts, for six months. Williams was 20 years old when he broke into the big leagues on April 20, 1939, with . These batting averapes cannot be compared directly because the distribution of major league batting averages has changed over the years. The runner-up in our five-part series documenting the best years of Boston Red Sox star Ted Williams brings us to his 1941 season. He flied out to left to finish 2-for-3, his average settling at .406 or .405701, rounded up. Throughout his entire career, Williams batting average never dropped below .300. What was Ted Williams' average? I had to maintain my focus throughout. At the age of 23 he hit .406 in 1941 winning his first of hour HR titles and first of six batting titles. Where what happened yesterday is being preserved today. Teddy Ballgame joined the club first when he went deep off Thornton Lee on September 17, 1939 then his son Don Lee on September 2, 1960. Stan Musial, 1948: .376Vin Scully once said that Musial was "good enough to take your breath away," and in 1948 he reached perhaps his most dizzying heights. Full-year historical Major League statistics provided by Pete Palmer and Gary Gillette of Hidden Game Sports. On September 28, 1941, Boston Red Socks first baseman Ted Williams had six hits in eight at-bats, raising his average to. It's also available for football, basketball and hockey. Did you know that those who finished ahead of The Thumper were 7. At season's end, Williams was five hits shy of .400 and eight knocks shy of besting his trademark .406.Last day at .400: June 5How short was he? Williams hit .356 in 1955 and .345 in 1956. July 5, 2002 He saw 17 seasons in which he hit for over .300 which ranks third-most in the modern era only behind Ty Cobb and Tris Speaker. Williams was also a power hitter, slugging . Copyright 2000-2023 Sports Reference LLC. Because of his ability to hit for both average and power, he was one of a kind and a truly special player. "It was something that required a kind of nonstop consistency," Williams said on the 50th anniversary of the feat in 1991. His average was up to .40089. Cobb, 2. The highest batting average ever recorded was by Ted Williams in 1941 when he hit .406. - Gaus, Ed. Join Baseball Almanac as we take a look at some additional numbers of interest as they relate to Ted Williams, easily (one of) "The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived": 1 - Ted Williams has the highest on base percentage ever put together by any Major League ballplayer in history! . One of our favorite websites, Baseball in Wartime, has put together the best biographies on every player who served. Ted wanted to play in the worst way.. His lowest batting average in a year that he won a batting title was .336 or .337. Ted Williams | YourDictionary The Remarkable Lifetime Batting Average Of Ted Williams: An For WWII, 4 years - 1942-1945; for the Korean War, he effectively lost 1952 and 1953. . Number twenty was Ralph Kiner, number one was Babe Ruth, the full list of his Top 20 Hitters is in our Legendary Lists section. Free shipping for many products! When the season is over, I'll get into the Navy as fast as I can.". Every Sports Reference Social Media Account, Site Last Updated: Saturday, March 4, 12:52AM. "If I had known hitting .400 was going to be such a big deal, I would have done it again.". Its hard to say which one is more undeniable: Bill Bergen or Ty Cobb. The next morning, Sept. 28, Williams and roommate Charlie Wagner, a 28-year-old pitcher, took a cab to the ballpark. It's hard to knock him for effort, however, seeing as collected 262 hits to break George Sisler's 84-year-old record that season.Last day at .400: N/A.How short was he? Born: Ted Williams Stats, Fantasy & News | MLB.com Born in San Diego California, on August 30th 1918. Ted Williams was born on August 30, 1918. Ted Williams Becomes Last MLB Player To Hit .400 - HISTORY Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. by Retrosheet. He batted .316 as a 42-year-old in 1960 and his lifetime average of .344 is only topped by Ty Cobb, Rogers Hornsby, Shoeless Joe Jackson, and Tris Speak. "My conscience is clear. A lifetime .298 batting average he hit a home run every 15.11 at bats. As the story goes, Ted Williams entered the final day of the 1941 season with a .400 batting average and a chance to sit out Bostons scheduled doubleheader against the As, a move that would clinch the first .400 season in 11 years. Ted Williams averaged 300 hits while winning two Triple Crowns, the most of any Hall of Fame player. