He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1966. This is only his third big-league season and his batting average in his first two years has been .267 and .260 respectivelyhe entered . 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? 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? 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. Only Robinson Cano and Trea Turner represent the other two of five active players with a career batting average above .300. For part of the year, Williams' quest was overshadowed by New York Yankee star Joe DiMaggio's record 56-game hitting streak. September 28, 1960 "My conscience is clear. Has there ever been a player that was a "Top Prospect" longer than Royce Lewis? "It was something that required a kind of nonstop consistency," Williams said on the 50th anniversary of the feat in 1991. Pearson finished the year with a .288 batting average, and he set career highs with 96 bases on . 1941 was a streaky year for the American League, literally. Its unfortunate that the shortened-campaign stole a chance at baseball history, but the San Diego Padres Hall-of-Famers .394 in 1994 still stands as the closest anybody has come to the Splendid Splinter after all these decades. us, Died: His career on-base percentage of .482 is still the highest of all time, and his slugging percentage of .634 is the fourth highest of all time. In the two years that followed, he had batting averages of .388 and .328, respectively. The Kid,Teddy Ballgame,Splendid Splinter,Thumper are nicknames for Ted Williams. Again, yes. For hitters though, the home run or bust approach has taken over which has seen a decline in batting averages as a result. At season's end, Walker stood nine hits shy of history.Last day at .400: May 26How short was he? Ted Williams remains the last player to finish a season with a .400 average, doing so when he hit .406 in 1941. 9 - Ted Williams had his number "9" formally retired by the Boston Red Sox on May 29, 1984, the first player in team history to receive the honor and one of two numbers they retired that same day - the other being #4, for Joe Cronin. Wins Above Replacement 6X (14th All-Time) | On Base Plus Slugging 10X (2nd All-Time) Williams flew 39 combat missions before being pulled from flight status in June of 1953 after an old ear infection acted up. Among the hundreds and thousands of ballplayers to have the opportunity over the past 75 years, not a single one has hit .400. 454/.655 compared to a .312/.432/.496 line for Williams. 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. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Walks 8X (4th All-Time) | Runs Created 9X (6th All-Time) Copyright 2000-2023 Sports Reference LLC. Average hits per week: 6.7 Extra hits needed per week: 0.2 T3. Williams led off, hitting a grounder to second that was booted by Crash Davis for an error. Posting at least a .400 batting average across a full Major League Baseball season remains one of the most difficult tasks in the game. Between the two, the Yankee Clipper's record-setting 56-game hitting streak and the Splendid Splinter's .406 season batting average have stood the test of time . 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. 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. One of the most prolific hitters in the history of Major League Baseball, Ted Williams was a true master of the sport. Did you know that Christian Yelich was the first Milwaukee Brewers player to win a batting title? But its not quite so simple as a choice between Sit or Play. . Williams struck out one batter, Rudy York, on three pitches. So he got some hitting in, reporting to the ballpark on Friday for extra batting practice at the suggestion of manager Joe Cronin. The Kid, Teddy Ballgame, Splendid Splinter or Thumper. by Retrosheet. Aside from winning two Triple Crowns and being a two-time Most Valuable Player, Williams was also a 17-time All-Star. View Ted Williams's Page at the Baseball Hall of Fame (plaque, photos, videos). Although I never imagined that all these years later, no one else would do it again. The Splendid Splinter led the league in walks eight times. (National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum) Williams was 4-for-5 at the plate in the first game raising his batting average to .404. Lets break down the highest batting averages in a MLB season of all-time. If anybody shifted that way on Musial, he would have wrecked them, by slapping base hits into left. In 1941, he had the highest batting average of his career when he hit for .406. We have been getting good hitting and pitching, and both the cadets and officers on the team love to play baseball.". 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. Statistics and Probability questions and answers. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Full-year historical Major League statistics provided by Pete Palmer and Gary Gillette of Hidden Game Sports. Its unfortunate, but batting averages continue to decline in baseball with much emphasis put on home runs. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. 