. Todd Helton, 2000 .372One year after Walker ignited the Rocky Mountains with his .400 chase, teammate Helton gave it a try. 1941-09-28 Ted Williams ended the baseball season with .406 batting avg. Sunday marked the 75th anniversary of the culmination of Joe DiMaggio's record 56-game hitting streak, as the Yankees star went 0-for-3 against Cleveland pitchers Al Smith and Jim Bagby on July 17, 1941.But while Joltin' Joe's record run captured the imagination of the American public, his friendly rival, Ted Williams, may have set an even more untouchable mark when he finished that 1941 season with a .406 average.Consider this: While DiMaggio batted .409 during his streak, Williams actually bested him with a .412 average during that same span. 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? 'Ted Williams was the best pure hitter I ever saw,' Mays said. Ted Williams had 2,654 hits over his career. Ted Williams played 19 seasons for the Red Sox. Ted Williams Rookie Card | 1939 Play Ball Baseball Card (#92 | Checklist)Baseball Almanac Research Library. 15 hits shy of .400.T6. The Kid,Teddy Ballgame,Splendid Splinter,Thumper are nicknames for Ted Williams. Musical hit .376 in 1948 but his success hitting went beyond that. "Since the arrival of Cadet Williams, Pesky and the other ex-major leaguers," head coach, Lieutenant George D Kepler, told the Burlington Daily Times-News on July 14, 1943, "most of our games have been won by one-sided scores. In the sixth, Mack went to his bullpen, calling on 22-year-old left-hander Porter Vaughn. Copyright 2023 Endgame360 Inc. All Rights Reserved. Did you know that Carney Lansford and Will Clark each lost the batting championship on the last day of the season in 1989, the first time the batting title was decided in both leagues on the last day? Ted wanted to play in the worst way.. Rather than ruminate in his hotel room that night, Williams and Red Sox equipment manager Johnny Orlando who had bestowed The Kid nickname on Williams when he arrived at his first Spring Training went out for a walk. Williams' batting average was 47 points higher than Washington's Cecil Travis, who was second. As mentioned above, Gwynn won the batting title in 1997 but Walker still led the majors in OPS and won the MVP. Walks 8X (4th All-Time) | Runs Created 9X (6th All-Time) Much of the play-by-play, game results, and transaction information both shown and used to create certain data sets was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by RetroSheet. It does not store any personal data. The major league minimum is $720,000. 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. 14 hits shy of .400.T6. A piece of the loudspeaker . This article (among others) that . But while he won the American League batting title by a whopping 47 points that year, his efforts fell short in the league's Most Valuable Player Award voting. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. 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). Williams was on first with a 4-for-5 day, but his average slid to .404. MVP Season 150 Runs, 43 HRs, 159 RBIs, 162 BBs, 368 TBs, .343 BA (1949), Official Site for "The Splendid Splinter", MLB Hall Of Famer Ted Williams #9. Shoeless Joe Jackson, 4. (Age 20-233d, Babe Ruth (95.1% in 1936) AND Honus Wagner (95.1% in 1936), and 1. Total Zone Rating and initial framework for Wins above Replacement calculations provided by Sean Smith. Did you know that when George Brett went 1-for-1 at the plate on October 3, 1990, he raised his average to .329, won the batting championship, and became the first player in baseball history to win a batting title in three different decades? Did you know that prior to Ted Williams, the only inductees who received more votes were 5. 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 . 1942-06-02 Red Sox star Ted Williams enlists as a US Navy aviator. George Brett, 1980: .390The greatest hitter in Royals history actually began the 1980 campaign 1-for-7, and did not see his average rise above .300 until his last game of May. Join our linker program. When Williams did take the bat off his shoulder, the results were staggering by any measure. The next morning, Sept. 28, Williams and roommate Charlie Wagner, a 28-year-old pitcher, took a cab to the ballpark. The night before the final game of the season I walked the streets of Philly with Ted, said Orlando, who was just a few years older than Williams. He was right about that and the list of batting champions below, reflects those great hitters who truly dominated during a single season of play. Answer (1 of 12): Tony Gwynn was a huge fan of Ted Williams and would pick his head for anything that could improve his hitting. Aside from winning two Triple Crowns and being a two-time Most Valuable Player, Williams was also a 17-time All-Star. 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. 