The Pecan Park Eagle

Ted Williams

We all know the story. “The Splinter” could have spent the last day of the 1941 season sitting out the last day doubleheader that the Red Sox were playing against the Philadelphia A’s collecting little splinters of his own and still finished the year with a mathematically qualified .400 batting average for his phenomenal production, but that wasn’t good enough for the biggest batting perfectionist that ever played the game at his level. Ted didn’t want a .400 batting average that had been rounded off from the .39955 digital figure it actually represented.  – That kind of settlement would never do for a guy whose standard for achievement was perfect – all or nothing perfect – and that notion also embraced the idea of finishing the job he had started – even at the risk of slipping below even the technical, but qualified math bird he held in his hand. He had to risk playing in those last two “birds in the bush” doubleheader games that somehow had found their way onto the Boston@Philadelphia schedule for the very last day of the season.

Williams went 6 for 8 by playing in both games. That total broke down to 4 for 5 in Game One and 2 for 3 in Game 2. Check out the Baseball Almanac box scores down below for a closer, more detailed look at what Ted did that day and against whom he made his eternal mark, so far, as the last pure .400 hitter in a season of any kind since 1941.

The little table here shows by game what Williams added to his aggregate season totals with a hot day at the plate in both contests, but we also need to remember the risk he took. Had Ted Williams gone 0 for 8, and not 6 for 8, he would have ended up with season stats of only 179 hits for 456 times at bat – good enough “only” for a .393 (.39254) batting average that 99.99% of the guys who ever picked up a big league time at bat could only dream about.

That “failure” could not have occurred. – We’re talking about Hall of Famer Ted Williams here. – He may have done it over 73 years ago by the time the 2014 season concluded, but no one’s done it since. – He may likely be the last .400 hitter in history, given all the changes in the game that now weigh against batters hitting for a high average.

Thanks for the memory, Teddy Ballgame. People will be writing about this achievement in the foreseeable future way beyond our precious little time on earth.

KEY TO ABOVE TABLE:

GTP = GAMES TO PLAY BEYOND THE ONE ON THIS ROW

AB = OFFICIAL TIMES AT BAT THROUGH THE GAME ON THIS ROW

H = HITS THROUGH THE GAME ON THIS ROW

BA/5P = BATTING AVERAGE TO 5 DIGITAL PLACES THROUGH THIS GAME

BA/3P = BATTING AVERAGE TO 3 DIGITAL PLACES THROUGH THIS GAME

The September 28, 1941 Box Scores, Courtesy of Baseball Almanac

Baseball Almanac Box Scores Boston Red Sox 12, Philadelphia Athletics 11
Game 1 played on Sunday, September 28, 1941 at Shibe Park
Boston Red Sox ab   r   h rbi DiMaggio cf 5 1 3 0 Finney rf 4 1 0 0 Flair 1b 5 2 1 2 Williams lf 5 2 4 2 Tabor 3b 4 2 2 1 Doerr 2b 5 3 2 3 Newsome S. ss 3 0 1 1   Foxx ph 0 1 0 0   Carey ss 0 0 0 0 Pytlak c 4 0 1 1 Newsome D. p 2 0 1 0   Wagner p 3 0 1 2 Totals 40 12 16 12	Philadelphia Athletics ab   r   h rbi Collins rf 5 2 2 1 Valo lf 5 3 2 1 Richmond 3b 5 2 3 2 Johnson 1b 4 1 2 2 Chapman cf 5 0 2 1 Davis 2b 4 1 1 1 Suder ss 5 1 2 0 Hayes c 3 0 0 0 Fowler p 2 0 0 0   Miles ph 1 1 1 1   Vaughan p 1 0 0 0   Shirley p 0 0 0 0   McCoy ph 1 0 0 0 Totals 41 11 15 9
Boston 0 0 0 0 3 1 6 0 2 – 12 16 3 Philadelphia 0 0 2 0 9 0 0 0 0 – 11 15 3   Boston Red Sox IP H R ER BB SO Newsome 4.2 13 11 11 3 5   Wagner  W(12-8) 4.1 2 0 0 2 0 Totals 9.0 15 11 11 5 5   Philadelphia Athletics IP H R ER BB SO Fowler 5.0 8 3 3 0 0   Vaughan 1.2 5 7 6 3 0   Shirley  L(0-1) 2.1 3 2 0 2 0 Totals 9.0 16 12 9 5 0 E–DiMaggio (14), Finney (14), Tabor (30), Davis 2 (7), Suder (21).  DP–Philadelphia 4. Suder-B. Johnson, Richmond-Davis-B. Johnson, Richmond-Davis-B. Johnson, Davis-Suder-B. Johnson.  2B–Boston Tabor (29), Philadelphia B. Johnson (30).  3B–Boston Flair (1); Doerr (4), Philadelphia Valo (1); Richmond (1).  HR–Boston Williams (37,5th inning off Fowler 0 on); Tabor (16,5th inning off Fowler 0 on).  SH–S. Newsome (13); Davis (3).  Team LOB–7.  Team–9.  U–Bill McGowan, John Quinn, Bill Grieve.
Game played on Sunday, September 28, 1941 at Shibe Park
Baseball Almanac Box Score | Baseball Almanac Box Scores Boston Red Sox 1, Philadelphia Athletics 7 Game 2 played on Sunday, September 28, 1941 at Shibe Park Boston Red Sox ab   r   h rbi DiMaggio cf 4 0 1 0 Finney rf 2 0 0 0   Fox rf 2 0 1 0 Flair 1b 4 0 0 0 Williams lf 3 0 2 0 Tabor 3b 3 0 0 0 Carey 2b 3 0 1 0 Newsome ss 3 0 0 0 Peacock c 2 0 0 0   Pytlak c 1 1 1 1 Grove p 0 0 0 0   Johnson p 2 0 0 0 Totals 29 1 6 1 Philadelphia Athletics ab   r   h rbi Valo lf 3 1 1 0 Mackiewicz cf 4 1 1 0 Miles rf 4 1 2 1 Davis 1b 3 1 0 0 McCoy 2b 3 1 2 0 Brancato 3b 4 0 2 2 Suder ss 3 1 1 0 Wagner c 4 1 2 2 Caligiuri p 4 0 0 0 Totals 32 7 11 5 Boston 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 – 1 6 1 Philadelphia 3 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 – 7 11 0   Boston Red Sox IP H R ER BB SO Grove  L(7-7) 1.0 4 3 3 0 0   Johnson 7.0 7 4 4 4 1 Totals 8.0 11 7 7 4 1   Philadelphia Athletics IP H R ER BB SO Caligiuri  W(2-2) 8.0 6 1 1 1 1 Totals 8.0 6 1 1 1 1 E–DiMaggio (15).  DP–Boston 2. Tabor-Carey-Flair, Philadelphia 1. McCoy-Suder-Davis.  2B–Boston Williams (33).  3B–Philadelphia Mackiewicz (1); Suder (9).  HR–Boston Pytlak (2,8th inning off Caligiuri 0 on), Philadelphia Wagner (1,2nd inning off Johnson 0 on).  Team LOB–5.  Team–5.  CS–Brancato (5).  U–John Quinn, Bill Grieve, Bill McGowan. Game played on Sunday, September 28, 1941 at Shibe Park Baseball Almanac Box Score |

Tags: Ted William's .406 finale in 1941.

This entry was posted on January 4, 2015 at 4:39 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.