4474 El Cajon Blvd, San Diego, CA 92115, United States
Williams graduated from Herbert Hoover High School in San Diego.
College/University
Career
Gallery of Ted Williams
1937
San Diego, California, United States
Ted Williams of the San Diego Padres of the Pacific Coast Leauge poses for a portrait circa 1937 in San Diego, California.
Gallery of Ted Williams
1940
Boston Red Sox's player Ted Williams swings at the plate during a game, circa 1940.
Gallery of Ted Williams
1940
4 Jersey St, Boston, MA 02215, United States
Ted Williams poses for a portrait before a game at Fenway Park in Boston in May of 1940.
Gallery of Ted Williams
1948
Low-angle portrait of American baseball player Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox.
Gallery of Ted Williams
1948
Sarasota, Florida, United States
American baseball player Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox swings while at bat during spring training in Sarasota, Florida.
Gallery of Ted Williams
1949
Sarasota, Florida, United States
American baseball team the Boston Red Sox in Sarasota, Florida. Among them are Ted Williams, Bobby Doerr, Vern Stephens, Tex Hughson and Dom DiMaggio.
Gallery of Ted Williams
1950
Sarasota, Florida, United States
Outfielder Ted Williams, of the Boston Red Sox, poses for an action portrait during a Spring Training in March, 1950 in Sarasota, Florida.
Gallery of Ted Williams
1953
Boston, Massachusetts, United States
American baseball player Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox swings at a pitch during batting practice, Boston, Massachusetts.
Gallery of Ted Williams
1955
Ted Williams in action during the game with the Chicago White Sox.
Gallery of Ted Williams
1956
Florida, United States
Outfielder Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox poses for a portrait during March 1956 Spring Training in Florida.
Gallery of Ted Williams
Portrait of Boston Red Sox's player Ted Williams in a batting stance.
Gallery of Ted Williams
Boston Red Sox's player Ted Williams in a gray uniform, holding a baseball bat in a baseball stadium.
Gallery of Ted Williams
Full-length portrait of Boston Red Sox's player Ted Williams kneeling and holding a baseball bat on a baseball field.
Gallery of Ted Williams
Boston Red Sox's player Ted Williams, showing the end of the strike zone for batting.
Gallery of Ted Williams
Outfielder Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox studies the opposing pitcher during the 1950s.
Gallery of Ted Williams
Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox looks over an aluminum bat as he poses for a portrait circa 1950's.
Gallery of Ted Williams
Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox appears in a circa 1940s photo.
Gallery of Ted Williams
American baseball player Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox.
Gallery of Ted Williams
Ted Williams
Gallery of Ted Williams
Ted Williams
Gallery of Ted Williams
1969
1085 West 3rd Street, Cleveland, Ohio 44114, United States
Manager Ted Williams of the Washington Senators watches the action from the dugout during a game in April 1969 against the Cleveland Indians at Municipal Stadium (Cleveland Stadium) in Cleveland, Ohio.
Gallery of Ted Williams
1969
2400 East Capitol St NE, Washington, DC 20003, United States
Manager Ted Williams of the Washington Senators looks on before an MLB game at R.F. K. Stadium (Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium) in Washington, D.C.
Gallery of Ted Williams
1970
7000 Coliseum Way, Oakland, CA 94621, United States
Outfielder Reggie Jackson of the Oakland Athletics talks with manager Ted Williams of the Washington Senators before a Major League Baseball game circa 1970 at the Oakland Coliseum in Oakland, California.
Gallery of Ted Williams
1970
1101 N Federal Hwy, Pompano Beach, FL 33062, United States
Coach Elston Howard of the New York Yankees and manager Ted Williams of the Washington Senators talk prior to an MLB Spring Training game between the Yankees and Senators on March 5, 1970 at Pompano Beach Municipal Park in Pompano Beach, Florida.
Gallery of Ted Williams
1972
1101 N Federal Hwy, Pompano Beach, FL 33062, United States
President Robert E. Short and manager Ted Williams #9 of the new Texas Rangers ballclub pose for a portrait during MLB Spring Training on February 18, 1972 at Pompano Beach Municipal Stadium in Pompano Beach, Florida.
