The Perfect American
July 15, 2002
I've been kind of surprised by the amount of eulogy that has followed Ted Williams' passing. Surprised in that I expected there would be much more. If there was ever a competitor to Babe Ruth as the greatest baseball player, both in his on-the-field exploits and larger-than-life persona, it was Williams. Maybe the circus surrounding his remains distracted the baseball community from giving him his proper due.A couple of friends asked me where he belongs in the pantheon of great baseball players. Comparing players across eras is a tricky business, but for me, he ranks just behind Ruth for his impact on the field, and just behind Ruth and Jackie Robinson for his influence/persona off it.
On the field, this is his statistical legacy (courtesy of baseball-reference.com):
Year Ag Tm Lg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG TB SH SF IBB HBP GDP
+----------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+---+---+-----+----+--+---+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+---+---+---+---+---+
1939 20 BOS AL 149 565 131 185 44 11 31 145 2 1 107 64 .327 .436 .609 344 3 2 10
1940 21 BOS AL 144 561 134 193 43 14 23 113 4 4 96 54 .344 .442 .594 333 1 3 13
1941 22 BOS AL 143 456 135 185 33 3 37 120 2 4 147 27 .406 .553 .735 335 0 3 10
1942 23 BOS AL 150 522 141 186 34 5 36 137 3 2 145 51 .356 .499 .648 338 0 4 12
1946 27 BOS AL 150 514 142 176 37 8 38 123 0 0 156 44 .342 .497 .667 343 0 2 12
1947 28 BOS AL 156 528 125 181 40 9 32 114 0 1 162 47 .343 .499 .634 335 1 2 10
1948 29 BOS AL 137 509 124 188 44 3 25 127 4 0 126 41 .369 .497 .615 313 0 3 10
1949 30 BOS AL 155 566 150 194 39 3 43 159 1 1 162 48 .343 .490 .650 368 0 2 22
1950 31 BOS AL 89 334 82 106 24 1 28 97 3 0 82 21 .317 .452 .647 216 0 0 12
1951 32 BOS AL 148 531 109 169 28 4 30 126 1 1 144 45 .318 .464 .556 295 0 0 10
1952 33 BOS AL 6 10 2 4 0 1 1 3 0 0 2 2 .400 .500 .900 9 0 0 0
1953 34 BOS AL 37 91 17 37 6 0 13 34 0 1 19 10 .407 .509 .901 82 0 0 1
1954 35 BOS AL 117 386 93 133 23 1 29 89 0 0 136 32 .345 .513 .635 245 0 3 1 10
1955 36 BOS AL 98 320 77 114 21 3 28 83 2 0 91 24 .356 .496 .703 225 0 4 17 2 8
1956 37 BOS AL 136 400 71 138 28 2 24 82 0 0 102 39 .345 .479 .605 242 0 0 11 1 13
1957 38 BOS AL 132 420 96 163 28 1 38 87 0 1 119 43 .388 .526 .731 307 0 2 33 5 11
1958 39 BOS AL 129 411 81 135 23 2 26 85 1 0 98 49 .328 .458 .584 240 0 4 12 4 19
1959 40 BOS AL 103 272 32 69 15 0 10 43 0 0 52 27 .254 .372 .419 114 0 5 6 2 7
1960 41 BOS AL 113 310 56 98 15 0 29 72 1 1 75 41 .316 .451 .645 200 0 2 7 3 7
+----------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+---+---+-----+----+--+---+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+---+---+---+---+---+
19 Seasons 2292 7706 1798 2654 525 71 521 1839 24 17 2021 709 .344 .482 .634 4884 5 20 86 39 197Williams missed nearly 5 years of his career due to military service. I don't have any way of extrapolating what he might have hit in those peak years of production (ages 24-26 and 33, 34), but I assume he'd have hit at least as well as he did the years before and after. Players who miss a year or more normally take about a year to get back to form, but I have no way of determining what exactly Williams' production would have been in 1946 and 1955 had he not gone off to war. But my guesstimate is that he would have performed near or possibly slightly better during those years had he not missed so much time.
G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG TB SH SF IBB HBP GDP
19 Seasons 2292 7706 1798 2654 525 71 521 1839 24 17 2021 709 .344 .482 .634 4884 5 20 86 39 197
Missing years 724 2384 575 844 167 25 168 543 3 4 684 224 .354 .500 .656 1565 1 2 44* 14 58
+----------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+---+---+-----+----+--+---+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+---+---+---+---+---+
Total 3016 10090 2373 3498 692 96 689 2382 27 21 2705 933 .347 .486 .639 6449 6 22 406 53 255Note that they did not keep track of intentional walks until 1955, but assuming that he would have drawn intentional free passes earlier in his career at the same pace he did in his decline, he would have recorded around 320 before 1955 and finished with around 400 total. By including the missing years, his career totals would have placed him first all-time in runs, RBI, on base percentage (which he already is), walks (by nearly 600), intentional walks and most total times on base. He would have been 3rd in home runs, 5th in doubles, 6th in hits (but very close to 5th), 5th in batting average and second in total bases, yet still not in the top 20 in at bats.