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. Its unfortunate, but batting averages continue to decline in baseball with much emphasis put on home runs. A left-handed batter, Williams got his start in professional baseball while still a high school senior, playing for the Pacific Coast League's San Diego Padres. When they shifted on him, everybody to the right side, he still kept trying to pull the ball for hits. In the second game Williams went 2-for-3 to finalize his average for the season at .406. . In the season of 1941 he hit at the average of .406 and won the Triple Crown. Shoeless Joe Jackson, 4. Friendly reminder that Ted Williams played from 1939 to 1960 and had the highest batting average, most home runs and most RBI's of any player in MLB during that period. Since Ted Williams achieved a lifetime batting average of .344, the highest batting average since his time has been held by Tony Gwynn with a career batting average of .338. Carew saw his average drop to .374 on Aug. 26, but the eventual American League MVP made one last run, batting .441 over his final 31 games to finish seven hits shy of .400. despite complaining that the shift cost him 20 to 30 points on his lifetime batting average of . Ted Williams once commented about those that fail 'only' seven times out of ten attempts will be the greatest in the game. One of the most prolific hitters in the history of Major League Baseball, Ted Williams was a true master of the sport. 15 hits shy of .400.T6. There is one major qualification to Walker's 1999 season, which is that his average in the thin home air at Coors Field (.461) was a full 175 points higher than his clip on the road (.286). Williams was right to be worried. Where what happened yesterday is being preserved today. He actually led MLB with a .333 batting average the very next season, only playing in 40 games. He also had a career slugging percentage of .634, which is the third-highest of all time. 1941-05-02 MLB player Ted Williams' lowest average (.308) in year he hit over .400. Ted Williams Armed Forces Identification Card | Library of Congress Collection. The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". "By luck of the draw, we went to Korea at the same time," said future astronaut, John Glenn. When Williams did take the bat off his shoulder, the results were staggering by any measure. The Panama native racked up nearly three times as many career hits as strikeouts (3,053 vs. 1,028) and his 1,018 walks nearly equal the strikeout total. Note: Ted Williams served in the Armed Forces (WWII & Korea) for almost 5 full seasons during his career, which makes his career stats all the more remarkable. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. But more importantly, his average was now at .406593 or .407. Williams was 20 years old when he broke into the big leagues on April 20, 1939, with the Boston Red Sox. It is appropriate to place Williams among the greatest hitters of all time, as his career numbers demonstrate his greatness. They were all kids he never had seen before, and he hated this, Cronin said, according to Leigh Montvilles book Ted Williams: The Biography of an American Hero. Ted would rather face the best than someone he had never seen before. During his 24-year career, he compiled a .366 batting average, which is the highest in Major League Baseball history. 1941 is a very important year for baseball fans. Logos were compiled by the amazing SportsLogos.net. In his first career season with the Boston Red Sox, his batting average was .329. I can do this by playing ball this year. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". He was a master of the art of hitting, combining great hand-eye coordination and power with a keen knowledge of the strike zone. A piece of the loudspeaker . Ruth, 2. "If I had known hitting .400 was going to be such a big deal, I would have done it again. In 1911 he led the AL in runs, hits, RBIs, batting average and slugging percentage and saw 400 hits in a season on three different occasions. Five hits shy of .400.T3. Gwynn was also known for his hitting prowess and was credited with revolutionizing the way batting averages were calculated. Young Ted Williams, who had turned 23 less than a month earlier, woke up that morning hitting .39955 on the year, just .00045 below the hallowed .400 mark. His career batting average of .344 is a testament to his greatness as a hitter. Brett saw an impressive .390 batting average in 1980 which marks the latest a player has qualified for .400 since 1941. Williams' response was not captured for