The Pecan Park Eagle

The Splendid Splinter Connects!

It took Ted Williams three games beyond his 4/20/1939 first appearance on Opening Day to crush his first MLB HR, but he did it in grand style, even in a  losing cause.  “Ted Williams was the only bright spot in the Red Sox showing yesterday,” cried the Fitchberg (MA) Sentinel on April 24th. “He made a homer, double, and two singles to lead all the sluggers. His homer was a tremendous one and (it) lifted the fans off their feet with cheering.”

The April 24th Sentinel went  on to summarize the downside of a Boston defeat: “The Red Sox used five pitchers yesterday in a vain attempt to check the Mackmen who scored six runs in the eighth inning and won 12 to 8. The Red Sox hit the Philadelphia pitchers hard and often but that eighth inning was too much for them.”

According to Baseball Almanac, Williams actually got that “tremendous”, presumably to right field homer, out of the way quickly in Fenway Park. With 2 runs already in and a runner on, Williams blasted his first home run for a 4-3 early recovery lead for the Red Sox in the first frame. Ted Williams’ first ever big league homer came off another forgettable name from the great masses of men who’ve made it to the majors to try their right hands at pitching. His name was Luther “Bud” Thomas, a 25-34, 4.96 ERA man for seven seasons in the big leagues.

Also, according to this morning’s Houston Chronicle, Ted Williams remains, even now, one of three players tied for position 18 on the list of most prolific home run hitters of all time. With a final count of 521, Ted is tied with Willie McCovey and Frank Thomas. We’re not sure how many of the great sluggers ever started their HR count against one of the great pitchers, but I feel reasonably sure that someone has made a study of it somewhere along the way. If you have any information alng these lines, please share  it with the rest of us.

Ted Williams: A Great American Hero.

All I know about Ted Williams is what many others have written about, ad nausem: Had Teddy Ballgame not been called to military service twice as a fighter pilot, in World War II and then in Korea, there’s no telling how many extra home runs he would have hit.

Baseball Almanac Box Score:Philadelphia Athletics 12, Boston Red Sox 8
Game played on Sunday, April 23, 1939 at Fenway Park
Philadelphia Athletics ab   r   h rbi Moses rf 5 1 2 0 Gantenbein 2b 4 1 0 0   Nagel ph 0 0 0 0   Dean ph 1 1 0 1   Ambler 2b 1 0 0 0 Chapman cf 5 2 1 0 Johnson lf 4 1 0 0 Hayes c 3 2 2 1 Lodigiani 3b 4 1 2 4 Etten 1b 4 2 2 2 Newsome ss 4 0 2 2 Thomas p 1 0 0 0   Smith D. p 0 0 0 0   Pippen p 2 0 0 0   Smith E. p 0 0 0 0   Finney ph 1 1 0 0   Parmelee p 0 0 0 0 Totals 39 12 11 10	Boston Red Sox ab   r   h rbi Cramer cf 4 1 0 0 Vosmik lf 4 1 1 0 Foxx 1b 5 2 2 0 Cronin ss 3 0 0 1 Tabor 3b 4 1 1 1 Williams rf 5 2 4 3 Doerr 2b 5 1 3 1 Desautels c 4 0 1 1 Auker p 0 0 0 0   Galehouse p 2 0 0 0   Ostermueller p 0 0 0 0   Heving p 0 0 0 0   Dickman p 0 0 0 0 Totals 36 8 12 7
Philadelphia 3 2 0 0 1 0 0 6 0 – 12 11 2 Boston 4 0 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 – 8 12 1   Philadelphia Athletics IP H R ER BB SO Thomas 0.2 3 4 4 1 0   Smith D. 0.0 1 0 0 2 0   Pippen 4.1 6 3 2 1 3   Smith E.  W(1-0) 2.0 2 1 1 2 1   Parmelee  SV(1) 2.0 0 0 0 1 1 Totals 9.0 12 8 7 7 5   Boston Red Sox IP H R ER BB SO Auker 0.2 0 3 3 5 0   Galehouse 6.1 6 4 4 4 3   Ostermueller 0.0 1 1 1 0 0   Heving  L(0-1) 0.2 3 3 2 0 0   Dickman 1.1 1 1 0 1 2 Totals 9.0 11 12 10 10 5 E–Moses (1), S. Chapman (1), Tabor (1).  DP–Philadelphia 2. Pippen-Gantenbein-Etten, Gantenbein-Newsome-Etten.  2B–Philadelphia Lodigiani (1); Etten (3); Newsome (1), Boston Williams (3); Doerr (2); Desautels (1).  HR–Boston Williams (1,1st inning off Thomas 1 on).  Team LOB–10.  SH–Tabor (2).  Team–9.  SB–Tabor (1).  U–Red Ormsby, Bill Summers, Steve Basil.  T–2:55.  A–12,000.
Game played on Sunday, April 23, 1939 at Fenway Park
Baseball Almanac Box Score |

Tags: ted williams' 1st mlb hr

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