For me, the most impressive thing about Ted Williams is the way he played in the double header to end the season when he batted 406. Could have just sat out and still had a .400 season. No dice, he played both games and had 6 hits in 8 AB's. That's the way you do it.
Great story. Apparently he went for a walk with the clubhouse guy. He told him "Ted - if you sit out, people will only remember that you backed in. " Ted said " %#!@^ it - you're right!" It really wasn't Ted's style to sit anyway - I knew a guy who served with Ted in the Marines in Korea. He had nothing but good things to say about him.
Ted hit .406 in 1941. In 1957, he hit .388. In between, he served in two wars as a USMC fighter pilot. He crash landed his jet in Korea... and flew the next day. One of his wingmen was John Glenn. Ted was the greatest.
As a fighter pilot in WW2 over Germany his fellow pilots said Ted could see opposing airplanes on the horizon before anyone else could...Good eyes good hands.
mickey won the batting title in 56 hitting 353, he hit 365 in 57 and finished second to ted. those were the days of REAL men. can you imagine hitting 365 and losing the title by over 20 points!!
I saw Ted Williams in Yankee Stadium I was 15years old and I fell in love with the Red Sox. I have been a Red Sox fan for 68 years. When I graduated from college I worked in Boston and never missed a game at Fenway. Now I'm in the Pacific Northwest and I still follow my Red Sox.
My name is Ted Anderson and I idolized Ted since I was a young boy and still today at age 84 I love this man like a son would love his father, I saw him play in Philly and at Yankee Stadium although the Yankees would walk him more than they would pitch to him. I only saw him hit one home run and it was a thrill, I was sitting in the press box high above first base at Shibe Park in Philadelphia later to be called Connie Mack Stadium after the owner of the Philadelphia A's baseball team. Ted came up in the first inning and Bobby Shantz a left handed pitcher threw three balls to Ted and the next pitch Ted hit it out, now from where I'm sitting I had a fantastic view as the ball cleared the right field wall and sailed over a street and landed on the roof of a house. A few years back I attended an autograph signing featuring Bobby Shantz and mentioned to Bobby I saw that home run and Bobby answered "I was just telling somebody about that, I had Ted three balls and no strikes and tried to get a fast ball past him and it didn't work. A memory I will have all my life.
Hi, Ted thanks for the great recollection of Ted. I am from Boston and saw Ted play. I caddied at a course outside of Boston and Joe Cronin was a member. He had Ted walk around the course with him when he had broken his collarbone. I remember the batting duel between TW and MM in 1957 when Ted ended up hitting 388. I think he was almost 40. I have a friend from high school who I still stay in touch with who went to Ted's last game. Bill Murphy got in touch with MLB Baseball to let them know about the 8mm color film that he had of Ted's final game. They purchased the film from him which recently appeared on a PBS special about TW. I am attaching a link that appeared in the New York Times and tells the story about the film. I think you will enjoy seeing it. This film gives the best recollection of Ted's "dance" that he did when he stepped into the box. Hope you enjoy the clip. www.nytimes.com/2018/07/19/sports/ted-williams-film-last-game.html
Sorry to be a pest but I also wanted to tell you that when we saw Ted play it was a drama each time he came to the plate. In those days people didn't come for the game as much as they came to see Williams hit. From the time he walked out of the dugout and went to the on-deck circle and then to the batter's box and digging in ferociously at the plate and then finally glaring back at the pitcher it was a high-level drama all the way. I remember listening to a radio game from Yankee Stadium. Ted had been out sick but was dressed for the game and in the dugout. I heard a roar from the crowd and immediately knew that Ted had gone to the bat rack and the fans knew they were going to see him come up. I still get goosebumps remembering it 60 years later.
Ted was opinionated and it seems a real pain in his private life but extremely intelligent (he breezed through the difficult academic side of his pilot training and would have done well at university if he was ever motivated) but also basically decent guy. He was great friends with Hank Greenberg and when the recently departed Pumpsie Green - the Red Sox first black player- went into the club house he said Ted was the most welcoming of the players. His discussion of batting with another student of hitting and a fellow San Diegoan the late Tony Gwynn I found amazing.
Great story. It reminds me of one....about a home run, not about Ted. I took my boys (ages 6 and 4) to a Mets game, driving in a couple of hours form upstate NY. Darryl Strawberry came to the plate. I said to the older one, "That's Darryl Strawberry. He can hit a ball from there (ponting to the home plate), all the way to THERE!" And I pointed to CF. on THE NEXT PITCH, Darryl got a hold of one, and hit it almost exactly where I pointed, a 450 foot shot just to the left side of center. My boy's eyes were as big as saucers, but not as big as MINE! I couldn't believe it!
To me the most impressive thing about Ted was that during Joe DiMaggio’s famous hitting streak in which he had hit safely in 56 straight games and batted .406, Ted in the same time frame , hit .412.
My Dad drove a cab, and when the Padres were in town, my Dad picked him up one night and took him to the game. They talked baseball. My Dad picked him up for 2 or 3 nights, and they talked each time. He was so kind and classy. My Dad was so happy and impressed. RIP.