posterity. The Red Sox trailed, 11-10, and Mack brought in his third pitcher of the day, Tex Shirley, a 23-year-old right-hander making his fifth appearance. Did you know that prior to Ted Williams, the only inductees who received more votes were 5. Watch our How-To Videos to Become a Stathead, Subscribe to Stathead and get access to more data than you can imagine. Red Sox Memories: Best of Ted Williams - 1941 season Ted Williams Worksheet for Kids | Early Life, Career and - KidsKonnect In the first game at Philadelphias Shibe Park on Sept. 27, 1941, right-handed knuckleballer Roger Wolff, 30 years old and playing in just his second Major League game, held him to one hit in four at-bats, dropping his average further to .39955, rounded up to .400 in some observers eyes (and the official record books). Question, Comment, Feedback, or Correction? Create your own MLB fantasy pools & contests with RYP! Bergen hit.170 in 3,028 at-bats during his career, his lowest average since his playing career began. Subscribe to Stathead Baseball: Get your first month FREEYour All-Access Ticket to the Baseball Reference Database. Rookie Status: He was in Hawaii awaiting orders as a replacement pilot and playing ball with a Marine flight-wing team when the war ended. Bats/Throws: L/R. He was the last player to hit .400 in Major . With the season complete, Williams led the Majors in batting average, on-base percentage (.553), slugging (.735), OPS (1.287), runs (135), home runs (37) and walks (147). 93.4 - Ted Williams was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1966, his first year of eligibility, receiving votes from 93.4% of the writers. Do you have a blog? Ted Williams hits .406 in 1941 . Ted Williams was one of the greatest hitters in baseball history. For part of the year, Williams' quest was overshadowed by New York Yankee star Joe DiMaggio's record 56-game hitting streak. Why was Ted Williams so good? - Sage-Answers Ted Williams had a .344 average over his career. Ted Williams Boston Red Sox MLB . Given the fact that we are just weeks away from the close of the season, we can makea safe assumption that Williams ongoing streak will remain intact. So Ted and I were scheduled together. With more players looking to hit home runs, the more strikeouts occur which is good for pitching. It was originally scheduled to be a three-day affair, with a game each on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but As owner and manager Connie Mack rescheduled the opening game to be part of a Sunday doubleheader in order to boost attendance with the 22-year-old Williams chasing history. "Another time he was hit in the wingtip tank when I was flying with him. One of the most impressive batting averages of all time belongs to Ted Williams. by Handedness. I am going to play ball this season, he announced. Part of the Baseball Almanac Family, Current Through End of 2023 Regular Season. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. 18 - Ted Williams was the eighteenth player in Major League history to end his career, during his last at-bat, with a home run, joining the "club" on September 28, 1960, with some assistance from the opposing pitcher, Jack Fisher. Become a Stathead & surf this site ad-free. He played his entire 19-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career, primarily as a left fielder, for the Boston Red Sox from 1939 to 1960; his career . Did you know that Joe Glenn, who caught Babe Ruth last pitching appearance in 1933, was Williams's catcher? Highest Batting Average in a Season. Major League and Minor League Baseball data provided by Major League Baseball. In 1977 Carew played in 85 total games and is the only player to have multiple league-leading batting average seasons with over 85 games played. Barry Bonds, Aaron Judge and the 25 Greatest Corner Outfielders in The Hawk became the second member when he went deep off Pedro Borbon on June 10, 1977 then off his son Pedro Borbon (Jr.) on August 16, 1995. Ted Williams Batting Average By Year. BOSTON Seventy years ago today, Ted Williams was hitting under .400. Ted Williams' 0.406 in 1941, and George Brett's 0.390 in 1980. As the story goes, Ted Williams entered the final day of the 1941 season with a .400 batting average and a chance to sit out Boston's scheduled doubleheader against the A's, a move that would clinch the first .400 season in 11 years. Ted Williams was a legendary hitter who is widely regarded as one of the greatest hitters to ever play the game of baseball. But not others. The same cannot be said of Ted Williams. ", Latest-in-season .400 bids since Ted Williams. