Lou Gehrig, 5. Gwynn spent his entire career with the San Diego Padres and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2007. He retired in 1960 and went on to become manager of the Washington Senators. He flied out to left to finish 2-for-3, his average settling at .406 or .405701, rounded up. Todd Helton, 2000 .372One year after Walker ignited the Rocky Mountains with his .400 chase, teammate Helton gave it a try. Ted wanted to play in the worst way.. Theodore Samuel Williams (August 30, 1918 - July 5, 2002) was an American professional baseball player and manager. 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. 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. 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 . He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1966. Ted's last at-bat. 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. Ted Williams Rookie Card | 1939 Play Ball Baseball Card (#92 | Checklist)Baseball Almanac Research Library. He played baseball for the base team, the Bronson Bombers, which won the Training Command championship that year. 6' 3" / 205. Some defensive statistics Copyright Sports Info Solutions, 2010-2023. Ted Williams career batting statistics for Major League, Minor League, and postseason baseball . Fans today look at the lofty batting average from Williams in . 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 hit for a lifetime average of .344, which ranks 6th all-time, and he also holds the record for the highest on-base percentage of all time at .482. 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). Ted Williams hit .406 with the Boston Red Sox in 1941. . He won three National League batting titles, hit .350 or higher four times (in five seasons,mind you), and won the 1997 NL MVP. (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. Use without license or authorization is expressly prohibited. Walker finished his career with 383 career home runs, a .313/.400/.565/.965 slash line, and 230 stolen bases for good measure. Ted Williams had done it. A piece of the loudspeaker . For three hours. "We were in the same squadron there. The southpaw had pitched two innings against the Red Sox in 1940 but had spent most of 41 in the Minors. Ted Williams was batting at .39955 going into the final day, a double-header, of the 1941 season. He went on a mid-summer tear, batting .432 in July and .463 in August, but simply had too much ground to make up at season's end. Walter Johnson, 3. Williams then attended gunnery training at Jacksonville where he once again set gunnery records. 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? Williams was 20 years old when he broke into the big leagues on April 20, 1939, with the Boston Red Sox. In the last 80 years, the highest career batting average RH 324.6, Joe DiMaggio. The highest batting average ever recorded was by Ted Williams in 1941 when he hit .406. Exceeded rookie limits during 1939 season, Nicknames: Bob Feller (93.8% in 1962), 4. 1942-06-02 Red Sox star Ted Williams enlists as a US Navy aviator. Nomar Garciaparra, 2000: .372Four players posted a .372 average in their chase of Williams from 1997-2004, one of the best offensive eras in baseball history. Although I never imagined that all these years later, no one else would do it again. The other thing Williams had to think about was the pitchers he would face three rookies who had all made their Major League debuts earlier that month. Frank Robinson . Ted Williams was born on Friday, August 30, 1918, in San Diego, California. Did you know that in both of those historic seasons, The Kid did not win the Most Valuable Player Award (losing to Joe Gordon in '42 and Joe DiMaggio in '47)? Javascript is required for the selection of a player. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. Throughout his entire career, Williams batting average never dropped below .300. 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. 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. The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". The 1994 strike interrupted Tony Gwynn's bid to become first player to bat .400 since Ted Williams hit .406 in 1941 . A lifetime .298 batting average he hit a home run every 15.11 at bats. Gwynn was also known for his hitting prowess and was credited with revolutionizing the way batting averages were calculated. 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. Is he the greatest player of all-time? Only Robinson Cano and Trea Turner represent the other two of five active players with a career batting average above .300. Ted Williams weighed 205 lbs (92 kg) when playing. 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. .. an .800 batting average is good. The Splendid Splinter led the league in walks eight times. Ted Williams approached batting in a methodical way, he worked out his optimal strike zone where the odds were in his favour and he maintained the discipline to only swing if the ball was in that zone. 1941-05-02 MLB player Ted Williams' lowest average (.308) in year he hit over .400. He struck out a batter every 5.56 at bats, a seven at bat differential between Ted and the rest of his opponents. The Cardinals star missed out on the NL Triple Crown by just one home run, and he hit remarkably better on the road (.415) than at home (.334) that season. Ted Williams at bat. When Williams did take the bat off his shoulder, the results were staggering by any measure. 