Death of the Splendid Splinter

[Jedi Master Carr]

In case nobody has heard the greatest baseball hitter maybe to ever live has died, Ted Williams, the last man to hit .400 was amazing player and maybe the game's best hitter ever. He will be greatly missed. :(

[CMJ]

Man, I didn't hear that. It IS really sad....

[Admiral Lebron]

Oh... that's sad. At first at thought you were talking about Splinter from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

[Jedieb]

My condolences to all of the board's Red Sox fans.

CRYSTAL RIVER, Fla. (AP) - Ted Williams, the Boston Red Sox revered and sometimes reviled ``Splendid Splinter'' and baseball's last .400 hitter, died Friday at age 83.

Williams, who suffered a series of strokes and congestive heart failure in recent years, was taken Friday to Citrus County Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead of cardiac arrest at 8:49 a.m., said hospital spokeswoman Rebecca Martin.


He underwent open-heart surgery in January 2001 and had a pacemaker inserted in November 2000.

The Hall of Famer always wanted to be known as the greatest hitter ever, and his stats backed up the claim.

A two-time MVP who twice won the Triple Crown, Williams hit .344 lifetime with 521 home runs - despite twice interrupting his career to serve as a Marine Corps pilot in World War II and the Korean War.

He had 145 RBIs as a Red Sox rookie in 1939 and closed out his career - fittingly - by hitting a home run at Fenway Park in his final major league at-bat in 1960.

Williams' greatest achievement came in 1941 when he batted .406, getting six hits in a doubleheader on the final day of the season.

Williams contended his eyesight was so keen he could pick up individual stitches on a pitched ball and could see the exact moment his bat connected with it.

He also asserted he could smell the burning wood of his bat when he fouled a ball straight back, just missing solid contact.

Williams was a perfectionist who worked tirelessly at his craft and had no tolerance for those less dedicated. He was single-minded and stubborn, a player who reduced the game to its simplest elements: batter vs. pitcher, one trying to outsmart the other. In those instances, he usually won.

Tall and thin, gaunt almost, Williams hardly possessed the traditional profile of a slugger. Yet he was probably the best hitter of his time - and one with a chip on his shoulder.

Often involved in feuds both public and private during his career, Williams mellowed later in life.

The best example came in his reaction to an emotional ovation from the crowd at the 1999 All-Star Game at Fenway Park, Williams' longtime playground.

After a roster of Hall of Famers was introduced, Williams rode a golf cart to the pitcher's mound, where he threw out the first ball. Suddenly, he was surrounded by a panorama of stars, past and present, who reacted like a bunch of youngsters crowding their idol for an autograph.

For a long time, they just hovered around him, many with tears in their eyes.

Then, San Diego's Tony Gwynn gently helped a misty-eyed Williams to his feet and steadied him as Williams threw to Carlton Fisk, another Boston star.

The crowd roared.

``Wasn't it great!'' Williams said. ``I can only describe it as great. It didn't surprise me all that much because I know how these fans are here in Boston. They love this game as much as any players and Boston's lucky to have the faithful Red Sox fans. They're the best.''

It wasn't always that way for Williams. Revered as a slugger, he also was remembered for snubbing Fenway fans, refusing to tip his hat when he hit the ultimate walk-off home run in his final at-bat at age 42.

``Gods do not answer letters,'' John Updike once wrote in a profile of Williams, who sealed that image in 1941 with an 11th-hour show of courage.

Going into the final day of the season, Williams was batting .3996. Rounded off, that would be .400, and Red Sox manager Joe Cronin suggested he sit out the day's doubleheader to clinch that golden number.

Williams refused. Instead, he played both games, went 6-for-8 and lifted his season average to .406. No one has approached .400 since.

``He killed the ball, just killed it,'' said Pete Suder, who played shortstop for the Philadelphia Athletics that day. ``He hit one into the loudspeaker horns. He hit another one over the fence.'' That year, Williams also led the league with 37 homers, 145 bases on balls and a .735 slugging percentage. Despite all those gaudy statistics, the American League MVP award went to Joe DiMaggio, who had a record 56-game hitting streak.

The next year, Williams won the Triple Crown, leading the league with 36 home runs, 137 RBIs and a .356 average. But the MVP award went to Yankees second baseman Joe Gordon (.322, 18, 103).

The same thing happened in 1947, when Williams won his second Triple Crown by hitting .343 with 32 homers and 114 RBIs, but lost the MVP vote again to DiMaggio (.315, 20, 97).

By then, Williams' relationship with the writers, particularly in Boston, had deteriorated badly. One writer left him off the MVP ballot entirely in 1947, costing him the award.

