Ted Williams Finishes With a .406 Batting Average September 28, 1941

On this day in Baseball History September 28, 1941: Entering the last day of the 1941 season, Ted Williams led the league with a .39955 batting average. Sitting out the doubleheader to end the season against the Philadelphia Athletics would have given Williams a .400 average. Instead of being given the achievement, Williams decided to play both games going 4 for 5 in the first game and 2 for 3 in the second game finishing the season with a .4057 batting average rounded up to .406. In doing so, Williams became the first Major League to hit .400 or more since Bill Terry of the New York Giants hit .401 in 1930. Williams became the first American League player to hit .400 or more since Harry Heilman did so in 1923.

The article Star Gets 6 Hits As Red Sox Split from the September 29, 1941 edition of the New York Times states:

Williams made his thirty-seventh home run and three singles in five chances in the opener, and a double and a single in three attempts in the second encounter.

For the season he batted in 120 runs, scored 135 and walked 151 times. He struck out twenty-six times. Williams is the sixth American Leaguer to bat .400. Nap Lajoie, Ty Cobb, George Sisler, Joe Jackson and Heilman were the others. Jackson hit .408 for Cleveland in 1911, but lost the batting title to Cobb, who finished with .420.

Here are the boxscores for the two games played by the Boston Red Sox against the Philadelphia Athletics on September 28, 1941:

What did Ted Williams think about his chase for .400? On pages 85 and 89-90 of the book My Turn At Bat: The Story of my Life by Ted Williams with John Underwood, Williams describes what he felt that fateful day:

It came to the last day of the season, and by now I was down to .39955, which according to the way they do it, rounds out to an even .400. We had a doubleheader left at Philadelphia. I'd slumped as the weather got cooler, from a high of .436 in June, down to .402 in late August, then up again to .413 in September. In the last ten days of the season my average dropped almost a point a day. Now it was barely .400. The night before the game Cronin offered to take me out of the lineup to preserve the .400. They used to do that. Foxx lost a batting championship to Buddy Myer one year when he sat out the last game and Myer got two hits.

I told Cronin I didn't want that. If I couldn't hit .400 all the way I didn't deserve it. It sure as hell meant something to me then

Now it was the last day of the 1941 season, and it turned up cold and miserable in Philadelphia. It had rained on Saturday and the game had been rescheduled as part of a Sunday doubleheader. They still had 10,000 people in Shibe Park, I suppose a lot of them just curious to see if The Kid really could hit .400. I have to say that I felt good despite the cold. And I know just about everybody in the park was for me. As I came to bat for the first time that day, the Philadelphia catcher, Frankie Hayes, said, "Ted, Mr. Mack told us if we let up on you he'll run us out of baseball. I wish you all the luck in the world, but we're not giving you a damn thing."

Bill McGowan was the plate umpire, and I'll never forget it. Just as I stepped in, he called time and slowly walked around the plate, bent over and began dusting it off. Without looking up, he said, "To hit .400 a batter has got to be loose. He has got to be loose."

I guess I couldn't have been much looser. First time up I singled off Dick Fowler, a liner between first and second. Then I hit a home run, then I hit two more singles off Porter Vaughn, a left-hander who was new to me, and in the second game I hit one off the loudspeaker horn in right field for a double. For the day I would up six for eight. I don't remember celebrating that night, but I probably went out and had a chocolate milk shake. During the winter Connie Mack had to replace the horn.

The last player to come close to the .400 plateau was Tony Gwynn of the San Diego Padres. Gwynn hit .3938 during the strike shortened 1994 season. The last player to come close during a full season was George Brett of the Kansas City Royals. Brett hit .3898 during the 1980 season.

Williams narrowly missed winning the American League Triple Crown (2nd in RBI to Joe DiMaggio's 125 RBI) and would follow his 1941 campaign with the American Triple-Crown in the 1942 season. He would be the runner up in the American League MVP race to Joe DiMaggio and Joe Gordon of the Yankees. Williams would join the war effort, losing three full seasons before returning to play in the 1946 season where he continued with his hitting finally winning the American League MVP award. Williams was truly an amazing player and I wish that I had the opportunity to have watched him play in person.

Getting four hits out of every ten at-bats over the course of an entire season is a daunting task. Hitting .400 for the season, let alone reaching Williams' .406 seems to be one of those records that will probably not get broken in this era of free swinging hitters, batters who don't choke up and defend the plate with two strikes and high strikeout totals. Will we ever see .400 or more in our lifetime? I wouldn't bet on it but with the game of baseball, you just never can tell.