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. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". . His season . One of the most impressive batting averages of all time belongs to Ted Williams. Former Team: Boston Red Sox. He had a career batting average of .344, which is the sixth highest in Major League Baseball history. To put it in perspective, Cobb hit .366 and it is the best of all-time. I have my mother to support. It came up the runway about 1,500 feet before he was able to jump out and run off the wingtip. Sign up to receive our daily Morning Lineup to stay in the know about the latest trending topics around Major League Baseball. Rod Carew, 1977: .388Carew and Williams each batted .388 exactly two decades apart, but we'll start with Carew, who maintained a .400-plus average into July en route to his sixth career batting title. Significant homerunsIn the second game of a doubleheader against Kansas City.Williams knocks the ball six rows deep in the right-field grandstand and gives the Red Sox a 1-0 victory. 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. Statistics and Probability questions and answers. Ted Williams | National Baseball Hall of Fame Plaque | Class of 1966 (HOF). . 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). Babe Ruth? "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. 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. His 120 RBIs were five shy of Joe DiMaggio's MLB-leading total and thus five short of the Triple Crown, something Williams would accomplish in 1942 and 1947. From September to December 1943, Cadet Williams took primary training at NAS Bunker Hill, Indiana. 5.0. Ironically, along with Joe DiMaggios 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. In the last three-quarters of a century, no player has had the same kind of consistency needed reach just the .400 plateau, let alone tie Williams' .406.To put it in contemporary terms, think of it this way: If Daniel Murphy, the Majors' current batting average leader at .348, were to finish with 584 at-bats this season (his average over the last three years), he would have to hit roughly .472 (117-for-248) the rest of the way to join Williams in the .400 club. Pearson was the usual talk of the camp, and photographers delighted in posing him with his much taller teammates. Or write about sports? Brett saw an impressive .390 batting average in 1980 which marks the latest a player has qualified for .400 since 1941. Copyright 1999- Nine hits shy of .400.5. Lets break down the highest batting averages in a MLB season of all-time. His accomplishments are impressive, so its difficult to imagine anyone else succeeding in the same way. Williams' batting average was 47 points higher than Washington's Cecil Travis, who was second. 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. On July 12, 1943, a team of Armed Forces all-stars managed by Babe Ruth and featuring Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams played the Boston Braves in a fund-raising effort. The flip side is that Bob Feller's opponents hit only .228 against him in his 18 year career, 121 points lower than Williams hit against him. Ted Williams averaged 300 hits while winning two Triple Crowns, the most of any Hall of Fame player. The dedication Williams showed to being the best hitter he could be on the field was responsible for his success on the field, but it will almost certainly never be duplicated. In some instances the rules of the day (per the instructions set forth by Major League Baseball, Inc.) were used to determine the batting champion and Baseball Almanac is pleased to present the official list of batting title holders. 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. It's still only April, but Colorado Rockies outfielder Matt Holliday is on pace to tie the highest season batting average since Hall of Famer Ted Williams hit .406 in 1941, becoming the last big leaguer to top the magic .400 barrier. According to Baseball-Reference, Bill Bergen has the worst career batting average in terms of points. His plaque reads, "A .344 career hitter with 521 home runs and 1,839 RBI in 19 seasons with the Red Sox, Ted Williams was voted A.L. Ty Cobb, 4. 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? Average for the last 12 months. With more players looking to hit home runs, the more strikeouts occur which is good for pitching. Between games, the 41-year-old Grove was honored before taking the mound to start the nightcap. [Top 1,000 / On Base Percentage Record Book] Did you know that he once got on base in eighty-four straight games (in 1949), an incredible feat that remains unmated to this day? July 5, 2002 In 1941, he also had the most hits in a single season with 230 and the most home runs with 37. He led the American League in batting average six times and is one of only three players to hit over .400 in a single season with a .406 average . Williams roommate, Wagner, drove in two runs with a bases-loaded single, then shut down the As for a 12-11 victory.). No other player has crossed the .400 line in a season since then, and probably never will. In the season of 1941 he hit at the average of .406 and won the Triple Crown. 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. Rogers Hornsby, 3. I had to maintain my focus throughout. View Ted Williams's Page at the Baseball Hall of Fame (plaque, photos, videos). 