Stan 'the Man' Musial got robbed of a triple crown one year when he led the NL in avg & RBI, & he hit just as many home runs as the NL leader that year, but one of them was hit in a game that got rained out before 5 innings were over... So that game didn't get put in the book, & therefore, neither did Musial's long ball. But he'll always be the man in St. Louis:)
@@johnnypastrana6727 I realize that Forbes wasn't Stan the Man's home field, but Willie "Pops" Stargell hit one over the right field roof, which, of course, was above the upper deck.
Nope. In his demented mind , ask flat footed joe Greenberg fox Stan The name should be Teds absentee oligarch king of gelato foots has vain acts of ridiculousness
Tony had the highest batting average all time Ted played in bigger fields which allowed the ball to fall in front of fielders 20 to 30 times more in a season for they played deep to avoid the ball being hit over their heads , that’s why so many triples were being hit back then That puts Gwynn at 376 and Ted at 310 Also the owners hooked up the field for pull hitters so not only hitting but Ted would had hit in today’s parks would had hit no more than 462 homers Circumstantial elements like fields being different sizes catering to their hitters exclusively All the parks should be 330 down the line 380 in the gaps and 430 in center field to be justice You might say , oh parks today are smaller more homers , not true , parks were designed back then exclusively for pull hitters ,,,, Ted didn’t mention speed and so discounted Cobb with a smirk Add up his extra base hits and stolen bases 2033 and teds at 1141 , Henderson all time leader with 2242 Speed forces pitchers to throw fast balls enhancing batters average Speed takes away double plays allows runners to score from 2nd on a bloop hit , and Ted said a walk is equal to a base on ball which is false , can only drive in a run only if bases are loaded All in all , Top 5 are 2242. Rickey 2033. Cobb 1954. Bonds 1717. Wagner 1714. Henry See how these players are fast and Rickey batting a dismal 279 Ted was flat footed and catered to that along with players who pulled the ball and really looked in the mirror every time he walked past it 1694. Willie 1604. Alex 1521 Raines 1479. Ruth 1457. Molitor Ted with extra base hits and stolen bases might be in the top 100 Flat footed Ted
@@tlouandtherest4378 I am not gone to go over your points like the ball parks were bigger so more hits dropped in in Ted's day but somehow at the same time the fences are father now so Ted would have had less home runs???. Ted played his whole career for 50% of the time in a ball park that was the same now as it was in 1939, The thing that prevented him from better stats was the 4.5 years he was in the service. When you referred to Rickey hope you weren't talking about Branch Rickey.
@@AlbertEinsteinSpock Yessir. Back when we were good strong men. And women appreciated us, for keeping them safe, protected, secure, etc. Not like that now.
James.....well said and right on point. The Bible warns us about this very thing. Isaiah 3:12 As for My people, children are their oppressors, And women rule over them. O My people! Those who lead you cause you to err, And destroy the way of your paths.” We can't spank our kids and this is what happens. We have been emasculated by women and they rule over us. Until the tribulation and then this will happen: Isaiah 4:1 And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, “We will eat our own food and wear our own apparel; Only let us be called by your name, To take away our reproach.” When these women are afraid for their lives and realize they are no match for fighting men, then they will submit and ask for help. Until then they will flap their filthy lips and dress like the cheap rags that they have become. Not for long.
" Pound for pound " as they say...Lou Gehrig is #1 to me! RBI's man !! ( 170+ 3x and 2nd with 184 in a season behind Hack Wilson's 190 in 154 game seasons ! ) in Lou's 3rd season he started another UNREAL feat , Avg, 156 RBI's over a 10 year span ! That's gotta be right up there with ANY baseball hitter feat !!
And we can only speculate what Gehrig's stats would have been had that lousy disease (ALS) not stopped him! My favorite all-time player as a great package of player and man.
RBI's aren't the best indicator of a player's true ability. It's as much a function of team value as individual accomplishment. If Gehrig had spent his whole career playing for the horrid St. Louis Browns, none of those numbers you mentioned would exist.
@@theflaver Hey Dan I can play your silly little game' Gaylord Perry won 149 more games then Sandy Koufax so he must be a much better pitcher. The response might be if Koufax had played as many years as Perry he would have had many more wins But I guess you would just answer but he didn't. Right
@@Plmncvb You do realize he played more then 16 years.Right.Gehrig was a great player but 16 years is a pretty long career for a baseball player and he was 37 when he retired.The way he died was terrible but the truth is stats like batting average and hrs per year would have probably declined at that point and would not have really helped his overall statistics. Case in point in his last full year he hit a 295 with 29 hrs. While a good year for most people way off Gehrigs average year
I would have liked to hear Williams talk about Clemente's style of hitting. Clemente launched himself at the ball and ended up swinging through the ball with his weight on his front foot- back foot coming off the ground. Williams style totally different. Ted generated his power with his hip turn and rotation about the centerline of his body. Two totally different approaches to hitting, both HOF 1st ballot.
Mantle was more quick-trigger, sizzling bat speed, like a catapult release. Hence the "crack" when he hit the ball, like Jimmie Foxx. The old Podnah, Dizzy Dean, used to mention that.