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. document.write(update); 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. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. It came up the runway about 1,500 feet before he was able to jump out and run off the wingtip. Never much of a power hitter, Carew was still one of the most lethal offensive weapons in all of baseball through the late 1960s, all of the 70s, and into the early- and mid-80s. Play-by-play data prior to 2002 was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted 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. He also had a career slugging percentage of .634, which is the third-highest of all time. Three Landmarks of baseball achievement are Ty Cobb's batting average of .420 in 1911, Ted Williams's .406 in 1941, and George Brett's .390 in 1980. Standard Batting; Year Age Tm Lg G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ TB GDP HBP SH SF IBB Pos Awards; 1936: 17: BOS-min: AA: 42: 107: 107: 18: 29: 8: 2: 0: 11: 2 . 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. [Answer]. 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. Williams hit .356 in 1955 and .345 in 1956. He was the last player to hit .400 in Major . Question, Comment, Feedback, or Correction? If Im going to be a .400 hitter, Williams said at the time, I want more than my toenails on the line.. Ted Williams was batting at .39955 going into the final day, a double-header, of the 1941 season. Williams being sworn into the U.S. Navy Reserve on May 22, 1942. When the season is over, I'll get into the Navy as fast as I can.". 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. 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. Year by Year Leaders for Batting Average Major League Baseball Batting Champions. Ty Cobb, 2. . Babe Ruth? Johnny Sain walked the Babe in his one plate appearance as the old time Yankees lost 8-5. Even then he got to know more about the pitcher than the pitcher knew about himself. Williams flew 39 combat missions before being pulled from flight status in June of 1953 after an old ear infection acted up. Williams, a three-time All-Star and two-time Silver Slugger, hit.344 with 2,654 hits, 521 home runs, and 1,839 runs scored in his career. Ted Williams was a legendary hitter who is widely regarded as one of the greatest hitters to ever play the game of baseball. Ted Williams, in full Theodore Samuel Williams, bynames the Splendid Splinter and Teddy Ballgame, (born August 30, 1918, San Diego, California, U.S.died July 5, 2002, Inverness, Florida), American professional baseball player who compiled a lifetime batting average of .344 as an outfielder with the American League Boston Red Sox from 1939 to 1960. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. So Ted and I were scheduled together. 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. Because of his keen eye and incredible hand-eye coordination, as well as his willingness to pay attention to the game and his opponents, he was one of the best feared hitters in Major League Baseball. Foxx, 5. Helton's average remained at .390 all the way through Sept. 3, but a .284 average over Helton's final 26 games dropped him off the historic pace.Last day at .400: June 10How short was he? His average was up to .40089. he also finished with two of the most amazing . Frank Robinson . At the age of 23 he hit .406 in 1941 winning his first of hour HR titles and first of six batting titles. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1966. . vs. NYY 4 AB, 1 H, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 0 SB, Last Game: That the Red Sox lost, 7-1, in a game called after eight innings because of darkness was secondary. Where what happened yesterday is being preserved today. 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. As mentioned above, Carew hit for .388 in 1977 and actually led the league in hitting on six different occasions. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. To put it in perspective, Cobb hit .366 and it is the best of all-time. Ted Williams, 1957: .388A full 16 years later, Williams proved he had plenty of magic left in his bat in 1957. Posting at least a .400 batting average across a full Major League Baseball season remains one of the most difficult tasks in the game. Ted Williams had done it. [Texas Rangers Managers]. Williams, the only Major League Baseball player to hit over.400 in 1941, had an incredible year that year, batting.406. A career.344 batting average ranks second to Ty Cobb, and he won six American League titles in the league. 22 - Ted Williams was an inaugural inductee into the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame, one of twenty-two enshrined in 1995. As well, he was the youngest player in the history of the game to achieve 1,000, 2,000, and 4,000 hits. . . by Retrosheet. 