Williams, Ted (1918-2002), was one of the best players in the history of Major League Baseball (MLB). Nicknamed the “Splendid Splinter” or “Teddy Ballgame,” Williams played 19 seasons with the Boston Red Sox from 1939 through 1960. (Williams, a left-handed-hitting outfielder, missed most of five seasons while serving in the United States Navy and Marine Corps.) A consistent and powerful hitter, Williams hit 521 career home runs, drove in 1,839 runs, and retired with a career .344 batting average. He also drew 2,021 career walks, and his .482 career on-base percentage is the best of all time. Williams won six American League (AL) batting titles, led the league in home runs four times, in runs batted in four times, and in runs scored six times. Williams won the triple crown of batting—leading the league in batting average, home runs, and runs batted in—in 1942 and 1947. Williams was named to 19 AL All-Star teams, was the AL Most Valuable Player in 1946 and 1949, and was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1966. In 1941, Williams batted .406, making him the last player to reach .400 in the American League.
Theodore Samuel Williams was born on Aug. 30, 1918, in San Diego, California. He excelled at baseball in high school, and he signed a professional contract to play for the minor league San Diego Padres of the Pacific Coast League in 1936. In late 1937, Williams signed a minor league deal with the Boston Red Sox. He was promoted to Boston for the 1939 season and quickly became a star.
The United States entered World War II (1939-1945) in December 1941, and many MLB players soon entered military service. After the 1942 season, Williams entered the Navy, where he trained as a fighter pilot and flight instructor. He served until the end of 1945, returning to the Red Sox lineup for the 1946 season. That year, Williams played in his only World Series, a loss to the Saint Louis Cardinals. A few years later, Williams’s baseball career was again paused while he served as a Marine combat pilot in the Korean War (1950-1953). He missed most of the 1952 and 1953 MLB seasons, but he returned in 1954 to bat .345. Williams retired as a player after the 1960 season. From 1969 through 1972, he served as manager of the Washington Senators and the Texas Rangers. The Red Sox retired Williams’s uniform number 9 in 1984. In 1991, Williams was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor awarded by the president of the United States. Williams died on July 5, 2002.