@@sammyweed4771 When you consider base running, and the number of times Ty stole home, in my model considering overall impact to a team, you are correct, Ty comes in #3 behind Barry Bonds (#1) and Babe Ruth
for those who want to know the list is: # 20: Ralph Kiner #19: mike schmidt #18: frank robinson #17: harry heilmann #16: mel ott #15: johnny mize #14: al simmons #13: tris speaker #12: mickey mantle #11: hank greenberg #10: willie mays #9: hank aaron #8: joe jackson #7: stan musial #6: ty cobb #5: joe dimaggio #4: roger hornsby #3: jimmie foxx #2: lou gehrig #1: babe ruth
A little too much PC BS for me. Ted's got ty cobb in , but not Charllie Hustle the guy to beat Cobb's record. PC BS. Name one batter outside of the Babe who would be walked intentionally in the 9th inning with a runner on 1st. No one else but BB. More PCBS.
we must remember Cobb played in both the dead ball era and also after 1919 when the ball started to fly out of the parks. He excelled in both era's. I would put Cobb ahead of Dimaggio and Foxx.... Still think Aaron is so underrated, played against same great pitchers Clemenete faced from above post from peace2014.
Ted faced a much better defense, especially pitchers. He missed several war years in his prime. Ted said that Joe Jackson was his pick for the best hitter.
@millerforester6237 what Hornsby did in those five years was not just great but exceptional for the time he did it. Ruth was exceptional by outhomering teams and Hornsby averaging 400 over five seasons is in that same class. These guys were drastically changing the game and the approach at the plate and shouldn't be diminished with assumptions. Ted Williams is an absolute wizard of hitting not to mention that some say he might have been our finest fighter pilot this country has ever produced and a world class fishermen and a great historian a true American gem. I'm a Stan Musial guy though and if Stan would have played half his games in that band box and one of baseballs greatest cathedrals but a band box for a great hitter with ability to hit to all fields with authority, Stans n umbers could have gotten out of reach instead of the rather unfriendly confines of sportsman's Park back in the day even Ted when asked by his son "do you think Stan was as good of a hitter as you?" And he replied " yeah , yeah really think he was" but at that level we're arguing about about God's of the game, with my grandfather and my dad's stories and getting to meet Musial who used to just hang around and play his harmonica and shake hands and sign autographs he's my guy.Boston should be very proud to have one of those as their very own also.all teams aren't so fortunate
Batting before sliders, sinkers, cutters, splitters, and changeups were used, and when fastballs rarely broke 90MPH. There’s a reason why so many ‘legends’ hit well over 300. lol
@@KC-bg1th Chief Bender invented the slider,called the nickle curve back then.Christy Mathewson invented the screwball,called the fadeaway at that time.Cy Young invented the breaking ball,and he also threw a great fastball,96 mph,as well as an amazing curve.Amos Rusie,Ed Walsh,Carl Mays,Joe Wood,Lefty Grove,Walter Johnson,Bob Feller,Grover Alexander among others threw 90-100mph.Do proper research.
I love Ted Williams as a pure hitter who could play Fenway's big green wall - but also as a man of the people. He never liked to acknowledge cheering applause by tipping his cap to the fans after a homer. Back around 1970, he was promoted to appear at a Boston sporting expo. I saw him and looked up - he grabbed the paper and pen from my hands and signed twice! Maybe he wasn't satisfied the first time, maybe he just wanted to be generous. You can't put a price on that, just let Ted be Ted.
@@lloydkline1518 I'm not a Yankees fan or a Boston Red Sox fan or fan of any team from Boston but I will have to say my favorite player if I had to pick one would be Ted Williams
Once at Fenway, Williams dropped a fly ball in the 8th inning and the Boston fans booed Ted. In the 9th, Williams hit a walk off homer and as he rounded third base, Ted flipped the cheering Red Sox fans the middle finger.
Nice to see Tony Gwynn, truly a class act, when he and Cal Ripken Jr. Were inducted into Cooperstown together, I cried like a little boy. They were the epitome of class, and both were great players as well
what many do not know is the established fact, according to military records is that Williams had 20/10 vision. In other words, if you could see a fly on the wall from 10 feet, Williams could describe its movements. That's what made him perfect for being an air force pilot.
Ted was a class act, remember seeing him as a kid in Baltimore. IMAGINE if hadn't done his duty in two wars, not like the cowardly trash we have today.
It was good to hear Williams talk about DiMaggio in such glowing terms here. I read another book by Williams, "My Turn At Bat" and from that book he always felt he was in DiMaggio's shadow when they played during that time period, that no matter what Williams accomplished he felt he wouldn't get as much credit for it as he felt he should have because the press coverage always favored NY. The one thing that riled him in particular was that during DiMaggio's 56 game hitting streak Williams had a higher batting average over the same time frame but it was never noted.
If the Red Sox had won as many World Series Championships with Ted Williams as the Yankees did with DiMaggio, there would be no doubt in anyone's mind that Ted was way better. The Red Sox couldn't even win 1 World Series with Ted. Big Pappi is considered one of the greatest clutch hitters in the post season and only Reggie Jackson comes close. We tend to remember the "Winners/Champions" like Babe Ruth, Bobby Orr, Bill Russell, Rocky Marciano, Bill Rodgers, Tom Brady, Larry Bird, Big Pappi, Yogi Berra, and Muhammad Ali.
