17 hits shy of .400.T6. 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. According to Baseball-Reference, Bill Bergen has the worst career batting average in terms of points. He had a .344 batting average, 2,654 hits, 521 home runs, 1,839 RBIs and 1,798 runs scored. Ted Williams served as a Naval Aviator during World War II and the Korean War. Ted Williams 4. Part of the Baseball Almanac Family, Current Through End of 2023 Regular Season. Fans today look at the lofty batting average from Williams in . 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. Ted flew as my wingman on about half the missions he flew in Korea.". Reasonable shipping cost. 1941-05-02 MLB player Ted Williams' lowest average (.308) in year he hit over .400. The future Hall of Famer didnt have much, though, giving up three runs in the first in what would be the last inning of his career. 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 . In the last 80 years, the highest career batting average RH 324.6, Joe DiMaggio. By the time Ted Williams retired he had a .344 batting average, 521 home runs, and a 0.482 on-base percentage, the highest of all time. vs. NYY 4 AB, 1 H, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 0 SB, Last Game: Ty Cobb (98.2% in 1936)? He won three National League batting titles, hit .350 or higher four times (in five seasons,mind you), and won the 1997 NL MVP. 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. 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. These batting averages cannot be compared directly because the distribution of major league batting averages has changed over the years. Ted Williams remains the last player to finish a season with a .400 average, doing so when he hit .406 in 1941. 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. That means Cobb was successful hitting the ball three out of 10 times. Five hits shy of joining himself in the .400 club.4. Gwynn spent his entire career with the San Diego Padres and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2007. 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. Free shipping for many products! 6 - Ted Williams collected six hits across two games of a doubleheader played on September 28, 1941, the last two games of the season. (Age 42-029d) Only Robinson Cano and Trea Turner represent the other two of five active players with a career batting average above .300. 1941 was an iconic year in baseball history, highlighted by the great individual accomplishments of Joe DiMaggio of the New York Yankees and Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox. Ted Williams was one of the greatest hitters in baseball history. Do you have a sports website? Teddy Ballgame led the team to a winning season (86-76) that year, but then had four losing seasons, finishing out his contract with 273 wins, 364 losses, and a .429 winning percentage. But with a full season at his disposal this time, Gwynn tailed off down the stretch, batting .328 over the final two months of the season.Last day at .400: July 14How short was he? Williams being sworn into the U.S. Navy Reserve on May 22, 1942. Accurate description. * 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. Beerball: A History of St. Louis Baseball. As mentioned above, Carew hit for .388 in 1977 and actually led the league in hitting on six different occasions. His accomplishments are impressive, so its difficult to imagine anyone else succeeding in the same way. The highest lifetime batting average belongs to the legendary Ty Cobb. Data Provided By 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. Ted Williams' 0.406 in 1941, and George Brett's 0.390 in 1980. 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). Then, on July 28, 1943, in a charity game for the Red Cross at Yankee Stadium Babe Ruth led a team of former Yankees against the Cloudbusters. Luke Appling (94.0% in 1964), 3. In the second game Williams went 2-for-3 to finalize his average for the season at .406. Larry Walker, 1999: .379Two seasons after claiming the NL MVP Award, Walker followed up with his best season at the plate by average. 93.4 - Ted Williams was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1966, his first year of eligibility, receiving votes from 93.4% of the writers. 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. In 1936 the 18-year-old posted an impressive .271 batting average on 107 at bats in 42 games for the Padres. Ted Williams impressive career totals are a testament to his skill as a hitter and his legacy as one of the greatest hitters in the history of baseball. Born in San Diego California, on August 30th 1918. 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. As already mentioned, Williams .406 batting average is the highest off all-time while no other player has crossed the .400 mark. In 1952, at the age of 34, Williams was recalled to active duty for service in the Korean War. Ty Cobb is considered to be the greatest hitter of all-time, although that point is often argued to this day. Watch our How-To Videos to Become a Stathead, Subscribe to Stathead and get access to more data than you can imagine. His .338 career batting average is the highest batting average since Ted Williams, and it is a testament to his skill and dedication as a hitter. The Hawk became the second member when he went deep off Pedro Borbon on June 10, 1977 then off his son Pedro Borbon (Jr.) on August 16, 1995. A career.344 batting average ranks second to Ty Cobb, and he won six American League titles in the