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. Its unfortunate, but batting averages continue to decline in baseball with much emphasis put on home runs. Ted's batting average was .3996 rounded off by numbers-trackers to .400. . He had a .344 batting average, 2,654 hits, 521 home runs, 1,839 RBIs and 1,798 runs scored. Has there ever been a player that was a "Top Prospect" longer than Royce Lewis? The same cannot be said of Ted Williams. Every Sports Reference Social Media Account, Site Last Updated: Saturday, March 4, 12:52AM. .406 Batting Average (1941) | .388 Batting Average (1957) If he sat out, he would have been credited with a .400 batting average for the season. 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. Ted Williams at bat. 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)? * Ted Williams himself lists Joe D in his book as the 5th greatest hitter ever, and he would be 6th with Williams included on his own list. For part of the year, Williams' quest was overshadowed by New York Yankee star Joe DiMaggio's record 56-game hitting streak. Ted Williams MLB Stats - Official Site for "The Splendid Splinter", MLB Hall Of Famer Ted Williams #9, Boston Red Sox . Williams was the last hitter to hit at least .400 after finishing with a batting average of .406 in 1941. Sign up to receive our daily Morning Lineup to stay in the know about the latest trending topics around Major League Baseball. Note: Three point one (3.1) plate appearances per scheduled game are needed to win a Major League batting title and a bold faced entry denotes that the player was active during the previous Major League season. He flied out to left to finish 2-for-3, his average settling at .406 or .405701, rounded up. Ty Cobb (98.2% in 1936)? His .408 batting average in 1911 will likely stand forever as the rookie record. Lets break down the highest batting averages in a MLB season of all-time. Ted Williams once said it was his goal in life to "walk down . The 1941 AL MVP Award went to Joe DiMaggio, who hit 30 homers and paced . One of the most impressive batting averages of all time belongs to Ted Williams. Ted Williams played for 1 team, the Boston Red Sox. Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. Why? . He actually led MLB with a .333 batting average the very next season, only playing in 40 games. Part of the Baseball Almanac Family, Last-Modified: February 4, 2023 2:34 AM EST, Beerball: A History of St. Louis Baseball, Ted or Teddy or Teddy Ballgame or The Splendid Splinter, Herbert Hoover High School (San Diego, CA). Did you know that when Willie McGee won his 1990 batting title, he started the season in the National League, was traded to an American League team on August 29th, and became the first player in baseball history to win a batting a title in a league that they were not currently playing in? Ted Williams is the best pure hitter I ever saw. Find out more. 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. Born in San Diego California, on August 30th 1918. Williams got one more at-bat, leading off the seventh with the As now leading 6-0. iUniverse Publishing. Ted Williams, 1957: .388 A full 16 years later, Williams proved he had plenty of magic left in his bat in 1957. update=copyright.getFullYear(); He was right about that and the list of batting champions below, reflects those great hitters who truly dominated during a single season of play. Comparing batting averages Three landmarks of baseball achievement are Ty Cobb's batting average of 420 in 1911, Ted Williams's 406 in 1941, and George Brett's 390 in 1980. Data Provided By And yet, despite all those league-leading numbers Williams finished second to DiMaggio for the AL MVP, likely because the Yankees won the pennant by 17 games over the Red Sox and DiMaggio stole the summer with his 56-game hitting streak. 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. Ted Williams was known by the nicknames "Teddy Ballgame . We'll never know how many total at-bats Gwynn would have ended up with if his 1994 season had gone to completion, but he would have needed just three more hits to finish at .400 during his strike-shortened campaign.2. Fans today look at the lofty batting average from Williams in . Williams was 20 years old when he broke into the big leagues on April 20, 1939, with . Stan Musial, one of the finest players in the majors during the late 1940s and in history, ended his holdout 75 years ago Saturday. But what made Williams so remarkable was his lifetime batting average, a staggering .344. He would bat a more human-like .304 over his final 13 games to finish five hits shy of history.Last day at .400: Sept. 19How short was he? Do you know what National League player had the lowest average, but still won the batting title? 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. 17 hits shy of .400.T6. Willie Mays, and 1. Ted Williams hits .406 in 1941 . Thanks to the MLB strike of 1994, we never got the chance to see if the late Tony Gwynncould reach .400 that year. 