@@richardmilliken8705 -the KC Royals were a feeder team for the Yankees. They gave up a ton of talent for free over the years. Boston had no such connection
@@simpleagain1 There's no doubt that Williams is the GOAT Hitter, but the Bambino Curse didn't get eliminated until 2004, when they were down 3-0 in the American League Championships against the Yankees, and they mounted the GOAT comebacks in MBL History, by winning the next 4 games in a row to become the American League Champions and they won 4 straight World Seriess games against the Cardinals. Dimaggio's 9 World Series Championships is only 2nd to Yogi's 13 World Series Championships.
when I was young I used to watch GOLFERS driving balls----I seen TED WILLIAMS hit a GRAND SLAM in YANKEE STADIUM-when it left his bat it was like a golf shot -went straight rose up and dropped about 12 rows beyond the 296 sign --it just reminded me of a golf shot------never have forgot that
Ted Williams was undoubtedly a great and natural hitter. And there were two occasions when he missed 2 seasons because he was a pilot in war, I think for the US Marines. Add what he likely would have achieved in those seasons and you may have some new all-time records. But he was his own worst enemy; he spat at fans and did not play a good game of public relations. I always wondered why DiMaggio was the MVP for '41 and not Williams. But when humans vote, they have their own likes and dislikes and Ted was not popular and made no effort to be liked. Years later, he got the respect he richly deserved but the fans worshipped DiMaggio while he played. But the GOAT has to be Babe Ruth; by himself he created a new game called baseball. He made fans forget the disaster of the Black Sox and made them come to baseball games again. In most years, he hit more home runs than the entirety of each team he played against. Think of that.
Ted William's was my favorite player even though it was before my time.Ive watched a lot of footage of him.He was a fighter pilot in my opinion was why he could see the ball so well.He fought at Midway.
#21. Pete Rose. I am pushing 60 years old and he was the greatest that I ever seen. It might take another 100 years before his record is broken, if it even gets broken.
TB1968 I grew up watching Pete in Croley Field and then in Riverfront when the bastards tore that beautiful Baseball palace down...there was never a ballpark that SMELLED so much like a ballpark; Grass, cigars, hot dogs, beer...intoxicating! Bur I have to say Pete IS the no. 1 hitter...he' got more hits than anyone who ever played the game! And there's a lot of hypocrisy going on here; Ty Cobb? A racist and rumored to be in the KKK? Also, was suspected in the murder of a black man. No problemo! Put that animal on the list!! Some secret deal was made by baseball behind closed doors to NEVER let Pete in ...well, ANYWHERE to do with baseball. Tear down the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. If Ty Cobb is there and Pete Rose is NOT? It does not deserve to stand.
I have a few books on TY COBB. And one of those books he written himself. And most of the Stories about him are lies. Simply not true. I give one simple story. Ty was the Highest paid player back then and he sighed one year contracts. So he could negotiate his contract every year. No remember Ty was making more $ because he invested in Stock and other things. So he could turn down there offers, where other player couldn’t. So the owners, snakes that they are sometimes. Paid reporters and Journalists to make up stories to get Cobb kick out of the League. Even know he was the best player in baseball at the time, fans came to see him play and boo at him. Didn’t matter they came to see him play. He said he didn’t bother to Address theses allegations, because it would of just made it worst. Cry baby Ect. So that’s just one of the stories in this book. And I think he is the greatest ball player to ever play. He did it all. So Amazing. Go look at his stats. Better than everyone else’s. And that’s a fact.
Roberto Clemente faced a steady diet of Gibson, Carlton, Drysdale, Koufax, Sutton, Spahn, Niekro, Marichal, Perry, Ryan, Seaver, Jenkins -- perhaps the most Hall of Famers ever in the career of any multiple batting champ -- and then dominated the Orioles staff (McNally, Cuellar, Palmer) in the 1971 World Series. He hit some of the longest home runs in Forbes Field, which after 1954 didn't feature the phony short left field wall that benefited Kiner. Besides being the best triples hitter in baseball by a considerable margin for all batters after 1950, he also accomplished the most exciting play in baseball history: the only walk off, grand slam, inside the park home run.
And had more 'baserunner kills' aka assists, than any outfielder since integration, also by a comfortable margin! You also forgot to include Wilhelm and Roberts. 😊
Clemente had more hits in the decade of the 1960s than any other hitter. He also hit safely in all 14 world series games that he was in and was series MVP in 1971...won 4 batting titles...not buying Schmidt and DiMaggio...
I was born in St. Louis and, of course I'm a "Die Hard" Cardinals fan. If you were alive during my childhood you came to know the, Stan "The Man" legend. You were mesmerized by the nine foot statue at the ballpark, The inscription by Commissioner Ford Frick stating that "...Here stands Baseball's Perfect Warrior, ...Here Stands Baseballs Perfect Knight". Meeting Stan was easy, talking Baseball when you did was even easier, so you were drawn in to the legend in a deeper way whenever you ran into him at the ballpark. So when Stan would often say how close he was, how much he admired, how much he liked Ted Williams as a player, a man, and as a friend you had to believe that the "Splendid Splinter" was everything that everybody said he was. There were others Willie, Hammerin' Hank, Enos etc... None were mentioned with more regard than Ted Williams. Thanks for this video it was great to see and watch. Lots of memories of great players.