But these numbers don't adjust for league average or ballpark. However, thanks to baseball-reference.com, the following numbers do:
Year Ag Tm Lg PA Outs RC BA *lgBA OBP *lgOBP SLG *lgSLG OPS *lgOPS *OPS+ psOPS SB%
+--------------+----+-----+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+-----+----+
1939 20 BOS AL 677 394 149 | .327 .291| .436 .367| .609 .431|1.045 .798| 160 66%
1940 21 BOS AL 661 386 146 | .344 .284| .442 .358| .594 .430|1.036 .788| 162 50%
1941 22 BOS AL 606 285 184 | .406 .278| .553 .355| .735 .410|1.287 .765| 235 33%
1942 23 BOS AL 671 350 167 | .356 .269| .499 .344| .648 .377|1.147 .721| 217 60%
1946 27 BOS AL 672 350 170 | .342 .271| .497 .346| .667 .389|1.164 .735| 215 0%
1947 28 BOS AL 693 359 166 | .343 .270| .499 .352| .634 .389|1.133 .741| 205 0%
1948 29 BOS AL 638 331 154 | .369 .279| .497 .365| .615 .403|1.112 .768| 189 100%
1949 30 BOS AL 730 395 180 | .343 .279| .490 .372| .650 .405|1.141 .778| 192 50%
1950 31 BOS AL 416 240 97 | .317 .290| .452 .379| .647 .435|1.099 .814| 168 100%
1951 32 BOS AL 675 373 136 | .318 .279| .464 .362| .556 .409|1.019 .771| 164 50%
1952 33 BOS AL 12 6 4 | .400 .270| .500 .350| .900 .390|1.400 .740| 274 0%
1953 34 BOS AL 110 56 41 | .407 .276| .509 .353| .901 .405|1.410 .758| 267 0%
1954 35 BOS AL 526 266 126 | .345 .278| .513 .355| .635 .406|1.148 .762| 201 0%
1955 36 BOS AL 417 218 112 | .356 .277| .496 .358| .703 .412|1.200 .770| 209 100%
1956 37 BOS AL 503 275 115 | .345 .281| .479 .365| .605 .429|1.084 .794| 172 0%
1957 38 BOS AL 546 271 160 | .388 .270| .526 .343| .731 .407|1.257 .750| 233 0%
1958 39 BOS AL 517 299 109 | .328 .270| .458 .339| .584 .409|1.042 .749| 178 100%
1959 40 BOS AL 331 215 42 | .254 .266| .372 .338| .419 .407| .791 .745| 113 0%
1960 41 BOS AL 390 222 89 | .316 .268| .451 .342| .645 .410|1.096 .752| 189 50%
+--------------+----+-----+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+-----+----+
19 Seasons 9791 5291 2347 | .344 .277| .482 .356| .634 .409|1.116 .764| 190 58%19 Seasons 9791 5291 2347 | .344 .277| .482 .356| .634 .409|1.116 .764| 190 58%
Missing years 3082 1605 776 | .354 .277| .500 .356| .656 .409|1.156 .764| 208
+--------------+----+-----+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+-----+----+
Total 12873 6896 3123 | .346 .277| .486 .356| .639 .409|1.125 .764| 194The runs created total (RC) would be good for first all-time, although it should be noted that the current #1, Babe Ruth, spent his first 6 years as a pitcher and would still probably be #1 if he had been a hitter his whole career. Williams relative OPS (*OPS+) was already the second highest in history; the missing years just brought him closer to Ruth. He posted a relative OPS of 200 or better 9 times in his career, second only to Ruth's 11. By comparison, Barry Bonds has just three 200+ years, although this year will most likely be another, and a 171 career *OPS+.
Williams' numbers versus his contemporaries stand on their own despite the missing years. He won 6 batting titles, finishing second another four times and missed out on two more because he walked so much, he didn't have enough at bats to qualify. He won the home run crown 4 times, finishing 2nd four more times. He led the league in runs 6 times and RBI 4 times. He was first in on base 12 times and slugging 9 times. He led the league in OPS 10 times and by at least 50 points five times. Not even Ruth led the league by that margin as many times and no one other than those two has done it more than once.
Among his other accomplishments, he won the triple crown - highest batting average, most home runs and RBI - twice (in 1942 and 1947) and would have won it a third time had the current sacrifice fly rule been in effect in 1949. As it is, he lost out in batting average to George Kell by .00015. It would not be too far fetched to assume that he would have at least threatened to win another triple crown in one (maybe more) of the war years he missed. Rogers Hornsby is the only other player in history to win as many as two.
Williams won 2 MVP awards and finished 2nd four times. His rocky relationship with the press was responsible for him not winning it more often. For example, in 1947, the year he won his second triple crown, he collected only 3 first place votes and was left off the ballot entirely by one sportswriter. Had any of the other writers who voted for him picked him just one place higher than they did, he would have won the award a third time. He was portrayed as taciturn, churlish, cold and aloof, but was probably just tired of answering the same silly questions all the time. And given his demeanor with regular people away from the game, the latter seems far more believable.
Myriad are the stories of his graciousness and warmth toward kids and counselors alike at his baseball camp, of him watching out for the kids at card shows and of his generosity with his time for anyone who wanted to talk about hitting a baseball or fishing. He raised millions of dollars for the Jimmy Fund and other charities, even chartered flights in order to visit the terminally ill, but shunned the spotlight for doing so.
He was an accomplished fly fisherman who held several salt water records for a time and is a member of the Fishing Hall of Fame. During World War 2, he spent 3 years in the Marines training pilots for combat. He was recalled to service during the Korean conflict, where he was John Glenn's wingman. Genuinely modest, he claimed that 99% of the other pilots in his squadron did a better job than he did. It has been said more than once that Williams was the real-life version of the character John Wayne often portrayed.
He used his induction into Cooperstown to call attention to the great Negro League players who never got to play in the majors but were equally deserving of baseball's highest honor. Due in no small part to his speech and campaigning, the Baseball Hall of Fame changed it's requirements for eligibility to include those players, of which 18 have since gained entry.
John Steinbeck once wrote of Americans that they were "complicated, paradoxical, bullheaded, shy, boisterous, unspeakably dear and very beautiful." By that definition, Ted Williams was the perfect American.