Williams and DiMaggio were fierce competitors. Once in the fog of a cocktail party, they were nearly traded for each other so that the lefty-swinging Williams could benefit from the cozy right-field stands at Yankee Stadium and the right-handed DiMaggio could target the Green Monster at Fenway Park. The next morning, clearer heads prevailed and the deal was called off.

``He was the best pure hitter I ever saw. He was feared,'' DiMaggio said in 1991, the 50th anniversary of Williams' .406 season and DiMaggio's hitting streak.

When DiMaggio died, in March 1999, Williams said there was no one he ``admired, respected and envied more than Joe DiMaggio.''

Williams led the league in hitting six times, the last in 1958, when, at age 40, he became the oldest batting champ in major league history.

He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1966, his first year of eligibility.

Although considered a born hitter by many, Williams worked countless hours to improve throughout his career. He often said hitting a baseball was ``the hardest thing to do in sports.''

``A round ball, a round bat, curves, sliders, knuckleballs, upside down and a ball coming in at 90 to 100 miles an hour, it's a pretty lethal thing,'' he said.

He once ordered postal scales for the Boston clubhouse so he could be sure of the weight of his bats. In the on-deck circle, he would massage the handle of his bat with olive oil and resin, producing a squeal that disconcerted many pitchers.

``In order to hit a baseball properly,'' he once explained, ``a man has got to devote every ounce of his concentration to it.''

Williams was only 20 when he joined the Red Sox in 1939, beginning a tempestuous, colorful career. He had several nicknames: Thumpin' Ted, Teddy Ballgame and The Kid. But none stuck like ``The Splendid Splinter,'' a reference to his skinny, 6-foot-3 physique.

He was brash and outspoken from the start. In 1940, Williams made headlines when he told a writer: ``That's the life, being a fireman. It sure beats being a ballplayer. I'd rather be a fireman.''

A few years after retiring, he was quoted as saying: ``I'm so grateful for baseball - and so grateful I'm the hell out of it.''

But he didn't really stay away. He managed the Washington Senators and Texas Rangers in 1969-72 and maintained lifetime connections with the Red Sox. In 1984, the team retired his number 9.

Theodore Samuel Williams was born Aug. 30, 1918, in San Diego. Out of high school, he signed a Pacific Coast League contract with his hometown team.

He played 1 1/2 seasons with San Diego, then was obtained by the Red Sox in 1937 for the then-outrageous sum of $25,000 and five players. After a year in Minneapolis, he came to the majors in 1939.

With a dependent mother, Williams received a military deferment from his draft board in 1942. When that season ended, though, he enlisted, becoming a Marine flier. In 1946, he returned to lead the Red Sox to the pennant and his first MVP award.

As a member of the Marine Reserves, was called up as a jet pilot in 1952. After combat service as a fighter pilot in Korea, he rejoined the Red Sox late in the 1953 season.

After his 1960 retirement, Williams became an avid fisherman and outdoorsman. But he returned to baseball in 1969 as manager of the Washington Senators.

He managed three years in Washington and one more when the club moved to Texas as the Rangers in 1972. Although he was respected by his peers, Williams' teams went 273-364, a .429 mark.

Williams returned to the Red Sox as a vice president, then was a consultant and spring training hitting instructor. But the strokes, especially a particularly severe one in February 1994, limited his vision and mobility.

He still did occasional public appearances in his wheelchair, and remained quick-witted and an avid fan. Commenting on the 1998 home run duel between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, he said: ``The McGwire-Sosa thing was so super-great. McGwire is the closest thing to gargantuan at the plate.''

In 1995, Boston dedicated a $2.3 billion harbor tunnel bearing Williams' name. At the ceremony, he made it clear he didn't consider it a memorial.

``Every place I go, they're waving at me, sending out a cheer, sending letters and notes,'' he said. ``And I thought, I've only seen it happen to somebody who looks like they're going to die.

I'm a long ways from that.''

Married twice, he had two children, Bobbie Jo and John Henry Williams.

EDITOR'S NOTE: AP Baseball Writer Ben Walker contributed to this story from New York.

[Jedieb]

Sorry I missed this thread. Feel free to cut and paste my thread into this one. I included an obit of Williams.

[CMJ]

That was great and fitting tribute to his life.

[darth_mcbain]

He will be missed not only by Sox fans but all sports fans... So long Ted.

[JMK]

:( RIP Ted.

[Wolfgang Schreiger]

No...thats not true! Thats IMPOSSIBLE!! :cry :cry :cry :cry

[Jedi Master Carr]

No problem Jedieb, it probably dropped pretty far. He was a great player, and I didn't realize he was really liked back then like you would think, the media hated him and the fans booed him occasionaly, today though it is the complete opposite. One thing is for sure it is a sad day for baseball.