One guy I think really gets overlooked is "Big" Ed Delahanty. One of only three guys to hit .400 three times and the other two are Cobb and Hornsby. He also finished top five in OPS+ ten times in the eleven years between 1892 and 1902. If you like counting stats he led the league in doubles five times, RBI three times, home runs and average twice, hits and triples once. Like many others of that era he was also a solid baserunner and once led the NL in swipes. The lifetime .346 average (fifth all-time) and being a member of the .300/.400/.500 club are just the icing on the cake in my opinion. At the very least the best hitter between Brouthers and Lajoie/Wagner.
I just posted a rank order from my model that looks at overall impact a player has on team runs/wins and Big Ed came up 23 out of 27 on list, ahead of Harry Heilmann; Ralph Kiner; and Al Simmons on Ted's list
@@Tboy439 We must have both heard that whisper. I input Albert P. ildata into both my batting model and overall impact model and he came in 25th; Judge comes in 29th
Mickey Mantle had the two greates seasons of all time. 1956-57. This was on a bad knee. He was hitting .350 plus when league average was about 2.60. His ops was over 1100 with the next closest one at 700.
Watching this reminds me of how much I miss not only Teddy Ballgame and Hank Aaron of course, but how much I miss Mr. Tony Gwynn. To see him and Mr. Williams talk hitting is like having Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Robinson talk about The Sweet Science.
Yep, agree. Tony Gwynn averaged over 530 bats a season (not counting his first two years) and still only managed to strike out an average of 23 times a year! That's only one strike out per 22 at bats...That's amazing! He had 19 strikeouts or less, every year, his last 10 years. Now players, even good ones, consistently strike out 150+ times a year. That's just amazing to me. Tony played 2,440 games and there were only 34 in which he struck out more than once.
P.S.I've taken the principles of that book on hitting and applied them to my golf swing; combined with Ben Hogan's 5 essentials, I have been able to hit a golf ball 190 to over 200 yards straight and I'm 86 years of age.
An oldtimer told me Ruth was the best ballplayer ever, i said , " well home runs maybe". Im not going to go thru it all but he laid it out and by the end i was convinced!, His pitching was outrageous.
I would like to see specific reasons why they were not on the list. It is only 20 players and there have been a LOT of great hitters or players for that matter in the history of baseball. I think his method for evaluating does have a slight bias against players of the dead ball era because of the lack of power. I say a slight bias because they did include Ty, Shoeless Joe, and Tris, but Honus was clearly the dominant National League player during his time. It is very hard to compare eras in baseball. A number of rules were markedly different when Cap Anson played. In 1883 for example, it took 7 balls for a walk. There were also restrictions on how the pitcher could deliver the ball, on throwing full overhanded. Another player I'd like to have heard Ted Williams' opinion as a hitter is George Brett.
He was an amazing man. An expert fisherman, a hero in 2 wars! The greatest hitter of all time. He had a bigger than life personality, who should have a movie of his life!
Left hander pitcher Ruth, 2.28 ERA with multiple 20 game win seasons. No other baseball player will ever win 20 games as a pitcher an then go on to and lead the league in any batting category.
@@Jacobthekid28L I disagree, since he was the best player of his era, Ruth would be better today with. access to modern training and nutrition. The result of development would make him the best player in this modern era. Imagine him in a league loaded with home run ball parks!
@@michaeldonahue5068 It will be interesting to see how his career plays out. He is a ways away from being the number 1 pitcher in their rotation. He does have some power.
And Ruth pitched first, had a 94-46 record with a 2.28 ERA. That in itself is a decent pitching career today. But he hit so well, obviously, they made him a right fielder so he played everyday. I wonder how it would of turned out if he stayed pitching, too. Imagine- 300 wins and 700 HRs
I'm a die hard New York Yankee fan and just love and adore the great Ted Williams. He was without a doubt the greatest hitter in MLB history and a very patriotic American. There will never be another Ted Williams again. Nobody will ever hit 406 again. RIP Ted Williams.
Ruth faced RH Walter Johnson during the 2nd half of his career (1915-27). He hit .298 with 9 HRs, 37 hits & 26 SO. By the time Ruth faced him as an every day player in 1920, Johnson was not the same pitcher he was before 1920 when he won 25 games 7 straight times (2x30+), had 200+ SO 7 straight & led in ERA 4x. Ruth faced LH Lefty Grove during Grove's prime and hit .316 with 45 SO, 42 hits & 9 HR.
Johnson was the best of the 'dead ball' era pitchers and that's it! In 1919, last year of the dead ball era, his ERA was 1.49! 1920, the very next year and first of the newly used Australian material, 'live ball', his ERA was 3.13, more than double! Only twice during his 9 seasons in the live ball era was his ERA under 3.00, 2.72 and 2.99, while 11 of 13 seasons during the dead ball era it was under 2.00, never higher than 2.23! And it amazes me of how baseball people NEVER wanna talk about this! What a difference a 'ball' makes? 🤔🤣😅
@@keithleverette8235 All great pitchers are great in their era "and that's it". In the early 20s he was still the best in the AL. Johnson is the only pitcher in MLB history to lead either league in wins, ERA & whip at least 5 times each. He's also the only pitcher in the last 120 years to win 20 games in a season more than twice for a losing team and he did it 5 times. In addition, he led either league in SO the most times total (12) & consecutive (8) in MLB history. He's still the greatest pitcher in MLB history.
nobodyaskedbut Check out Williams numbers against Feller,as Ted owned Rapid Robert. The boobs in the media and fandom today claim the greats would be unable to hit heat approaching 100 mph.
