by Bob Sparrow
Williams, throws right, bats left
I have heard that baseball season is well underway. I must admit my interest in baseball has waned over the years, not unlike most Americans, who haven’t voted baseball as America’s #1 Pastime since 1960! But I do like the history of the game and particularly some of the stories of the great characters of the game. One of those characters is Ted Williams, a southern California boy from San Diego, whose life was quite interesting.
His real name was Teddy Williams, named after Teddy Roosevelt, but he later legally changed it to ‘Theodore’ so he could just be called ‘Ted’. He was 6’3” and 205 pounds and nicknamed. “The Splendid Splinter”. What most people don’t know about him, is that his mother was Hispanic, a fact that he kept from the public as he knew he wouldn’t be offered the same opportunities, if they knew he was part Hispanic.
He was a great high school baseball player and had offers out of high school from the St. Louis Cardinals and the New York Yankees, but his mother thought he was too young to leave home, so he signed with a local minor league team, the San Diego Padres. After one season with the Padres, he was pick up by the Boston Red Sox at 19 years old . . . and the rest is history!
Marine Corps Captain Ted Williams
In his first four seasons (1939 – 1942) at age 20-23, he made the All-Star team three years and had two second place finished for the MVP of the league and one 4th place finish. On the last day of the 1941 season, he had a batting average of .400 and was asked by his manager if he wanted to sit out the last day of baseball, a double header against the Athletics, so he could remain at .400 for the season; he declined to sit out and went 6 for 8 in his final at bats and finished with a .406 average – which was the last time a major league player hit .400 or over! As a point of reference, only 11 players in the 2023 season hit .300 or better!!
After his fourth season, America was involved in World War II, and although at the time a college degree was required to become a pilot, and Ted had only a high school diploma, during WWII exceptions were made, so Williams was allowed in the Navy/Marine Corps pilot training program. His tremendous reflexes and hand-eye coordination (he had 20/10 vision!) made him an outstanding pilot (as well as an outstanding hitter), so they made him an instructor, and by the time he was eventually sent for combat duty, the war was over.
After the war, he rejoined the Red Sox and became the MVP in the league in his first year back. For the next six years he was on the All-Star Team every year, won two MVP Awards and had a batting average of .339.
F-9 Panther
In 1950 the U.S. was once again at war, this time in Korea, and Ted was recalled by the Marine Corp and sent to South Korea where he flew the F-9 Panther jet in 39 combat missions where he was asked by future astronaut, John Glenn to be his wingman. His plane was hit by enemy fire on three occasions and on one of those he had to make a crash landing.
He returned to full-time baseball in 1954 and spent the next seven years compiling a career of award:
- Three-time American League Most Valuable Player
- Eight-time Golden Glove Award (for best defensive player at his position)
- Six-time American League batting champion – the last two at age 39 and 40.
- 19-time All Star Team
- Two Triple Crown Award (best batting average, most RBIs and most Home Runs in the league)
- Lifetime batting average of .344
- Only Hall of Famer to serve in two wars
All that after missing nearly five full seasons due to military service. Now, that’s a baseball player!