league. The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball, Did not play in major or minor leagues (Military Service), Salaries may not be complete (especially pre-1985) and may not include some earned bonuses, Note, this is done in an automated way, so we apologize for any errors, & please. Ted Williams once said it was his goal in life to "walk down . Where what happened yesterday is being preserved today. Ted Williams was elected into the Hall of Fame in 1966. Williams' batting average was 47 points higher than Washington's Cecil Travis, who was second. The next morning, Sept. 28, Williams and roommate Charlie Wagner, a 28-year-old pitcher, took a cab to the ballpark. I want to play it all the way. As far as I was concerned, that was it.. Highest Batting Average in a Season. Its unfortunate, but batting averages continue to decline in baseball with much emphasis put on home runs. 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. 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. For the casual baseball fan, you may unfortunately remember George Brett best fromwhen he went bonkers during the pine tar game. Aside from that, the career-long Kansas City Royal was one of the best hitters in baseball through the 1970s and 80s, taking the proverbial baton from Carew. Williams was on first with a 4-for-5 day, but his average slid to .404. . "Ted Williams is in a class by himself this season," said DiMaggio, quoted in . Ted Williams Armed Forces Identification Card | Library of Congress Collection. But not others. 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 . .. an .800 batting average is good. He retired in 1960 with 521 home runs, 1,839 RBIs, and a .344 batting average highlighted by a .406 performance in 1941, his third year in the majors. Visit their online baseball cards to learn much more, or the Batting Average Record Book to see details. 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. 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. 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. (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. Nine hits shy of .400.5. 1942-11-03 Boston Red Sox outfielder . . Joe Posnaski in 2009 listed DiMaggio as the 11th best hitter . He saw it the same way. 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. He has the fourth-most free passes (2021) in MLB history, and his career on-base percentage . Instead, the Splendid Splinter played both games, went . These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. (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. . 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. 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. Ted Williams had done it. 454/.655 compared to a .312/.432/.496 line for Williams. 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. A piece of the loudspeaker . In 1958, the year Kubek played with him in the All-Star game, he won his sixth American League batting championship. 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. The Kid, Teddy Ballgame, Splendid Splinter or Thumper. Williams singled, raising his average to .404. us, Died: Here then, are the four batters since No. iUniverse Publishing. Updated: Saturday, March 4, 2023 4:51 PM ET, Park Factors It was originally scheduled to be a three-day affair, with a game each on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but As owner and manager Connie Mack rescheduled the opening game to be part of a Sunday doubleheader in order to boost attendance with the 22-year-old Williams chasing history. Or write about sports? Its hard to say which one is more undeniable: Bill Bergen or Ty Cobb. 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. In the two years that followed, he had batting averages of .388 and .328, respectively. He then went to NAS Pensacola in Florida for intermediate training where he set records in aerial gunnery. All images are property the copyright holder and are displayed here for informational purposes only. 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). Statistics and Probability questions and answers. At season's end, Walker stood nine hits shy of history.Last day at .400: May 26How short was he? All Win Expectancy, Leverage Index, Run Expectancy, and Fans Scouting Report data licenced from TangoTiger.com. He then returned to Pensacola where he served as an instructor with the United States Marine Corps Reserve at Bronson Field. Ted Williams was born on August 30, 1918. The 1994 strike interrupted Tony Gwynn's bid to become first player to bat .400 since Ted Williams hit .406 in 1941 . [Answer]. [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? 5 - Ted Williams signed a five-year contract to manage the Washington Senators on February 21, 1969. inInverness,FL, High School: Herbert Hoover HS (San Diego, CA), Debut: Williams was first sent, with teammate John Pesky, to the Navy's Preliminary Ground School at Amherst College in Massachusetts, for six months. 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. When they shifted on him, everybody to the right side, he still kept trying to pull the ball for hits. Ted went 4-for-5 in the first game [box], bringing his batting average to .404, then went 2-for-3 in the second game [box], ending the season with a .406 batting average, making him the last player to bat over .400 in a season. Tris Speaker). Last day at .400: July 10How short was he? 