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 The Splendid Splinter, Ted Williams Photo Gallery
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September 28, 1941 and 1960: Dramatic Days For the Great Ted Williams

 “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’.” –Ted Williams

“If ever a man was born to be a hitter it was me.” -Ted Willams

There’s no question that, on at least two occasions, September 28 was a memorable day for the Splendid Splinter, Ted Williams. In addition to being the day in 1941 that Ted went 6-8 in a doubleheader to finish the season at .406, it’s also the day in 1960 when Ted stepped up to the plate for the last time. Let’s take another look at those two days:

September 28, 1941

Seventy-eight years ago yesterday, before the final two games of the 1941 regular season, a doubleheader against the Philadelphia Athletics, Ted was batting .39955. The figure would have been officially rounded up to .400. Red Sox manager Joe Cronin offered him the chance to sit out the final day, putting his .400 batting average into the record books; but Ted famously declined, saying: “If I’m going to be a .400 hitter I want more than my toenails on the line.” He proceeded to go 6-for-8 and finished the season at .406.

September 28, 1960

 Fifty-nine years ago yesterday, on the last day of the 1960 season, Ted made his final plate appearance. As one might expect, he went out in style, hitting a home run off Baltimore’s Jack Fisher, the 521st home run of his great career. In typical Williams fashion, he didn’t come out of the dugout for a bow. He just trotted out to left field in the ninth and then was immediately replaced by Carroll Hardy, leaving the game to a standing ovation. The Red Sox rallied for two more runs to beat the Orioles 5-4. Thus the curtain came down on one of the most magnificent careers in baseball history.

Ted Williams’ Career Stats

There’s no debate that Ted Williams was one of the game’s greatest ballplayers. He’s generally recognized by baseball historians as the game’s greatest pure hitter. Ted played his entire 19-year major league career with the Red Sox (1939–1942 and 1946–1960). His career stats are mind-boggling.

Over his career, in which he lost three full seasons and parts of a fourth to military service, he hit .344 (seventh all-time), with 2,454 hits, 521 home runs (19th all-time), 1837 RBIs (14th all-time), a .482 on-base percentage (first all-time), and a .634 slugging average (2nd all-time), behind only Babe Ruth’s .689. It’s impossible to say what his numbers would have been without all the time lost to military service, but it’s always interesting to speculate. 

Using today’s advanced sabrmetrics, Ted’s career WAR of 123.1 currently ranks 14th all-time. His OPS of 1.116 is second all-time, and his OPS+ of 190 is second all-time (100 being the major league average).  

Ted was a nineteen-time All-Star, a two-time American League Most Valuable Player, a six-time American League batting champion, four-time American League home run leader, four-time American League RBI leader, and a two-time Triple Crown winner. His career batting average of .3444 is the highest of any player who played his entire career in the live-ball era following 1920.

Ted’s Phenomenal 1941 Season

Ted’s 1941 season is considered to be one of the best offensive season ever, even though the MVP award that year went go to Joe DiMaggio. His .406 batting average is still the highest batting average in the major leagues since 1924, and the last time any major league player has hit over .400 since Bill Terry in 1930. His .553 on-base percentage stood as a major league record for 61 years; and his .735 slugging average was the highest in the major leagues between 1932 and 1994. They are both the highest in Red Sox history. Ted also led the league with 135 runs scored and 37 home runs, and was second in RBIs with 120.

The 1940s Decade Triple Crown Winner

Ted was also the Decade Triple Crown winner for the 1940s. Like many other ballplayers, he missed three full seasons due to military service during World War II. Yet, in the seven seasons in which he played, he still put up phenomenal numbers. In the Triple Crown categories from 1940-1949, Ted averaged .357, with 234 home runs (average: 33 per season), and 868 RBIs (average: 127 per season). In addition he had 1302 hits (average: 186 per season), 951 runs scored (average: 136 per season), and 270 doubles (average: 39 per season).

Perhaps most impressive of all was his average on-base percentage for the decade, .496, which included a .553 mark in 1941 that stood as the major league record for 61 years until broken by Barry Bonds in the steroid era. His decade .649 slugging average was also “off-the-chats.”

A First Ballot Hall-of-Famer

Ted was a first ballot selection to the Hall of Fame in 1966, and his #9 has been retired by the Red Sox. He has also been named to the Major League All-Century team and the Major League Baseball All-Time team. In 1999, Ted was ranked as number eight on The Sporting News‘ list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players.

I think it’s safe to say we will never see the likes of Ted Williams again.

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Gary Livacari 

Photo Credits: All from Google search

Statistics from Baseball Reference

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