If Boston ever establishes a Mount Rushmore of sports, the four visages will likely be those of Robert Gordon Orr, Larry Joe Bird, Thomas Edward Patrick Brady, Jr., and Theodore Samuel Williams.
Bobby. Larry. Tom. Ted.
When Ted Williams swung his bat, a hit was not a foregone conclusion—pretty close, though. After a 19-year career, Williams retired with a .344 batting average, 521 home runs, and two American League Most Valuable Player Awards.
In 1946, Williams won his first MVP Award, all the more remarkable because a three-year absence from ballparks to serve as a Marine pilot in World War II had, apparently, no impact—the Red Sox slugger nicknamed “The Splendid Splinter” led the major leagues in:
- Runs Scored (142)
- Walks (156)
- On-Base Percentage (.497)
- Slugging Percentage (.667)
Williams eclipsed Detroit Tigers left-hander Hal Newhouser, who won the AL MVP in 1944 and 1945. It was bittersweet, though. The Red Sox lost the 1946 World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games; Williams batted a Mendoza-like .200.
A red seat at Fenway Park shows the landing spot of a Williams home run on June 9, 1946—the longest dinger of his career. To be precise, though, the ball landed on the head of the seat’s occupier—Joseph A. Boucher, a construction engineer. Harold Kaese of the Boston Globe wrote, “He had never sat in the Fenway Park bleachers before. There were 7897 fans besides [sic] himself perched on the sun-drenched wind-whipped concrete slope. Indeed was the elderly Mr. Boucher honored when crowned by a five-ounce baseball that the game’s greatest hitter had socked some 450 feet.”
It happened during the first inning of the second game of a doubleheader against the Detroit Tigers; the Red Sox won both games.
Boucher’s brush with fame had a cost of slightly hurt noggin, barely protected by a straw hat. It resulted; the “great baseball fan…and Red Sox rooter” received treatment from “Dr. Ralph McCarthy and two pretty nurses” in the stadium’s First Aid room. Boucher did not recover the ball.
In 1949, Williams won his second MVP Award. Once again, joy had a contrast of sorrow—the Yankees won the American League pennant by one game over the Red Sox. It was an extraordinary year for Williams, even by MVP standards. Williams led the major leagues in:
- Runs Scored (150)
- RBI (159)
- Walks (162)
- On-Base Percentage (.490)
- On-Base plus Slugging Percentage (1.141)
Further, he led the American League in:
- Doubles (39)
- Home Runs (43)
- Slugging Percentage (.650)
Though he did not achieve leadership in the following categories, his statistics were formidable:
- Hits (194)
- Strikeouts (48)
- Batting Average (.343)
In Sports Illustrated‘s 2002 Special Commemorative Issue for Ted Williams, Tom Verducci wrote, “Trying to define Williams as a hitter is like studying one of those black-and-white optical illusions and trying to make out both a vase and the profiles of two people. Do you see Williams as a high-average hitter with power or a power hitter who hit for a high average? He was, of course, both. Williams won six batting titles and four home run titles.”
A version of this article appeared on www.thesportspost.com on March 6, 2016.