Until Then Keep Playing Ball,
Baseball Sisco
#baseballsisco
#baseballsiscokidstyle

For Further Reading:
- Click here to access Ted Williams' career statistics from Baseball Reference.com
- Click here to access the article What Do You Think of Ted Williams Now? by Richard Ben Cramer from Esquire Magazine dated January 8, 2013 originally published in the June 1986 issue of Esquire

Ryne Sandberg and a Dearth of Hall of Famers As Managers

Ryne Sandberg's recent promotion as interim manager of the Philadephia Phillies brought up something that was on my mind upon finishing reading Mike Schmidt's book Clearing the Bases: Juiced Players, Monster Salaries, Sham Records, and a Hall of Famer's Search for the Soul of Baseball:

In the book Mike Schmidt talks about his inability to get a managerial position at the Major League level and devotes some time to the idea as to why there aren't many Hall of Famers that become managers. At the time of the printing of the book in 2006, Schmidt states:

In the last thirty years, only two Hall of Fame players have managed in the majors: Yogi Berra and Frank Robinson. Only one (Robbie) is a big league manager today. Babe Ruth wanted to manage the Yankees when he retired and the offered him the Newark Bears. See what I mean?

Schmidt offers a theory as to why this is so using himself as an example:

Before 2004, I had nothing on my résumé to that would lead anyone to conclude that I had the right stuff to manage a team. As a player, my dealings with the press had been dicey at best. I'd been a high profile player, known to be a bit self-centered, and not necessarily a strong person outside the clubhouse.

How could I work for someone?

How could I work "within" a team where my opinion counted but wasn't the final one.

How in the hell can Mike Schmidt fit in as an everyday working stiff, dedicated to making an organization a winner without being the top dog?

Aside from these concerns, any GM hiring me-Especially a GM in Philadelphia-would have to factor in the political fallout should I fall flat on my face and have to get canned.

Firing a Hall of Famer, especially one who has a statue at the stadium entrance, can be tricky.

To view this from a General Manager's perspective is to realize why so many high-profile players today ever get reasonable consideration for major league managerial jobs.

His theory concerning himself is rather candid and honest. He would get a chance to manage the Class A Florida State League Phillies Affiliate in Clearwater which he found to be an uncomfortable fit due to political and philosophical differences at the Single-A level. Schmidt also poses a general view as to why there aren't many Hall of Famers who have become managers in the last 30-40 years:

The general feel in baseball seems to be that high-achieving ballplayers don't make good managers because they don't have the patience to work with players of lesser skills.

This point made me think at least in the case of hitting coaches. Why is it that the best hitting coaches are the ones who weren't great hitters. As recently as this season, we saw Hall of Famer George Brett become the hitting coach for the Kansas City Royals only to step down less than two months after taking the position. In the article George Brett Resigns as Hitting Coach by the Associated Press dated July 25th, 2013 from ESPN.com, an interesting point came up:

He said at the time of his hiring May 30 that he always found the game easier to do than say -- that is, he found it natural to play and difficult to instruct. That never did change.

"I found out I was a better player, a better hitter, in my opinion, than a teacher," he admitted. "I was not a good mechanical hitting coach."

Brett said he has played several rounds of golf with Fred Couples over the years, yet the former Masters champion never gave him any tips. Not long ago, Brett asked him why.

"He told me, 'George, I know my swing, but I don't know yours,' " Brett said.

Rod Carew also found difficulties as a hitting coach  when he was hired as the Hitting instructor of the Milwaukee Brewers in 1999, holding the position until October 2001. According to John Donaldson's article Milwaukee Brewers Spring Training 2002 from CNNSI.com:

The Brewers set a major league record last year by striking out a stunning 1,399 times, with Jose Hernandez and Richie Sexson going neck-and-neck for the whiff crown (Hernandez won, 185-178). All the missing contributed to a team batting average of .251, better only than the impotent Mets and Pirates, and a 13-25 record in one-run games, the worst in the NL.

The Brewers also became the first team to have more strikeouts than hits.

All that led to the firing of hitting coach Rod Carew -- who struck out only 1,028 times in 19 years.

On the flipside, Tony Gwynn has found success as the head coach of his alma-mater's varsity Baseball team the San Diego State Aztecs. His eight-year record stands at 242-241 (.501) and his coaching record in league play stands at 124-82 (.602). But this isn't coaching and/or managing in the big leagues.