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. September 28, 1960 Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. What was Ted Williams' average? Walker finished his career with 383 career home runs, a .313/.400/.565/.965 slash line, and 230 stolen bases for good measure. But Williams was locked in, leading off the second inning with a single to pull his average back up to .405. 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 Bostons scheduled doubleheader against the As, a move that would clinch the first .400 season in 11 years. We walked for over three hours, and my feet were burning. "Giant centerfield Willie Mays compared (Ted) Williams and (Stan) Musial to sportswriter Roger Kahn. During the whole conversation all he kept repeating, over and over, was how determined he was to hit .400.. "If I had known hitting .400 was going to be such a big deal, I would have done it again. "If I had known hitting .400 was going to be such a big deal, I would have done it again.". Seven hits shy of .400.T3. Yankees outfielder Paul ONeill actually finished 1994 with a .359 batting average and was hitting .400 later into the season too. Slugging Percentage 9X (2nd All-Time) | Runs Scored 6X (20th All-Time) All rights reserved. copyright=new Date(); On September 28, 1941, Boston Red Socks first baseman Ted Williams had six hits in eight at-bats, raising his average to. 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. As mentioned above, Gwynn won the batting title in 1997 but Walker still led the majors in OPS and won the MVP. Indeed, Gwynn was heating up, hitting .420 (50-for-119) in his last 30 games before the strike. The jacket has patches showing the wartime duty, Williams' record-setting year with the .406 batting average, and his career average. BOSTON Seventy years ago today, Ted Williams was hitting under .400. Did you know that Christian Yelich was the first Milwaukee Brewers player to win a batting title? 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. In 1941, he also had the most hits in a single season with 230 and the most home runs with 37. Say what you want about Walker playing in the steroid era and playing the majority of his games in notoriously hitter-friendly Coors Field, but the Canadian could straight up rake (and run). Your email address will not be published. First, lets back it up to the start of the season-ending three-game series in Philadelphia. Last date at .400: May 15How short was he? 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. 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. He won 2 MVP awards. The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". "If I was being paid thirty-thousand dollars a year, the very least I could do was hit .400." . Ted Williams, Boston (1941) As already mentioned, Williams' .406 batting average is the highest off all-time while no other player has crossed the .400 mark. August 30, 1918 1941 was a streaky year for the American League, literally. Why? "We were in the same squadron there. Williams was also a power hitter, slugging . Stan Musial 5. Ted wanted to play in the worst way.. Copyright 2000-2023 Sports Reference LLC. In the sixth, Mack went to his bullpen, calling on 22-year-old left-hander Porter Vaughn. Ed Delahanty, 5. Williams also had a batting average of .388 in 1942, .356 in 1947, .328 in 1948, .345 in 1949, and .317 in 1960. Create your own MLB fantasy pools & contests with RYP! Ted Williams played 19 seasons for the Red Sox. In the season of 1941 he hit at the average of .406 and won the Triple Crown. 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. When Ted Williams hung-up his playing cleats in 1960, he ranked third all-time in home runs (1. He played baseball for the base team, the Bronson Bombers, which won the Training Command championship that year. Sign up to receive our daily Morning Lineup to stay in the know about the latest trending topics around Major League Baseball. Ted Williams had a .344 average over his career. 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. copyright=new Date(); Musial, already a two-time . He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1966. Ted Williams, 1957: .388 A full 16 years later, Williams proved he had plenty of magic left in his bat in 1957. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". 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. His lowest batting average in a year that he won a batting title was .336 or .337. 5.0. . 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. Cobb, 2. Williams was the last hitter to hit at least .400 after finishing with a batting average of .406 in 1941. Williams was 20 years old when he broke into the big leagues on April 20, 1939, with the Boston Red Sox. in San Diego, CA Thats a debate for another day (or article). Born: Rookie Status: 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. In 1941, he had the highest batting average of his career when he hit for .406. Walter Johnson, 3. 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. Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. He won eight NL batting titles and hit .338 over a 20-year . Babe Ruth? 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. 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. Ted Williams averaged 300 hits while winning two Triple Crowns, the most of any Hall of Fame player. 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)? Has there ever been a player that was a "Top Prospect" longer than Royce Lewis? It was during this discussion that I asked him, How do you want to handle it? Cronin said. 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?