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. Williams.553 on-base percentage in 1941 was also a Major League record that stood for 61 years until Barry Bonds topped it in 2002 (.582), then again in 2004 (.609). Copyright 2023 Endgame360 Inc. All Rights Reserved. The aging Red Sox star saw his average fall below .400 for the final time on June 6, and his .295 average in June remarkably was his lowest of any month that season. - Batting Champion (1939-1940) Joe DiMaggio in The 100 Greatest American Athletes (Martin Gitlin, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 10/15/2018, They Said It, Page 254), During the 1968 season, Carl Yastrzemski had the lowest batting average that was still high enough to lead the American League. 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. 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). Rogers Hornsby, 3. Why? 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. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. 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. 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. 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. Babe Ruth (95.1% in 1936) AND Honus Wagner (95.1% in 1936), and 1. Full-year historical Major League statistics provided by Pete Palmer and . True, he only played in 117 games and registered 449 at-bats, but thats still a mighty impressivechunk of the year to be on fire for. 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 next four months were spent in the Preflight School at Chapel Hill, North Carolina where he turned out in the spring for the Chapel Hill Cloudbusters baseball team, featuring Pesky, Harry Craft, Buddy Hassett and Johnny Sain. Ty Cobb, 4. July 5, 2002 When Ted Williams hung-up his playing cleats in 1960, he ranked third all-time in home runs (1. Ted Williams career batting statistics for Major League, Minor League, and postseason baseball . . Walter Johnson, 3. It is appropriate to place Williams among the greatest hitters of all time, as his career numbers demonstrate his greatness. Last day at .400: July 10How short was he? That the Red Sox lost, 7-1, in a game called after eight innings because of darkness was secondary. Did you know that during the opening ceremonies he invited one active player to be attendance and it was Tony Gwynn? Some high school data is courtesy David McWater. in San Diego, CA 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). 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. In his best year with . Musical hit .376 in 1948 but his success hitting went beyond that. Back with the Red Sox in 1946, Williams hit the first spring training pitch he saw for a home run on February 26 and then led the team to the World Series. Required fields are marked *. 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. 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 . Williams' response was not captured for posterity. 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. In 1936 the 18-year-old posted an impressive .271 batting average on 107 at bats in 42 games for the Padres. At season's end, Williams was five hits shy of . Ted Williams had a .344 average over his career. Babe Ruth, 2. Williams was 20 years old when he broke into the big leagues on April 20, 1939, with the Boston Red Sox. Ted didnt drink, so from time to time Id run into a bar room to get a drink, and hed wait outside until I got finished, drinking a soft drink. Play-by-play data prior to 2002 was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted Data Provided By In addition to his .406 batting averageno major league player since Williams has hit .400the left fielder led the big leagues with 37 homers, 135 runs and a slugging average of .735. Thats a debate for another day (or article). And because of Macks schedule adjustment, Williams didnt have just one off-day to think about how he close he was to dropping below .400, he now had two. 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. Ted Williams hit .406 with the Boston Red Sox in 1941. . Ted Williams Batting Average By Year. If Im going to be a .400 hitter, Williams said at the time, I want more than my toenails on the line.. A lifetime .298 batting average he hit a home run every 15.11 at bats. These batting averages cannot be compared directly because the distribution of major league batting averages has changed over the years. From September to December 1943, Cadet Williams took primary training at NAS Bunker Hill, Indiana. He later said it was the hardest he had hit a ball to that point in his career. He was known as the "Splendid Splinter" and boasted a career batting average of .344. (Fun fact: A year earlier, John Olerud was still hitting .400 as of August 2, but he slumped down the stretch and finished with a .363 mark in 1993.). He had a career batting average of .344, which is the sixth highest in Major League Baseball history. Before my status was changed to 1-A, I made commitments which I must go through with. His batting average in 1941 concluded at .406, the highest ever. 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. Highest Batting Average in a Season. 