TODAYinBASEBALL.com TAKES US TO NEW YORK CITY, APRIL 20, 1939. For my entire life – I was born in 1952 – there has always been a “Splendid Splinter.” I didn’t have to wonder who or what it was. The “Splendid Splinter” was Ted Williams. But, what, in God’s name, is a “Splendid Splinter”? As my wife would say, “Bill, you’re over-thinking it.” I’ll leave it at that.
Before he became the “Splendid Splinter,” Theodore Samuel Williams was a skinny 20-year old kid from San Diego who joined Boston Red Sox in New York on this date in 1939 to play his first major league game. The first of his 2,654 hits was a 400-foot double in the vast outfield of Yankee Stadium as the Red Sox lost 2-0.
Ted Williams’ career spanned 19 seasons and 4 decades – interrupted twice by military duty. He amassed some of the greatest offensive numbers of all time:
Lifetime Stats
• .344 lifetime batting average
• 521 home runs
• 1,839 RBI
• 2-time Triple Crown winner (1942, 1947)
• 2-time MVP (1946, 1949)
… this despite missing three full seasons – 1943 to 45 – to serve in World War II, and playing only 43 games during the 1952 and 1953 seasons because of the Korean War.
Take a close look at the stats above. Williams’ 2 MVP years and 2 Triple Crown years do not overlap. They’re 4 separate seasons. How he could win the Triple Crown and not be MVP is a mystery, but it is what it is.
And consider this; there was a 45-year stretch (1967-Carl Yastrzemski to 2012-Miguel Cabrera) where no one won the Triple Crown (lead either league in home runs, runs batted in and batting average). Williams won it twice in five years. In addition, “Teddy Ballgame” won the batting crown at the age of 40.
Williams was truly larger than life; a Hall of Famer, a decorated fighter pilot, a tireless champion of charity and the loudest guy in the room almost until his death July 5, 2002.
CONTRIBUTING SOURCES:
The Boston Globe, New York, New York, April 21, 1939
Sports Illustrated reviews 2 books about Ted Williams
The Triple Crown