There also goes the greatest fly fisherman of all time, and one of the greatest military pilots of all time. I highly value the 30 minutes I got to spend with him. He didn't want to speak baseball; it was all about Ronald Reagan.
He was a great sportsman. I have a Sears "Ted Williams" 20 gauge shotgun my dad gave me for my 16th birthday. Dad was a WWII pilot as well, and really worshipped everything about Ted Williams.
@@chesterwilberforce9832 I knew a guy who was on the aircraft carrier that Ted landed on when his plane was on fire. Ted did not want to fight in Korea, but he was drafted. I had a friend who's father was drafted into Korea after fighting in WW2 at 17.
@@TheBatugan77 Thanks. You might be right, but it also could be that I remember it wrong, and the guy who told me aid that he was at the base where Ted landed, not on the ship. I plead age and infirmity.....The story teller is very wealthy, the head of many toy companies over his life, a true rags to riches story, and he was not one to lie.....r is close to a billionaire, the head of many toy companies over his life, a true rags to riches story, and he was not one to lie.....
You can argue with the order and you might want to include George Brett and Honus Wagner instead of Kiner and Mize, but it's a pretty good list as of 1994. Also I would take a .300 hitter in the '60s like Kaline or Clemente over Al Simmons hitting .380 in 1930.
What about Shoeless Joe Jackson? Exceeded these numbers and in the criminal trial of the Black Sox he was acquitted. He was treated badly if not unfairly. I do not think that there was proof of his complicity in the cheating in the World Series.
That Philadelphia A's lineup had Simmons, Jimmie Foxx (.325, 534 HR), and Mickey Cochrane, a lifetime.320 hitter at catcher. A pretty formidable lineup.
Probably no big surprise that he'd pick some more players that were his contemporaries and that he actually observed first hand. That said, both Kiner and Mize were great power hitters...I think it's 7 HR crowns in a row for Kiner. (A bad back cut his career short) He conspicuously had little to say about Ruth and Cobb beyond their reputations. For the record, Cobb led the league in slugging 8 times.
There are a lot of consistent hitters, but none of them have their own line drawn in the stat sheet to compare every other hitter by. The Mario Mendoza line is legendary!!
Great list. Not certain I’d include Mize & Kiner…but then again I’m not nearly the expert that Ted Williams was, LOL! I loved that he included many old timers that seem to be forgotten by so many people (Heilmann, Jackson, Simmons, Foxx, Hornsby).
damn, must have been great to see DiMaggio and Williams live in their prime. Just in awe these guys. I used to read my brothers 1968 baseball encyclopedia as kid growing up in the 80's, I would read the same stuff over and over, i used to know all the stats, nicknames and records, baseball history is like no other
How many people know that when Joe D hit in 56 straight games in 1941, in addition to hitting .406 Ted set the MLB record for consecutive games on base...84.
Honus Wagner should be in the top 5 on the list. Honus Wagner won 8 straight batting titles which still stands even today. Slugging 6 times. 3430 hits. 5x rbi leader. 5x stolen base leader. All in the dead ball era. One of the first to be inducted into the baseball hall of fame.
Yes Sir. Clearly the best player of his time. Bill James had him as the second best player of all time for career value and peak value, just behind Ruth, on a list published in 1984. he also had the best YEAR ever...even better than Ruth's 1920 season (when he hit more homers than any other TEAM in the league). In 1908, Honus had a line of .354/.415/.542, which doesn't sound like the all time greatest year, but the league only hit .233 that year, and had a very low slugging percentage, so Honus really dominated...he also hit an amazing 19 home runs, the highest total by anyone in the 20th century, until Ruth hit 29 in 1919. AND, Honus was the equivalent of a gold-glove shortstop, and stole 53 bases. He was a real team leader, too...very well liked by his teammates.
@@joemarshall4226 you obviously are either ignorant, or just a m0r0n. Not sure which.... babe Ruth's childhood hero (Bucky Freeman) actually had 27 homeruns and the rest of the league had 11 total..... and he was playing in the real deadball ers back in the late 1890's.... that's right.... first athlete to do weightlifting & was ridiculed bc of it. How do I know this ??? I went and looked up his stats bc my dad told me his father told him that Babe Ruth loved him and emulated his game after him. It was a story back in the 1920s in an interview with Ruth. Obviously I didn't believe him having 27 homers and the test of the league had 11 total combines. But it was there in the baseball almanac if u want to actually be talking truth instead of spreading bull$hit. And what is with this nonsense of teddy ballgame being 1 of the best hitters ??? Who was better ??? Maybe he should take some steroids like David Ortiz and be named in the Balco scandal with BONDS & Arod ??? Why was Ortiz the media darling when bonds and arod were dragged through the mud??? Ortiz sucked until he start juicing..... bonds & arod were hofers b4 taking Steroids unlike that fat steroid pig papi....total joke piece of racist scum he was. Hey, pick a team 4 the homerun hitting contest..... The racist scum picked all Hispanic players and screwed over everyone else in all of baseball. Never watched that shlt ever again bc of the big fat steroid abusing racist pig.
