Ted Williams is considered one of the greatest hitters of all time. He compiled a lifetime .344 batting average during his 19 seasons, all of them with the Boston Red Sox. He’s also the last player in Major League Baseball to hit over .400 for an entire reason, a feat he accomplished in 1941.

Williams was so good that one of the main debates in baseball is who is better, Williams or the great Joe DiMaggio. That’s the kind of rarified company Williams is considered in when baseball fans talk about the greatest of all time.

DiMaggio vs Williams

Ted Williams Early Life

Theodore Samuel Williams was born in San Diego on Aug. 30, 1918. He was the oldest son of Samuel Williams, a professional photographer, and his Mexican-American wife,  May Venzor Williams.

Growing up, he played pickup games year-round at a local park in San Diego. By the time he reached high school, Williams had become a star, pitching for Herbert Hoover High School. He also played American Legion baseball. While still in high school, he played part-time for the San Diego Padres, then of the Pacific Coast League.

After high school graduation, he played a full season for the Padres in 1937. Big league teams, including the New York Yankees and the St. Louis Cardinals, showed interest in Williams before the 1937 season. But his mother, a lifelong soldier in the Salvation Army, felt Williams was far too young to leave his hometown.

Of course, history shows Williams did leave home. It happened the next year, in 1938, after Boston Red Sox general manager Eddie Collins saw Williams play and made a deal with the Padres owner to have the option to bring Williams to spring training in Florida. He ended up exercising that option and never regretting it.

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Ted Williams Minor League Career

The Red Sox decided to send Williams to the Minneapolis Millers in the minors, where he quickly showed he was ready for the big leagues. Williams won the American Association league triple crown, with a .366 average, 43 home runs and 142 RBI.

Importantly, he also met the great Rogers Hornsby during his time in Minnesota. He later said Hornsby taught him a lot about hitting, including advice on staying patient at the plate and waiting for a good pitch to hit.

Brief History Of The American League

Ted Williams in the Major Leagues

After his incredible performance in Minnesota, the Red Sox called up Williams in 1939. He did not disappoint, hitting .327 and leading the league in RBI with 145. He also hit 31 home runs and scored 131. The 145 RBI for a rookie is a record that still stands today.

In 1940, Williams switched to left field. He also had the first of an amazing 12 straight seasons where he led the majors in on-base percentage. He also displayed the interest in the game that led to the nickname “Teddy Ballgame,” asking other hitters about how pitchers approached at-bats in different situations and what they used as their “out pitch.”

He also started a contentious relationship with Boston media, saying he was sick of Boston and dealing with reporters, leading some reporters to call for trading him, according to “Ted Williams: The Biography of an American Hero” by Leigh Montville. The relationship stayed stormy for much of Williams’ career.

In 1941, Williams hit .406, making him the last player to hit over .400 for an entire season. He led the league in runs (135), home runs (37) and walks (145).

Williams had many highlights over his career. They include:

  • Making the All-Star team 19 times
  • Leading the league in runs scored six times
  • Winning the American League MVP twice
  • Winning the American League batting championship six times
  • Leading the American League in home runs four times
  • Leading the American League in RBI four times
  • A lifetime batting average of .344
  • A total of 1,839 career RBI
  • A total of 1,798 runs scored

The most amazing statistic involving Williams is his astounding .482 on-base percentage, which means he got on base almost half the time he came to the plate. It’s the highest percentage in baseball history. Babe Ruth is second at .473. To offer perspective, the only active players in the Top 50 for on-base percentage are Mike Trout (.419) and Joey Votto (.417).

After retirement following the 1960 season, Williams worked as a special batting instructor for the Red Sox until 1966. He also managed the Washington Senators from 1969 to 1971. An avid fisherman, he spent much of his retirement fishing and was named to the International Game Fish Association Hall of Fame in 2000.

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When Williams died in 2002, two of his children had his body cryogenically frozen. They say they had signed a pact with their father to all get frozen so they could be together again someday if science found a way to revive dead bodies. A lawsuit to stop the process by another of Williams’ children failed.

Williams’ body is at the Alcor Life Extension Foundation in Scottsdale, Arizona. There are currently 168 frozen bodies at Alcor, as well as 90 pets. Other famous people frozen at the facility include writer Dick Clair Jones, a co-creator of the TV show “The Facts of Life”;  Marvin Minsky, who co-founded the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s artificial intelligence laboratory; and Chinese science fiction writer Du Hong.