Gallery of Ted Williams
Ted Williams casts a critical look toward the infield as he leans against a batting practice cage during the opening day of the Washington Senators spring training camp.
Gallery of Ted Williams
1944
Captain Henry MacComsey congratulates Ted Williams, former baseball star, after presenting him with aviator's wings and a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the Marine Corps Reserve.
Gallery of Ted Williams
1944
Pensacola, Florida, United States
Williams pictured when he was training at the Naval air training center in Pensacola, Florida, in 1944.
Gallery of Ted Williams
1952
American baseball player Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox serves in the United States Marine Corps during the Korean War.
Gallery of Ted Williams
1952
American baseball player Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox poses in the cockpit of a Grumman F9F-6 Panther jet fighter, during his service as a United States Marine Corps pilot in the Korean War.
Achievements
Membership
Awards
Air Medal with two Gold Stars
1953
Korea
Marine Captain and Boston Red Sox's outfielder Ted Williams is awarded the Air Medal with two Gold Stars by Lieutenant Colonel Bernard McShane, commanding officer of his squadron, circa 1953 in Korea.
Presidential Medal of Freedom
1991
Ted Williams presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Captain Henry MacComsey congratulates Ted Williams, former baseball star, after presenting him with aviator's wings and a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the Marine Corps Reserve.
American baseball player Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox poses in the cockpit of a Grumman F9F-6 Panther jet fighter, during his service as a United States Marine Corps pilot in the Korean War.
Marine Captain and Boston Red Sox's outfielder Ted Williams is awarded the Air Medal with two Gold Stars by Lieutenant Colonel Bernard McShane, commanding officer of his squadron, circa 1953 in Korea.
1085 West 3rd Street, Cleveland, Ohio 44114, United States
Manager Ted Williams of the Washington Senators watches the action from the dugout during a game in April 1969 against the Cleveland Indians at Municipal Stadium (Cleveland Stadium) in Cleveland, Ohio.
2400 East Capitol St NE, Washington, DC 20003, United States
Manager Ted Williams of the Washington Senators looks on before an MLB game at R.F. K. Stadium (Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium) in Washington, D.C.
7000 Coliseum Way, Oakland, CA 94621, United States
Outfielder Reggie Jackson of the Oakland Athletics talks with manager Ted Williams of the Washington Senators before a Major League Baseball game circa 1970 at the Oakland Coliseum in Oakland, California.
1101 N Federal Hwy, Pompano Beach, FL 33062, United States
Coach Elston Howard of the New York Yankees and manager Ted Williams of the Washington Senators talk prior to an MLB Spring Training game between the Yankees and Senators on March 5, 1970 at Pompano Beach Municipal Park in Pompano Beach, Florida.
1101 N Federal Hwy, Pompano Beach, FL 33062, United States
President Robert E. Short and manager Ted Williams #9 of the new Texas Rangers ballclub pose for a portrait during MLB Spring Training on February 18, 1972 at Pompano Beach Municipal Stadium in Pompano Beach, Florida.
Ted Williams casts a critical look toward the infield as he leans against a batting practice cage during the opening day of the Washington Senators spring training camp.
(My Turn at Bat is Ted Williams' own story of his spectacu...)
My Turn at Bat is Ted Williams' own story of his spectacular life and baseball career. An acclaimed best-seller, My Turn at Bat now features new photographs and, for the first time, Ted's reflections on his managing career and the state of baseball as it is played in the 1980s.
(One of baseball's all-time great hitters ranks his 25 bes...)
One of baseball's all-time great hitters ranks his 25 best hitters of all time, along with naming the almost-made-its and the should-have-beens. Using statistics and his personal expertise, Williams provides insight not only into the actual facts of these players' careers but their discipline and devotion to the game.
(In addition to hundreds of photographs, this attractive v...)
In addition to hundreds of photographs, this attractive volume includes Williams's candid words about his life on the field and off, a firsthand account that will certainly become a collector's item for all baseball fans.