@@joemarshall4226 Wagner never hit more than 10 HRs in season. Gavvy Cravath hit 19,19 & 24 in 1913-15 in the NL. Wagner was an all-time great player but he had very little hitting or offensive competition in the NL during his career so the lead leading stuff is a little over valued. The most consistenly good offensive player/hitter next to Wagner in the NL was Sherry Magee. He was also somewhat over valued as a SS. There were at least 5 other SS who were equal if not superior to Wagner in the field during the dead-ball era. They were Doolin, Tinker, Marranville, Scott & McBride. However, none of this prevents me from still ranking Wagner all-time best at SS.
@@nobodyaskedbut Of the 62 home runs that Gavvy hit in the three years you mention, only ten were hit on the road! He had a huge advantage in the band box park he inhabited in Philadelphia. Meanwhile, Honus was playing in a park that was almost impossible for home runs, unless you could them inside the park, which he could, since he was the best base runner in the League. He hit 51 homers on the road, and only 27 at home. But this is besides the point. You can't say that Honus had very little offensive competition when he played. He was playing against the best baseball players in the world at the time. Offense is not just about hitting. It has to do with the pitchers of the time, the kind of ball they used, and the umpiring of the time. Bill James rated Honus's 1908 season as the greatest single season in baseball history. He dominated the competition like no one else ever has. He was the best fielding shortsop of his time by reputation and statistics, the best base runner of his time, and he led the league that year in hits, doubles, triples, BA, OBP, SP, OPS, OPS+, and total bases. He led the league in slugging 8 times and BA 8 times. Gavvy, thanks to the easy home run park, led the league in OPS for the three years you mention, but his highest number is lower than Honus's fourth best year.
@@nobodyaskedbut The 19 was a typo. I meant to say 10. Of the 62 home runs that Gavvy hit in the three years you mention, only 10 were hit on the road, and 52 were hit at home in a band box. One of those years, he didn't hit ANY on the road. Meanwhile, Honus hit only 27 of is 78 career homers at home, because he played in an impossible HR park. You can't say that Houns had little competition because he was playing against the best players in the world at the time. They played with dead balls, and hitting stats have a lot to do with pitching, umpiring, and fielding as they do with batting skills. He dominated the league like no one else ever did, because he led the league in hits, doubles, triples, SB, SP, OPS and OPS+ in 1908. He also had the best defensive stats.
Saw Williams play at the stadium. He got on base four times, & My memory tells me it was all walks. LOL. Yogi got on once or twice. Mickey was on the disabled list....as usual. When Ted got up the entire field moved all the way over to the right. Ted didn't have to punch it to the left to get on. If you threw a pitch he could get to chances were he'd get more then a single so just walk him. No one close. Now the game has been dirtied with drugs. Not the same. Maris hit 61 without bulging drug induced muscles. The records today are all B.S.
I hope He And all the Rest of The BASEBALL GREAT LOOK DOWN and HELP US TO BETTER THE GREATEST GAME EVER PLAYED I THANK TED TO MY WAY I WAS TAUGHT TO HIT AND TEACH THE TO KIDS TODAY. I THANK YOU TED
No one in the whole Universe knew more about hitting than Theodore Samuel Williams, so we, mere mortals, do not even think to question, much less dare to argue, the choices he made in this video. End of discussion, period. Of course, opinions are like butts, everyone has one... 😂 Blessings from San Juan PR
@Angree Grizlee Why does everyone always hate on me when I say that Babe Ruth is not the most talented baseball player of all time? Even though I completely recognize his legendary status as the GREATEST player of all time. He did so much for the game, the Yankees, & New York as a whole. The dude popularized the long ball. He was bigger than baseball. This is the problem with baseball fans, they are never practical. They always assume that someone is a hater just because they have their own opinion. Not to mention that they never Era-adjust and try and actually do research instead of just assuming that the numbers on the surface speak for a player's talent.
@Angree Grizlee Babe Ruth is the greatest player of all time nothing more, nothing less. Barry Bonds is the best/most talented player of all time nothing more, nothing less.
It was someone like George Plimpton or Norman Mailer who said that America in the fifties looked up to John Wayne as the embodiment of the American hero. John Wayne looked up to Ted Williams, who wasn't even acting. Who could write a believable script about a superior athlete who also flies fighter planes in two wars?
As a white kid growing up in a lilly white small rural town I had sports idols. Hank Aaron, Bill Russell and John Unitas. All great men on and off the field.
So were all sabr people (Society for Baseball Research). Bill James was the most popular guru there. His Encyclopedia of Baseball (1984) was a game-changer. Talking about who the great players really were, and why, and also dashing a lot of myths about baseball history....
Loved it. All of these guys were amazing. But, I would probably have added Josh Gibson from the Negro Leagues and Sadaharu Oh from the Japan league. Did they play against the same completion? I would say that compared with Ty Cobb and Triss Speaker - absolutely - and probably better. I think Ted deserves to be #2 on the list behind The Babe - who amazingly enough - finished with a higher career batting average than Tony Gwynn (who I saw in person many times and absolutely loved - best pure hitter of the past 50 years).