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. Required fields are marked *. Ted Williams 4. During his time in the Major Leagues, Ted Williams hit an impressive 521 home runs and had a career batting average of .344. Again, yes. Posting at least a .400 batting average across a full Major League Baseball season remains one of the most difficult tasks in the game. . All images are property the copyright holder and are displayed here for informational purposes only. Tris Speaker). Full-year historical Major League statistics provided by Pete Palmer and . 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. Ed Delahanty, 5. I can do this by playing ball this year. Pearson finished the year with a .288 batting average, and he set career highs with 96 bases on . He saw it the same way. Hits 2,654 Career | Total Bases 6X (25th All-Time) | RBIs 4X (15th All-Time) iUniverse Publishing. These batting averages cannot be compared directly because the distribution of major league batting averages has changed over the years. copyright=new Date(); from the SABR BioProject, More Ted Williams Pages at Baseball Reference. Thanks to the MLB strike of 1994, we never got the chance to see if the late Tony Gwynncould reach .400 that year. He was an eight-time National League batting champion, and he won five Gold Glove Awards for his outstanding defense. Bergen hit.170 in 3,028 at-bats during his career, his lowest average since his playing career began. 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. Stan Musial, one of the finest players in the majors during the late 1940s and in history, ended his holdout 75 years ago Saturday. Ted Williams lost 6 years to military service in the prime of his career. Williams was a great hitter who could hit for both average and power while also drawing walks, making him one of the most feared hitters the game has ever seen. That the Red Sox lost, 7-1, in a game called after eight innings because of darkness was secondary. 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. Your email address will not be published. Become a Stathead & surf this site ad-free. In 1958, the year Kubek played with him in the All-Star game, he won his sixth American League batting championship. So he was a very active combat pilot, and he was an excellent pilot and I give him a lot of credit.". At season's end, Walker stood nine hits shy of history.Last day at .400: May 26How short was he? Miguel Cabrera currently leads all active players in career batting average with .308, right above both Jose Altuve and Mike Trout. Its no surprise then, that Brett was able to get so close to reaching .400 back in 1980, when he finished with a .390 mark. In the All-Star Game in Detroit that year, Williams hit a game-winning home run. 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? Despite his.170 batting average, Bill Bergen is regarded as one of the all-time great players. Instead, the Splendid Splinter played both games, went . His lowest batting average in a year that he won a batting title was .336 or .337. 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. He had a . in San Diego, CA Homer off the blooper pitch . We present them here for purely educational purposes. 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. Did you know that Tony Cuccinello (.30845) lost the batting championship in 1945, to Snuffy Stirnweiss (.30854), by .00009 - the closest finish in baseball history? From 1939 to 1960, he spent his Major League Baseball career for 19 years mainly as a left fielder for the Boston Red Sox. Part of Teds great success as a hitter was the way he studied pitchers. 20 straight years he had an OBP of .350 or higher. 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. 'But Ted was stubborn. 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. Following the 1942 season, which produced his first Triple Crown (.356, 36 HR, 137 RBIs), he joined the V-5 program with a view to becoming a Naval Aviator. Every Sports Reference Social Media Account, Site Last Updated: Saturday, March 4, 12:52AM. Rookie Status: 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). As a member of the American League, these achievements have been achieved. Data Provided By 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). Copyright 2023 Endgame360 Inc. All Rights Reserved. hitting catcher has a better batting average and on-base percentage against . "If I was being paid thirty-thousand dollars a year, the very least I could do was hit .400." . He won eight NL batting titles and hit .338 over a 20-year . 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. Ted Williams, who has a lengthy career that spans two decades, is widely regarded as one of the greatest hitters in history. "By luck of the draw, we went to Korea at the same time," said future astronaut, John Glenn. Average hits per week: 6.7 Extra hits needed per week: 0.2 T3. 6 years has to be a record for appearances on some of these lists. 14 hits shy of .400.T6. But instead he chose to play, hitting 6 for 8 in the games, and finished the season at .406. 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. 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. And 10 miles (at least according to Williams autobiography, My Turn At Bat). Musical hit .376 in 1948 but his success hitting went beyond that.