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. It is the reason we mentioned those three specific stats up above and to date, Ted Williams remains the only player in the American League to put together two Triple Crown seasons. Author. Sign up to receive our daily Morning Lineup to stay in the know about the latest trending topics around Major League Baseball. This is only his third big-league season and his batting average in his first two years has been .267 and .260 respectivelyhe entered . The day Ted Williams put his .400 season on the line 8/30/2022 at 12:00 AM 8/30/2022 at 12:00 AM The best baseball players born on Aug. 30 Walter Johnson, 3. Could Ted Williams hit 400 against modern pitchers? - Quora The Splendid Splinter posted the highest single-season batting average in the modern era by a player 38 years of age or older -- 10 points higher than 38-year old Ty Cobb's .378 in 1925. Ty Cobb is considered to be the greatest hitter of all-time, although that point is often argued to this day. All Rights Reserved by Baseball Almanac, Inc.Hosted by Hosting 4 Less. "Giant centerfield Willie Mays compared (Ted) Williams and (Stan) Musial to sportswriter Roger Kahn. Colorado Rockies four-time All-Star Larry Walker (a five-timer in the Midsummer Classic overall) is the most recent hitter of the top four, as he posted a stellar .379 batting average back in 1999. Play-by-play data prior to 2002 was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted Brett finished his career with more than 3,000 hits, 650 doubles, 130 triples, 300 home runs, and 200 stolen bases, to go alone with an elite .305/.369/.487/.857 slash line. Plenty of headlines the next day looked beyond the third decimal: Sox Top As; Williams Falls to .399Teds Average to .39955; Last Try at .400 TodayWilliams Batting Average Now .39955; Chips Down TodayTed Williams Slumps Below .400 With Two Games LeftWilliams Average Drops Below .400Ted Williams Slips Below .400 MarkRookie Drops Ted Williams To .399 MarkTed Williams Batting .399. Ted Williams impressive career totals are a testament to his skill as a hitter and his legacy as one of the greatest hitters in the history of baseball. 10 Best Hitters of All Time - The Bat Nerds Green: Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio's marks stand test of time In 1957, at the age of 39 and while playing for a lackluster team, Williams became the oldest man to win a batting title, with a spectacular .388 average, and then won the title the next year (.328). Ted Williams: L.349/.488/.663 . Epic. If Im going to be a .400 hitter, Williams said at the time, I want more than my toenails on the line.. update=copyright.getFullYear(); Did you know that after we heard the audio recording of that historic moment, we immediately created an entire page of research here on Baseball Almanac dedicated to those players who hit a home run in their last at bat? He was known as the "Splendid Splinter" and boasted a career batting average of .344. Only Robinson Cano and Trea Turner represent the other two of five active players with a career batting average above .300. I have as much right to be exempted as anyone else. The achievement of a .400 batting average in a season is recognized as "the standard of hitting excellence", in light of how batting .300 in a season is already regarded as solid. Use without license or authorization is expressly prohibited. The Kid, Teddy Ballgame, Splendid Splinter or Thumper, View Player Bio In 1958, the year Kubek played with him in the All-Star game, he won his sixth American League batting championship. That the Red Sox lost, 7-1, in a game called after eight innings because of darkness was secondary. Part of Teds great success as a hitter was the way he studied pitchers. Musial, already a two-time . In 1941, he had the highest batting average of his career when he hit for .406. Statistics and Probability questions and answers. Here is a look at our 10 best mlb hitters of all time of all time rankings list: 1. By the time Ted Williams retired he had a .344 batting average, 521 home runs, and a 0.482 on-base percentage, the highest of all time. We'll start with Garciaparra, who carried a .400-plus average longer than anyone else (July 20) in the quartet and, fittingly, came the closest in this group to matching the Red Sox legend.Last day at .400: July 20How short was he? However, the press and the fans were not happy and he enlisted in the Navy on May 22, 1942. In the two years that followed, he had batting averages