I’m glad that shoeless Joe Jackson was included in this list. In my opinion there was a miscarriage of Justice when they banned him and a couple of his teammates for life along with Pete Rose.
Can you imagine what his total numbers would've been had he not missed four seasons due to serving in WWll and Korea. the statistics are incredible as it is.
Based on statistics (OPS etc. ) and eye test, my list: Ruth, Williams, Bonds (yeah, I know), Hornsby, Greenberg, Gehrig, Foxx, Mantle, Mays, Musial, DiMaggio, Aaron, Jackson, Thomas, Cobb, Wilson.
Here are my favorite top 20 hitters of All-Time: (In No Particular Order) 1. Ted Williams 2. Hank Aaron 3. Babe Ruth 4. Lou Gehrig 5. Ty Cobb 6. Willie Mays 7. Rogers Hornsby 8. Mike Schmidt 9. Stan Musial 10. Joe DiMaggio 11. Pete Rose 12. Rod Carew 13. Tony Gwynn 14. Albert Pujols 15. Micky Mantle 16. Tris Speaker 17. Mel Ott 18. Honus Wagner 19. Cap Anson 20. Derek Jeter Honorable mentions go to Jim Thome, Mike Trout, Reggie Jackson, George Brett and Wade Boggs for being good pure hitters or having great power.
My very first pro base ball game was at the LA Coliseum June 21 1960. Cincinnati Reds vs the Dodger. Some of the players on the field that night were Frank Robinson, Sandy Koufax, Charlie Neal and Vada Pinson. Koufax lasted two innings. He gave up a grand slam that went over the net in left field about two hundred feet from home plate. Dodgers lost the game 4 to 3. Vada Pinson was an incredible left fielder.
@@JABARDELLI how is it wrong Cobb was not a all around good hitter he only hit for contact when it came to hitting Ted,Babe,Lou and the rest of them hit for both contact and power
@@williamsuberalles9558 Remember when you were a kid playing in the sandlot and you only had one ball to play with and when it got dirty, was fouled off into a creek and retrieved, the dirt on it turned to mud and after 3 innings it was like throwing and hitting a rock? That's the dead-ball era of baseball when they didn't change balls every other pitch. Maybe Cobb didn't hit for power and maybe he wouldn't have in the live ball era either but I would pick a player like him for my team before Ruth, Aaron or the man himself.
@@mdteletom1288 it doesn't matter dead ball era or not Ruth was a power hitter Cobb was not he was a good hitter but he is not a top 5 hitter probably not even top 10, he was a top 10 player but not hitter plus Ruth was in the dead ball era too but he hit 700 homers
@@williamsuberalles9558 Not true. The dead ball era ended around 1920 and while Ruth played prior to that he was a pitcher for the Red Sox. Besides, as Williams made clear at the beginning of the video, he wasn't just counting HR's but slugging percentage, OBP, and a combination of other factors. Taking extra base hits into account Cobb averaged 16 triples and 39 doubles per 162 games (okay, they played shorter seasons back then but baseball-reference.com breaks it down that way). And yes, a .366 lifetime hitter is not just a good hitter. A good hitter is a .275 hitter. A .366 hitter belongs in the top 5.
Forget Gehrig's incomparable RBI numbers. He had both 100 RBI & 100 Runs in a season 13 consecutive times. Despite the MLB schedule being 8 games longer since 1962, still nobody has ever done that more than 11 straight times. He has the highest single season HR to SO differential at 18 (49 HR & 31 SO in 1934). He also, hit more HR than times SO in 1936. He was a very good base runner. He hit 10 3Bs in 9 seasons & stole home 15X. So many people have double standards when it comes to elevating their favorites and/or denigrating others who are obviously not among their favorites. Gehrig was one of the 2 creaters of the "murderers row". The Iron Horse was quite simply the greatest offensive "machine" of all-time.
@Alien Observer First of all I said offensive "machine", not hitter. Gehrig was a better contact hitter & base runner than Ruth. Ruth was a better HR hitter. However, Gehrig was also, always ready to play on game day & Ruth, of course, was not. That fact also, is what separates The Iron Horse from all other great offensive players.
It is a power hitting and pitch taking stat. Those things are only a couple of ways to be a great offensive player or hitter. Hitting HRs is way over valued in the TV /ESPN culture of which baseball resides now. Strikeouts, of course, are dismssed by talking heads now because so many of the so-called top hitters are SO machines including the one they mostly talk about now. How can someone who strikes out 184 times and produces only moderately strong (all-time) offensive numbers be an MVP. Of course, that same player strikes out way over 100 times in a season on a regular basis.
@@joemarshall4226 What stats? Gwynn had more hits, home runs, RBI's, less strike outs, nearly 300 more steals, more triples, better batting average, and on and on. Gwynn much better than Boggs.
I was sitting directly behind Gladys Hefernan in 1957 when the bat slipped from Ted's hands , sailed into the stands, and hit her. I still have the program from that game against the Senators.
Can't see the downgrading of Cobb. He was undisputably the best at the plate for the 1st 20 years of the 20th Century. The dead ball era wasnt about homers.