6 - Ted Williams collected six hits across two games of a doubleheader played on September 28, 1941, the last two games of the season. Williams was 20 years old when he broke into the big leagues on April 20, 1939, with . Three landmarks of baseball achievement are Ty Cobb's batting average of 0.420 in 1911. What they did at that time, they teamed up a reservist with a regular to fly together most of the time just because the regular Marine pilots normally had more instrument flying experience and things like that. Ted wanted to play in the worst way.. Williams moved from left field to the pitcher's mound during a 12-1 loss to the Detroit Tigers. Where what happened yesterday is being preserved today. "I never thought of it as going 2-for-5 every day, but that's what it adds up to. Well, it was the year Ted Williams set the record for the highest batting average ever in a MLB season. Part of the Baseball Almanac Family, Current Through End of 2023 Regular Season. The 1994 strike interrupted Tony Gwynn's bid to become first player to bat .400 since Ted Williams hit .406 in 1941 . Carew began his career as an All-Star in 1967 and never looked back, making 18 straight teams until his final season in 1985. To put it in perspective, Cobb hit .366 and it is the best of all-time. 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. Shoeless Joe Jackson, 4. He was a master of the art of hitting, combining great hand-eye coordination and power with a keen knowledge of the strike zone. 2023 NBA Playoff Pools, Picks, Predictions, Odds, Super Bowl 58 Pools, Picks, Predictions, Odds, 2023 March Madness Pools, Picks, Predictions and Odds, 2023 College Basketball Conference Tournament Central, 2023 NHL Playoffs Pools, Picks, Predictions, Odds, 2023 Oscars Contenders Index & Information, 2023 Oscars Category Predictions & Forecasts, What is The Bullpen in Baseball & Why its Called That, Baseball Betting Strategies: Key Tips For Advanced Bettors. 20 straight years he had an OBP of .350 or higher. Bergen hit.170 in 3,028 at-bats during his career, his lowest average since his playing career began. Williams being sworn into the U.S. Navy Reserve on May 22, 1942. he also finished with two of the most amazing . It does not store any personal data. 18 July 2001. Though Gwynn would not see his average rise above .400 after May 15, he would also not see it dip below .376 after April, suggesting that he was consistent enough to stay in the chase until the very end. 1941 is a very important year for baseball fans. Ted Williams served as a Naval Aviator during World War II and the Korean War. A good batting average is anything around the .300 range or even high-200s. Sign up to receive our daily Morning Lineup to stay in the know about the latest trending topics around Major League Baseball. His incredible talent and dedication to the game earned him a place in the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1966 and secured his legacy as one of the greatest hitters of all time. 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. Updated: Saturday, March 4, 2023 4:51 PM ET, Park Factors 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. 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. 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. Williams was one of those rare players who could hit for . Many historical player head shots courtesy of David Davis. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. Short Answer. Walker finished his career with 383 career home runs, a .313/.400/.565/.965 slash line, and 230 stolen bases for good measure. Accurate description. The ride out was quiet, Wagner said. Ted Williams hit .406 in 1941, going 6-for-8 on the season's last day to raise his average from .3995. The SPORTS REFERENCE and STATHEAD trademarks are owned exclusively by Sports Reference LLC. Interestingly enough, although it has been three-quarters of a century since anybody has hit .400 or better, the top four outputs all happened within a 22-year span, with Carew being the oldest. He won eight NL batting titles and hit .338 over a 20-year . 3 - Ted Williams surrendered three hits during his two innings of work when he took the mound on August 24, 1940. Subscribe to Stathead Baseball: Get your first month FREEYour All-Access Ticket to the Baseball Reference Database. 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. Ed Delahanty, 5. I had to maintain my focus throughout. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". We walked for over three hours, and my feet were burning. Ted Williams MLB Stats - Official Site for "The Splendid Splinter", MLB Hall Of Famer Ted Williams #9, Boston Red Sox . Ted Williams was one of the greatest hitters in baseball history. According to Baseball-Reference, Bill Bergen has the worst career batting average in terms of points. iUniverse Publishing. Gwynn was also known for his hitting prowess and was credited with revolutionizing the way batting averages were calculated. 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. Ted Williams | National Baseball Hall of Fame Plaque | Class of 1966 (HOF). 20 hits shy of .400.It's been 16 years since we've even seen a hitter sit above .380 at the All-Star break, signifying that the chances of seeing anyone break the .400 barrier in a season may be getting slimmer and slimmer. His average was up to .40089. Or write about sports? Pujols and Cabrera are the only players with five-digit career plate appearances. He was the last player to hit .400 in Major . 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. Ted Williams was born on August 30, 1918. Year by Year Leaders for Batting Average Major League Baseball Batting Champions. Ted Williams weighed 205 lbs (92 kg) when playing. . He also had a career slugging percentage of .634, which is the third-highest of all time. 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.