Ted Williams Biography

On August 30, 1918, Theodore Samuel Williams was born. He played high school baseball at Herbert Hoover High School, in San Diego. While still in high school, the Yankees and the Cardinals were both making offers to him, only to have him held back by his mother. She thought that he was far too young to leave his home at the time. He stated early in his career that he wanted to be revered as the "greatest hitter who ever lived," which he was, at least in the eyes of many baseball fans.

Teddy Ballgame Moves Up the Ranks

In 1939, the Red Sox signed Ted onto their team, where he made an immediate impact. During his rookie year he lead the American League in RBIs and finished in 4th place in the MVP balloting. Williams stellar play quickly earned him nicknames such as "Teddy Ballgame" and "The Splendid Splinter."

Williams most historic season would come in 1941. Williams entered the last day of the season with a batting average of .39955 which would be rounded up to .400, some people thought he should sit out the last day of the season to make sure he did not lose his .400 batting average. Instead of taking this easy way out Williams played both games of the dobule header and got 6 hits in 8 at bats to raise his batting average to .406 for the season. In the 65 seasons that have followed not a single player has been able to match what Williams did that year.

Williams Goes to War

Ted Williams served as a Marine Corps pilot during WWII and the Korean War. During WWII, Teddy served as a flight instructor. He taught young pilots how to fly F4U Corsair's at Pensacola Naval Air Station. In '46, he finished his tour in Hawaii and returned home, though staying an active member of the reserves.

He was again called to duty for the Korean War. February 16, 1953, William's plane was hit with a piece of flak, destroying his hydraulic and electrical systems, which caused him to crash-land his plane. He was awarded the Air Medal for bringing the plane back. Ted flew a total of 38 combat missions before his wings were taken from him due to an old ear infection acting up. Despite the limitations these two tours put on his baseball career, he complained not once about his service in the Marine Corps.

Games Lost Due to the Wars

It's a common discussion amongst baseball fans. What would Williams career numbers look like if he hadn't spent some of his prime career years in the military? In 1942 he hit .356 with 36 home runs. He missed the next three years. In 1946 he comes back to hit .342 with 38 home runs. It seems no stretch of the imagination that Williams lost about 540 hits and 110 home runs during those 3 missed seasons. He missed most of 1952 and 1953 as well. All told I would estimate that Williams lost approximately 800 hits and 160 home runs from his career stats and these are very conservative estimates. Certainly Williams would have come close to the 700 home run club and would have been well over 3000 hits.

An Amazing Hitter

He is one of only two players in the history of baseball to win the Triple Crown twice. Unfortunately, he did not win the MVP either of these seasons which I find to be quite ridiculous. Williams career .482 OBP is bettered by only one player in history, Babe Ruth. Similarly only Babe Ruth has a higher career slugging percentage than Williams. He had an incredible season in 1957 at age 38. He hit .388 with a .526 OBP and a .731 SLG. This was the last season that any player would have an OBP above .500 until Barry Bonds historic 2001 season.

Williams Shift

Opponents often applied the "Williams Shift" against Ted, leaving one fielder on the left half of the field. Rather than hitting the ball into this open space, he proudly batted as usual against the planned defense which is usually called an "infield shift." A similar approach is taken against the modern era's greatest hitter Barry Bonds.

Hall of Fame

In 1966, Ted Williams was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. At the time of his retirement, he ranked third in all-time home runs, with only Babe Ruth and Jimmie Foxx ahead of him; he was seventh in RBIs, and seventh in batting average.