Ted Williams

Baseball Player

Ted Williams remains the last man to hit over .400 for a complete major league baseball season. He finished the 1941 season with a .406 batting average, going 6-for-8 during a season-ending double-header to push himself over the .400 mark. Williams played for the Boston Red Sox from 1939-42 and from 1946-60. (During World War II he served in the U.S. Navy. His 1952 and 1953 seasons were interrupted by his service as a Marine Corps pilot; he flew 39 combat missions in Korea.) Williams hit a home run in his last at-bat at Boston's Fenway Park, and finished his career with 521 homers and 2654 hits. He was inducted into baseball's Hall of Fame in 1966. His 1969 autobiography was titled My Turn At Bat, and his 1971 book The Science of Hitting remains a popular baseball manual. Late in life he suffered from congestive heart trouble and a series of strokes, and he died at age 83 in July of 2002.

Extra credit: Williams wore uniform #9... His nicknames include "The Kid," "Teddy Ballgame" and "the Splendid Splinter"... Williams hit .400 in 6 games in 1952, and .407 in 37 games in 1953, but both seasons featured too few at-bats to be considered official... Williams managed the Washington Senators (later the Texas Rangers) from 1969-72... In Korea Williams flew as wing man for future astronaut John Glenn.

Other famous sluggers on Who2 include Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig.

Upon his death the Hall of Famer was put into cryonic deep-freeze by his son, John Henry Williams -- making Ted Williams part of our loop Oddly Preserved.