Ted Williams: Even Better Than The Record Shows!

Editor’s note: This is an article that appeared in the September 1985 issue of Baseball Gold.

 

On June 26, 1936 a gangling young Hoover High School graduate named Ted Williams signed a baseball contract on the kitchen table at neighbor Johnny Lutz’s house on Utah Street in San Diego’s North Park district. The contract, offered by the San Diego Padres of the Pacific Coast League, was for $150 a month. As a signing bonus, pay for the entire month of June was generously included. This inauspicious event launched the career of possibly the greatest hitter to ever step into a batter’s box.

In that initial professional year of 1936, Williams hit for an average of .271, appearing in 42 games. Playing a full season with the Padres the following year, he hit .291, with 23 home runs and 98 RBIs. In December 1937 his contract was sold to the Boston Red Sox and the rest is history.

The native San Diegan’s batting accomplishments over a nineteen year big league span (twice interrupted by tours of military duty) are legendary. His lifetime average in the majors was .344, with 521 homers, despite the fact that he drew a walk every 4.8 times at bat — more than any other hitter in the history of the game.

In 1941 he astounded the sports world by ending up with a prodigious .406 batting average. During that season his worst month was April, when he hit “only” .389. He compensated for this mediocre month by hitting .436 in May. No major leaguer has reached the elusive and magic .400 mark since for a full season. What makes the feat all the more remarkable is the fact that when Williams attained his lofty average he did so without benefit of the sacrifice fly rule.

Simply stated, the rule provides that a batsman will not be charged with a time at bat and a sacrifice fly will instead be registered when (before two are out) the batter hits a fly ball or a line drive handled by an outfielder which (1) is caught, and a runner scores after the catch, or (2) is dropped, and a runner scores, if, in the scorer’s judgement, the runner could have scored after the catch had the fly ball been caught.

The sacrifice fly rule has been the subject of controversy over the years, with official rules makers having a difficult time deciding whether or not the rule should be used. The rule was initially adopted in 1908, abolished in 1931, restored for one season in 1939, again abolished in 1940, and then re-instituted in 1954.

Thus, in 1941 a fly ball caught by an outfielder (which resulted in a base runner scoring after the catch) was just another out, and the batter was duly charged with a time at bat when batting averages were computed — to the detriment of the batter. The record books show that (under 1941 playing rules) Williams was at bat 456 times, with 185 hits, for an average of .406.

The question that has intrigued baseball fans is: What would Williams’ batting average have been in 1941 if the sacrifice fly rule had been   in effect?

Oddly, this information will not be found in the usual sources: the voluminous archives of organized baseball, or the multitude of sports periodicals that contain just about every bit of trivia and minutia conceivable, with the possible exception of the maiden name of the mother-in-law of the last shortstop to commit an error in the uniform of the St. Louis Browns.

Thanks to indefatigable researcher John B. Holway, the matter has been resolved. Holway, a member of the Society for American Baseball Research, reconstructed Williams’ 1941 season with a comprehensive at-bat by at-bat summary. He found that Williams hit six fly balls that scored runners from third base that year. Under present rules, therefore, Williams’ average would be computed at .411 (450 at bats, 185 hits). Taking this factor into consideration, Williams’ achievement 44 years ago was even more impressive!

Along with Joe DiMaggio’s amazing 56 game consecutive hitting streak of the same year, it is a level of excellence that may never be reached again.