There have been recent cases of successful players being productive managers. Joe Torre found success with the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers as Don Mattingly has currently done with the Dodgers and Mike Scioscia with the Angels. But in looking at the current managerial roster in the pros (along with Mattingly), Dusty Baker, Kirk Gibson and Robin Ventura stand out to me as being productive players during their career making the jump to being productive managers. The rest (in my opinion) don't stack up.

We'll see if Sandberg gets a chance to have the "Interim" tag removed from his title with the Phillies or if he gets a chance with another team such as the Chicago Cubs in the future. Time will tell.

Sisco Kid

Three Players Who Are The Team Leaders in Total Hits Doubles Triples AND Homers For One Franchise

My good friend Pete and I do alot of Baseball trivia during the season and last night the first question came out. As I get them, I'll write a post profiling the question and answer(s). Here is the first question:

Three Players Who Are The Team Leaders in Total Hits, Doubles, Triples AND Homers For One Franchise. 

Now I thought about it and immediately thought about who ranks on top of the list in hits and homers and immediately said Hank Aaron. Pete just shook his head. Willie Mays was my next guess and again a head shake. I also thought about which younger franchises in the league could have one player hold the franchise record in singles, doubles, triples AND homeruns but nothing came to mind. Then Pete gave me a hint:

Each player only played for ONE team during their career

The first player immediately came to mind. Hall of Famer George Brett was the first correct answer. In 21 seasons with the Kansas City Royals, Brett hit a total of 3,154 hits with 665 doubles, 137 triples and 317 home runs. The nearest players to Brett in hits is Frank White at 2,006. In doubles it is Hal McRae at 449. In triples Willie Wilson is second with 133. In homers Mike Sweeney is at 197. Unless one of the new Royals players like Moustakas or Hosmer plays their entire career with the Royals, it seems that Brett's place atop the Royals hits, doubles, triples and homers list is safe.

- Click Here to Access George Brett's Career Statistics from Baseball Reference.com
- Click Here to Access a sortable list of the Kansas City Royals career leaders by category

Something told me that number two would be a contemporary of Brett's who also played for one team during their career. After briefly flirting with Pete Rose (Rose played for Cincinnati, Philadelphia and Montreal), I took a stab in the dark with the guess of Robin Yount which got a resounding "Yes" from Pete.

Hall of Famer Robin Yount played 20 seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers. Yount hit a total of 3,142 hits with 582 doubles, 126 triples and 251 homers. The nearest players to Young in hits is fellow Hall of Famer Paul Molitor with 2,281. Molitor also follows Yount in doubles (405) and triples (86). In terms of home runs, second to Yount on the All-Time Brewers list is Prince Fielder who has 230. Yount is in jeopardy of falling from this trivia list since Ryan Braun is rapidly approaching the 251 home run plateau. He currently sits at 203 and it would be safe to say barring any major injury that Braun will reach 251 next season.

- Click Here to Access Robin Yount's Career Statistics from Baseball Reference.com
- Click Here to Access a sortable list of the Milwaukee Brewers career leaders by category

The last one on the list proved to be much harder especially when Pete gave me a last hint:

He played for one of the classic teams not a newer team. 

Now this would prove to be a bit more difficult. My mind gravitated to Babe Ruth but remembered that Derek Jeter is the Yankees All-Time hits leader and Babe played for more teams than just the Yankees. I thought about Ty Cobb of the Detroit Tigers but he doesn't lead the franchise in home runs (Al Kaline does). So after a few minutes of "flipping baseball cards in my head" (When I think about different Ballplayers, I see them as Baseball cards in my head), I nailed the correct answer on the nose.

The third player is none other than Stan "The Man" Musial of the St. Louis Cardinals.The recently deceased Hall of Famer hit a total of 3,630 hits with 722 doubles, 177 triples and 477 homeruns in 22 seasons. The nearest players to Musial on the Cardinals All-Time hit list is Lou Brock with 2,713. In terms of doubles Albert Pujols had 455 as a Cardinal. In terms of triples Rogers Hornsby follows Musial with 143. Albert Pujols trails Musial with 445 homers. With the departure of Pujols to the Angels last season, Musial's place at the top of each category seems to be safe.

- Click Here to Access Stan Musial's Career Statistics from Baseball Reference.com
- Click Here to Access a sortable list of The St. Louis Cardinals career leaders by category

So there you have it. I have a bunch of other trivia questions that I will be turning into blog posts during the upcoming season. Have a trivia question for me? Email me, Tweet it to me @BaseballSisco, or post it to my Facebook page Baseball Sisco Kid Style. I look forward to being stumped by you all.

Sisco Kid