Red Sox fans, and other deluded people, like to say that Ted Williams was the greatest hitter ever.
But is he?
Really?
And what is the criteria? How is this determined?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
A blog meant for patriotic, educated gentlemen of America to discuss American sports, specifically baseball, in an open form whilst holding true to our values as men and resisting ignorance in an ever struggling society.
Interesting post. Oddly enough I was just talking about this with someone the other day. So without saying he is or isn't here are some great stats on Ted Williams.
ReplyDeletePlayed 19 years with the same team.
Career average of .344 (7th all time).
Career On Base Percentage?? .482. I'll repeat that. .482. So he almost got on base 50% of the time by either a hit, hit by pitch or a walk. Babe Ruth has a .474.
Slugging (521 HR's good for 18th all time)is .634 which is 2nd all time to Babe Ruth's .689.
OPS is 1.116 which is also second All Time to Babe Ruth at 1.16.
1839 Career RBI's is 13th overall for career stats.
What does all this mean? Lot's of guys have amazing career stats. Stan the Man, Yaz, Ruth, Aaron, Pujols, Bonds. It's a long list. But here are a few key points.
1) "Greatest HITTER ever" does not mean the best run producer, best homerun hitter or best all around player. It means who is the absolute BEST at hitting a baseball.
2) Williams played 19 seasons with the Red Sox. He hit a career .344. He was the last player to ever hit over .400. He hit .388 when he was 38 years old. 19 seasons, .344. That speaks for itself.
3) His On Base % also speaks directly to his ability to hit a baseball. Being a great hitter doesn't mean always HITTING the ball. Seeing the ball and making that decision to swing at only the ball you are looking for signifies greatness. 4th all time with 2021 walks.
4) Ted Williams never struck out more than 64 times in a single season. That was his rookie year. He only struck out 709 times in his entire 19 year career. For comparison Mark Reynolds has struck out over 650 in the last 3 years. You could not strike out Ted Williams. He was either going to crush it or he was going to walk. He was a machine.
5) Ted Williams was 2nd in the MVP voting in 1941 and 1942. How did he do in 1943? Well, he went to war. He went on to miss three straight seasons to fight for our country and help defeat the Nazi's. He was making $35,000 a year in 1942 and one of the best players in the league at only 23 years old. He would go on to miss '43,'44,'45 at ages 24,25, and 26 respectively. Given that he was already destroying the league in 1942 (.356,36,137 a year after he already hit .406 with a .553 OBP). Given that he returned from the War in 1946 to win the MVP with a year of .342, 38, 123 with a .497 OBP I think it's safe to assume he would have continued that hitting tear through the missed "War Years." With that safe assumption of three years averaging .350, 35, 130 that puts his career stats above and beyond nearly everyone. He'd have a career average closer to .347, 626 HR's, and 2,239 RBI's which put him in the top 3 behind Aaron and Bonds. His slugging and OBP career numbers would only go up and put him right in line or above the Great Babe Ruth.
I'm only including these "War Years" because they were voluntary not driven by contract dispute holdout, injury or just being terrible. He was at the PEAK of his career and he laid down his bat and picked up a rifle. I think he deserves the statistical assumptions that he would have continued that tear during those peak years.
So given that Ted Williams was an on base machine unrivaled by nobody in the history of the game of baseball, was nearly impossible to strikeout, was an incredible American, I don't know that I could disagree with any statement that Ted Williams is the Greatest Hitter of All Time. I'd have to say he was.
More perspective that is unrelated to the topic but Ted Williams related. In 19 seasons Ted Williams made $1,458,500 in salaries. He made $50,000 and $100,000 in his two respective MVP seasons.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAs a lifelong Yankee fan. I LOVE Ted Williams.
ReplyDeleteI am convinced.
The Golden Years of Baseball is a great DVD which deals with this epic era of American history and does an amazing job with perhaps the greatest year in baseball history, 1941. Maybe only 1998 was better.
It goes into Joe D. and Ted, Ted really was somewhat overshadowed by Joe that year.
Ted had more homers than strikeouts!!!! Only 13 k's for the season!!!!!!
Oh, btw, Ted did not win the MVP that year, Joe did.
ReplyDeletehttp://espn.go.com/mlb/history/season/_/year/1941
sorry, screwed up. Joe only had 13 k's in 1941. Ted had 27 with 37 homers.
ReplyDeleteTwo truly amazing, no steroid players.
only three guys ever won the Triple Crown twice.
ReplyDeleteRogers Hornsby, Jimmie Foxx and Ted Williams.
Yeah, I wasn't saying he won in 1942 just that he came in 2nd. I agree though, that era of baseball...listening to games on the radio, seeing a game in person was a magical experience, the whole era must have been amazing. Not that I don't like going to games now and I grew up listening to John Kay and Michael Sterling while the holsteins pumped milk into the machines but I doubt it's the same. Example: Ted Williams was Top 2 players in MLB. Went to War. Brandon Webb was top 2 pitchers in baseball. Refused to play for USA in a baseball tournament. 60 years later the World has changed.
ReplyDeleteIts definitely a tough debate and it seems to always end up with Ted Williams. It was his entire goal in life to be considered the greatest hitter ever and I say we just crown him that until Pujols surpasses him.
ReplyDeleteThe real debate is who is the second best hitter of all-time and I have to go with Ichiro. 200 hits 10 consecutive years. Un-real. End of story