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. 5.0. He had a career batting average of .344, which is the sixth highest in Major League Baseball history. Last day at .400: July 10How short was he? Instead, the Splendid Splinter played both games, went . Rather than sitting out one or both of the final two games of the season to protect his .400 average, the precocious slugger put it on the line and went 6-for-8 to secure his place in history. "He slid it in on the belly. Lou Gehrig, 3. 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. Between games, the 41-year-old Grove was honored before taking the mound to start the nightcap. 1940 1942, 1946 1951, 1953-1960 Boston Red Sox AL. 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). Larry Walker, 1999: .379Two seasons after claiming the NL MVP Award, Walker followed up with his best season at the plate by average. Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. Williams returned to the United States in December and was discharged from the Marines on January 28, 1946. To picture just how tough a time hitters have had trying to match Teddy Ballgame's .406, here's a look at the 10 players who have come the closest to reaching .400, in order of their season-ending average, over the last 75 years:1. Copyright 1999- 6 - Ted Williams collected six hits across two games of a doubleheader played on September 28, 1941, the last two games of the season. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. For hitters though, the home run or bust approach has taken over which has seen a decline in batting averages as a result. For our next entry, we turn the calendar all the way back to 1977 toreview the magical year for Minnesota Twins All-Time great Rod Carew. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. Ted Williams one of the greatest hitters that ever lived. One of our favorite websites, Baseball in Wartime, has put together the best biographies on every player who served. Walker would win the title the very next year however, but clearly 1997 was the best hitting year for seasonal batting average leaders Tony Gwynn and Larry Walker. His season . Its mind-boggling that Walker finished only 10th in the 1999 NL MVP vote, as he was an All-Star, Gold Glove winner, and Silver Slugger, all while leading the league in batting average (.379), on-base percentage (.458), slugging percentage (.710), and on-base plus slugging percentage (1.168). Bergen hit.170 in 3,028 at-bats during his career, his lowest average since his playing career began. During his Major League career, he hit.482, which ranks third all-time, and his career slugging percentage of.634 ranks second. His batting average in 1941 concluded at .406, the highest ever. (Williams was erased on a double play, but the Red Sox rallied with two outs. The 18-time All-Star won the American League triple crown in 1942 and 1947. When Ted Williams hung-up his playing cleats in 1960, he ranked third all-time in home runs (1. Bergens record-breaking batting average will always be remembered, whereas Cobb will be remembered for his incredible accomplishments and his status as one of the greatest players of all time. Musial is the best all around hitter.'" 394 batting average in 1994 is the closest anyone has come to hitting .400 . Ted Williams is widely regarded as one of the greatest hitters in baseball history, and there is no way to argue with that. Beerball: A History of St. Louis Baseball. Did you know that Ted Williams was actually hitting .401 the day before [box], Red Sox manager Joe Cronin offered him to sit out of the game, Williams refused, went 1-for-4, and had his batting average (before the double header) drop to .3995? ), Latest-in-season .400 bids since Ted Williams. The charismatic outfielder by the way, had a 14-start hitting streak (he went 0-for-1 in a substitution appearance on August 4) at the time of the strike, so he was certainly showing signs of pushing the legendary figure. He had a career batting average of .344, which is the sixth highest in Major League Baseball history. 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? The Kid, Teddy Ballgame, Splendid Splinter or Thumper, View Player Bio In 1941, he had the highest batting average of his career when he hit for .406. - Gaus, Ed. 1941 is a very important year for baseball fans. 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 . Ted Williams 4. (Sunday was also scheduled to be Lefty Grove Day as Philadelphia feted the 41-year-old Red Sox hurler who had spent his first nine seasons with the Athletics. hitting catcher has a better batting average and on-base percentage against . Christy Mathewson, 6. 