[Jedieb]

Could you imagine where his numbers would have been if he hadn't of lost those 5 years?! He would have probably had 700+ HR's and close to 4,000 hits. The man wasn't perfect, he could have been a better husband and father from some of the stories I've heard, but he reconciled his relationship with his son later in life and that's probably one of the best things he ever did. I can't even begin to tell you how much I admire him for his military service. The fact that he had a deferment (dependent mother) that would have excused him from service in WWII, but still served is something truly admirable. Then to serve again in Korea just shows you how impressive an American he really was. Throw in that he served in one of the more demanding and dangerous jobs, fighter pilot, and you've got a real live flesh and blood hero. Not many people would have had the stones and commitment to do what he did. It's one thing to blather on and on about how great your country is and how proud you are to be an American, it's something else to back it up when you could easily walk away.

[CMJ]

Yeah no doubt. Williams was one of the 10 greatest ball players ever(IMHO) but he was an even better patriot.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Well those traits are defently very admirable. One thing I read in the Boston Globe that really surprised me was about his politics, not the fact that he was republican, which didn't surprise me or bother me one way or another but what he said about Nixon, he met him and said he was the greatest man he ever met?? Either he is very biased or was senile when he said that I don't know but most republicans don't even admit that Nixon was a republican these days.

[JMK]

Truly a man who puts his "money where his mouth is". What an example for all men to live by.

[Marcus Telcontar]

Can one of you baseball guys explain how this .400 thing works? I dont understand that at all.

[Jedieb]

It's both simple, and a bit complicated.
The simple breakdown;
You go up to bat 10 times and you get a hit 4 times. You're hitting .400.

Mind you, that doesn't mean you make contact 4 times, it means you hit the ball 4 times and you safely reach base 4 times. You're looking at a failure rate of 60%. This gives you an idea of how difficult hitting can be. No one has been able to finish above .400 since Williams did it in 1941 with a .406.

The complicated breakdown. When you have 10 at bats they don't always count towards your average. If you are walked then that doesn't negatively or positively effect your average. It helps your on base percentage, but not your batting average. A sacrifice fly in which you pop up to the outfield but bring in a run also does not count towards your average, but you get the benefit of a run batted in. I'm a bit rusty, but somebody like JMK or CMJ can fill in any blanks I've missed.

The last person I thought had a legitimate shot at .400 was George Brett and he only managed to finish at around .390. There was someone else who was on a good tear during the strike season, but I can't remember who he was.

[CMJ]

Gwyn...of San Diego. :) He would have had a legit shot at .400(he was in the high 380's or low .390's I believe) if the strike had been averted.

As far as Jedieb's explanation....that's pretty solid.

[JMK]

From MLB.com:
Batting Average (AVG):Divide the number of base hits by the total number of at bats. If Tony Gwynn has 600 at bats and has 206 hits His batting average would be .343 (206/600)

This stat assumes that Gwynn did not walk (a walk is when a pitcher throws you 4 bad pitches in an at-bat, so you're awarded first base) in those 600 at bats, just to keep things simple. If for example in those 600 at bats, Gwynn walked 25 times, the to figure out his average you divide 206/575=.358 as walks don't count as an at-bat.

Geez baseball stats can be difficult to understand at times...


A couple years ago didn't Nomar and Todd Helton make a little noise about cracking .400? I think Helton had the best chance until he faded in the last month of the season...

[Jedi Master Carr]

Yeah I think Nomar hit close to .400 for a month and finished the season hitting .360, Helton came closer, I think he finshed in the .370's maybe .380. John Orleud came close one year too, he was hitting .400 at the allstar break but he really never came close after that.

[Jedieb]

If you're involved in a Fielder's Choice that drops your average doesn't it? So even if you make it to first, but another runner is tagged out at 3rd or 2nd, you don't get credited with a hit, correct? Hit By Pitch is equivalent to getting walked. Coincidently, Don Baylor who just got fired by the cubs was hit over 200 times in his career. If that's not the MLB record, then it's probably in the top 5.

[JMK]

I think Craig Biggio may have the record for getting HBP. And you're right, A fielder's choice does count as an at-bat and does drop your average. At least I'm 95% sure of that.

[JMK]

Sorry Jedieb, you're right Baylor was hit 267 times by a pitcher, followed by Ron Hunt who was hit 114 times as an Expo. Craig Biggio is the active leader in HBP with 197. I doubt he'll get close to either of them before he retires, he's 37 now.