of .388 and .328, respectively. Williams was batting cleanup, his customary spot in the lineup during the second half of that season (after generally batting third before the All-Star Game). His accomplishments are impressive, so its difficult to imagine anyone else succeeding in the same way. Ted Williams" .406 batting average still remarkable after 75 years Ted Williams Goes to War - HistoryNet Beerball: A History of St. Louis Baseball. Pearson finished the year with a .288 batting average, and he set career highs with 96 bases on . I have my mother to support. Ted Williams . His biographical data, year-by-year hitting stats, fielding stats, pitching stats (where applicable), career totals, uniform numbers, salary data and miscellaneous items-of-interest are presented by Baseball Almanac on this comprehensive Ted Williams baseball stats page. 20 - Ted Williams opened a Hitters Hall of Fame in Hernando, Florida in 1994, selecting the top twenty all-time hitters using his own "secret formula" which he stated was a combination of on base percentage and slugging average. He was a master of the art of hitting, and his ability to consistently hit the ball with power and accuracy ensured that he was one of the most feared hitters in the game. .406 Batting Average (1941) | .388 Batting Average (1957) . Statistics courtesy of MLB.com, Baseball-Reference, and Baseball-Almanac. This article (among others) that . Despite his.170 batting average, Bill Bergen is regarded as one of the all-time great players. Mr. Padre saw a batting average of .394 in 1994, actually slumping to end the season as he was above .400 before dropping right below it. Luke Appling (94.0% in 1964), 3. 2 - Ted Williams had two Triple Crown performances, first in 1942 (36 HRs / .356 AVG / 137 RBI), then a second time in 1947 (32 HRs / .343 AVG / 114 RBI). A good batting average is anything around the .300 range or even high-200s. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. The ride out was quiet, Wagner said. Ironically, along with Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak that has stood the test of time since 1941, Boston Red Sox icon Ted Williams' .406 average put up that very same year is unsurpassed. Baseball has seen some great players over the years, as they have come and gone. The best Murphy has ever hit over a full second half of a season was .307 in 2013. He had a career batting average of .344, which is the sixth highest in Major League Baseball history. Ted Williams - Conservapedia Ty Cobb, 4. If he sat out, he would have been credited with a .400 batting average for the season. Fans today look at the lofty batting average from Williams in . Thanks to the MLB strike of 1994, we never got the chance to see if the late Tony Gwynncould reach .400 that year. Williams spent his entire career with the Boston Red Sox and finished with a .344 career batting average, 2,654 hits, 521 home runs, and 1,839 runs batted in. He retired in 1960 with 521 home runs, 1,839 RBIs, and a .344 batting average highlighted by a .406 performance in 1941, his third year in the majors. The last player to hit just .400 in the majors was Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox, who hit .406 in 1941 before taking the next three seasons off . When Ted Williams hung-up his playing cleats in 1960, he ranked third all-time in home runs (1. Some defensive statistics Copyright Sports Info Solutions, 2010-2023. Ted Williams, 1957: .388 At the age of 38, Williams found out first-hand how hard it is to record a .400 average. All rights reserved. His batting average in 1941 concluded at .406, the highest ever. Five hits shy of joining himself in the .400 club.4. Williams was on first with a 4-for-5 day, but his average slid to .404. Ted Williams remains the last player to finish a season with a .400 average, doing so when he hit .406 in 1941. the official stats partner of the NBA, NHL and MLB. Ted Williams MLB Stats - Official Site for "The Splendid Splinter", MLB Hall Of Famer Ted Williams #9, Boston Red Sox . . Carew began his career as an All-Star in 1967 and never looked back, making 18 straight teams until his final season in 1985. Its extremely difficult to hit a baseball and the sport considers players who are successful three out of 10 times in their careers to be Hall of Fame worthy. 3 Year Projections . Lou Gehrig, 3. Did you know Ted Williams was there at the helm, due to their relocation from D.C. to Arlington, for the last Washington Senators game (September 30, 1971), AND the first Texas Rangers game (April 15, 1972)?