Athletes - Ted Williams

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	Athletes - Ted Williams

Theodore Samuel Williams (August 30, 1918 – July 5, 2002), nicknamed "The Kid", the "Splendid Splinter", "Teddy Ballgame" and "The Thumper", was an American left fielder in Major League Baseball who played 19 seasons, twice interrupted by military service as a Marine Corps pilot, with the Boston Red Sox. It has been argued that he was the greatest hitter in the history of baseball. Williams was a two-time American League Most Valuable Player (MVP) winner, led the league in batting six times, and won the Triple Crown twice. He had a career batting average of .344, with 521 home runs, and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1966. An avid sport fisherman, he hosted a television show about fishing, and was inducted into the Fishing Hall of Fame.

Early life

Williams was born in San Diego, California as Teddy Samuel Williams, after Teddy Roosevelt. At some point, his birth certificate was changed to "Theodore", as was the date of birth, but his mother always called him Teddy. His father, (Samuel) a photographer and great admirer of the late president, and his mother, a Salvation Army worker of Mexican descent, were generally absentee parents whom he later came to resent.¹ . Early in his career, he stated that he wished to be remembered as the "greatest hitter who ever lived", an honor that he indeed achieved in many eyes by the end of his career. He also loved to fish. He said it just relaxed him.

Williams played high school baseball at Herbert Hoover High School and lived at 4121 Utah Street in the North Park area of San Diego. After graduation, he turned professional and had minor league stints for his hometown San Diego Padres and the Minneapolis Millers.

In the major leagues

Williams moved up to the major league Red Sox in 1939. In 1941, he entered the last day of the season with a batting average of .3996. This would have been rounded up to .400, making him the first man to hit .400 since Bill Terry in 1930. His manager left the decision whether to play up to him. Williams opted to play in both games of the day's doubleheader and risk losing his record. He got 6 hits in 8 at bats, raising his season average to .406; no one has hit .400 since.

At the time, this achievement was overshadowed by Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak in the same season. Their rivalry was accentuated by the press; Williams always felt himself the better hitter, but acknowledged that DiMaggio was the better all-around player. Also in 1941, Williams set a major-league record for on-base percentage in a season at .551. That record would last until 2002, when Barry Bonds upped this mark to .582. A lesser-known accomplishment is Williams' feat of reaching base for the most consecutive games, 84. In addition to this record, Williams also holds the third-longest and fourth-longest such streaks. In 1957, Williams reached base in 16 consecutive plate appearances, also a major league record.

One of Williams' other memorable accomplishments was his game-winning home run off of Rip Sewell's notorious eephus pitch during the 1946 All-Star Game. Archival footage shows a delighted Williams hopping around the bases, clapping; he later said this was his greatest thrill in baseball.

Among the few black marks on Williams' playing record was his performance in his lone postseason appearance, the 1946 World Series. Williams managed just 5 singles in 25 at-bats, with just 1 RBI, as the Red Sox lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in the 8th inning of the seventh game. Much of this was due to his stubborn insistence into hitting into the Cardinals' defensive shift, which frequently involved five or six of the Cardinals' fielders positioned to the right of second base. This shift was a version of the Boudreau Shift, popularized by Cleveland Indians manager Lou Boudreau in an attempt to reduce Williams' effectiveness. Additionally, it has been conjectured that Williams was adversely affected by an injured elbow suffered during an pre-World Series exhibition game played while the Cardinals and Brooklyn Dodgers were involved in a best-of-three series to determine the National League champion.

An obsessive student of batting, Williams hit for both power and average. In 1970 he wrote a book on the subject, The Science of Hitting; revised (1986), which is still read by many baseball players. He lacked foot speed, as attested by his career total of 24 stolen bases, one inside-the-park home run, and one occasion of hitting for the cycle. He felt that with more speed he could have raised his average considerably. Despite his lack of range in the field, he was considered a sure fielder with a good throwing arm, although he occasionally stated that his one regret was that he did not work harder on his fielding.

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Athletes - Ted Williams

Early life

In the major leagues

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