5 - Ted Williams signed a five-year contract to manage the Washington Senators on February 21, 1969. Here in 2016, Washington Nationals second baseman Daniel Murphy enters play on Thursday with a .394 mark to lead the league, with no other guy within 40 points of the locked-in hitter. Ted Williams was born on Friday, August 30, 1918, in San Diego, California. At season's end, Williams was five hits shy of . Williams led off, hitting a grounder to second that was booted by Crash Davis for an error. He saw it the same way. Ted Williams had a .344 average over his career. Here then, are the four batters since No. Other factors in Gwynns favor that season:He was hitting at least .300 since the first game,and his average had been steadily climbing since mid-May. On a given day, a player would hit three of every ten at bats if they hit 300 with a 300 average. He also hit for .388 in 1957, which Rod Carew tied in 1977. Ted Williams: L.349/.488/.663 . From September to December 1943, Cadet Williams took primary training at NAS Bunker Hill, Indiana. He then returned to Pensacola where he served as an instructor with the United States Marine Corps Reserve at Bronson Field. Sign up to receive our daily Morning Lineup to stay in the know about the latest trending topics around Major League Baseball. He was in Hawaii awaiting orders as a replacement pilot and playing ball with a Marine flight-wing team when the war ended. Except for a stretch from July 11-24, when his batting average dipped as low as .393, he'd been hitting above .400 since May 25. Ted Williams was one of the greatest hitters in baseball history. Ted Williams Batting Average By Year. The Splendid Splinter answered when his country called Ted Williams was born on Friday, August 30, 1918, in San Diego, California. He later said it was the hardest he had hit a ball to that point in his career. That year, the mean and the standard deviation for batting averages were 0.28062 and 0.03281. . "It was something that required a kind of nonstop consistency," Williams said of his .406 season in 1991. Williams moved from left field to the pitcher's mound during a 12-1 loss to the Detroit Tigers. copyright=new Date(); A lifetime .298 batting average he hit a home run every 15.11 at bats. He played his entire 19-year career with the Boston Red Sox and is often referred to as the greatest hitter who ever lived. That means Cobb was successful hitting the ball three out of 10 times. In 1958, the year Kubek played with him in the All-Star game, he won his sixth American League batting championship. Gwynn spent his entire career with the San Diego Padres and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2007. 6' 3" / 205. Tris Speaker). Three innings later, Williams started the fifth with his 37th home run; he was now batting .402. He won eight NL batting titles and hit .338 over a 20-year . 'But Ted was stubborn. Bill Bergen, who played from 1901 to 1911, holds the record for the lowest career batting average for a player with more than 2,500 at-bats. After learning to fly the new Grumman F9F Panther at MCAS Cherry Point in North Carolina, he was assigned to VMF-311, Marine Aircraft Group 33 (MAG-33) in Korea. He was a master of the art of hitting, combining great hand-eye coordination and power with a keen knowledge of the strike zone. 9 who have come closest to reaching the hallowed mark. 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. All Rights Reserved by Baseball Almanac, Inc.Hosted by Hosting 4 Less. Instead, the Splendid Splinter played both games, went 6-for-8, and finished with a .406 average, the last time a player in the American or National Leagues finished a season with a batting average that high. Hornsby's .424 batting average in . One of the most prolific hitters in the history of Major League Baseball, Ted Williams was a true master of the sport. "There is always some kid who may be seeing me for the first or last time - I owe him my best." 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. Last day at .400: July 11How short was he? us, Died: Gwynn, 1997: .372In his second chase of Williams, Gwynn flirted with the .400 mark until the middle of July, and remained above .390 until the middle of August, sparking hope that this could be the time he made history. Not saying LH Joe DiMaggio would do better, no way to tell. 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? Facing Fowler to lead off the second, Williams singled to right. Cobb, 2. Williams struck out one batter, Rudy York, on three pitches. Page 128. Ted Williams was elected into the Hall of Fame in 1966. He was neverbetter than in 1977 though, when he earned his lone AL MVP award. He had a . 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. It was during this discussion that I asked him, How do you want to handle it? Cronin said. Use the batting championship data above to find the first from every team, the first to win back-to-back titles, the first to win in each league, the first to win with an average less than .350, and hundreds of other variations Honus Wagner (8 batting titles), Tony Gwynn (8 batting titles) and Ty Cobb (12 batting titles) are truly in a class by themselves.