Ted Williams was an American professional baseball player who compiled a lifetime batting average of .344 as an outfielder with the American League Boston Red Sox from 1939 to 1960. He was the last player to hit .400 in Major League Baseball (.406 in 1941).
Background
Ethnicity:
Williams's paternal ancestors were a mix of Welsh, English, and Irish. His maternal ancestors had Spanish (Basque), Russian, and American Indian roots.
Theodore Samuel Williams was born on August 30, 1918, in San Diego, California, United States; the son of Samuel Steward Williams, who ran a passport photography shop, and May Venzer Williams, a woman who worked for the Salvation Army.
Education
Growing up during the Great Depression, Ted played pickup baseball in a neighborhood park year-round. His parents worked tirelessly, allowing young Williams the freedom to play ball until dark. He even took his bat to school. He was a tall, thin teenager who pitched and played outfield in junior high school, American Legion and sandlot teams, and at Herbert Hoover High School.
As a teenager, Williams learned not to swing at balls that were out of the strike zone. Try as they might, pitchers could never get him to chase bad pitches.
Williams played his first professional games with the minor league San Diego Padres, in 1936. The following season the Padres sold him to the Boston Red Sox, where he spent the rest of his career.
When he first came to spring training with the Red Sox, he was 19 and extremely cocky. In 1938, at the Red Sox's farm club in Minneapolis, Williams led the league in hitting but almost ended his career when he smashed his fist into a water cooler.
Williams had a smashing rookie season in 1939, hitting 31 home runs and driving in 145 runs. His fielding was indifferent, but his hitting was electrifying. He had only one apparent weakness - an inability to hit to the opposite field.
In 1941, only his third season in the majors, Williams captivated the nation by chasing a .400 season batting average. For part of the year, Williams' quest was overshadowed by New York Yankee's star Joe DiMaggio's record 56-game hitting streak. In the All-Star Game in Detroit that year, Williams hit a game-winning home run. On the last day of the season, Williams was hitting exactly .400, and Red Sox's manager Joe Cronin offered him the chance to sit out a doubleheader. He got six hits and finished at .406.
The 1941 season was the first of six times that Williams won the American League batting championship. That year, he also won the first of four home run titles. He led the league in walks eight times and in runs scored six times.
In 1942, Williams finished the season with a .356 batting average, thirty-six home runs, and 137 runs batted in (RBIs). However, the peak of his career would soon be interrupted by war.
At the end of the 1942 season, Williams became a fighter pilot and flight instructor in the U.S. Marine Corps, during World War II. He served through 1945 and returned to the Red Sox in 1946, helping the team win the American League pennant and taking home the MVP award. Although the Red Sox lost the World Series (the only one Williams played in) to the St. Louis Cardinals that year, Williams's reputation as an outstanding hitter grew. He became known as the Splendid Splinter and the Thumper, for his 6'3" rail-thin frame and his power behind the bat.
In 1947, Williams won his second Triple Crown but lost the MVP title to DiMaggio by only one vote, a slight by the sportswriters that Williams never forgot. In 1950, while having a great season, Williams fractured his elbow during the All-Star Game at Comiskey Park in Chicago; he smashed into the wall while catching a fly ball. He finished that game, but the injury cost him more than sixty games, although he played well during the games he did play. He hit .318 in 1951 but then went back into the military service in 1952 and 1953, during the Korean War. After a crash landing of his fighter plane and a bout with pneumonia, he was sent back to the United States. He announced his retirement from baseball in 1954 but then changed his mind and stayed on with the Red Sox. He suffered a series of injuries in the mid-1950s, but in 1957, at almost forty years old, he hit .388 and became the oldest player to ever win a batting championship. He hit .453 during the second half of the season. The following year, Williams batted .328, still high enough to lead the league in batting. During this part of his career, he won the nickname Teddy Ballgame, although his favorite nickname for himself was always "The Kid."
Ted Williams retired at the end of the 1960 season, at the age of 42, batting .316 that year and finishing his career with a home run.
Williams took over as manager of the Washington Senators in 1969 and was named American League Manager of the Year. He stayed with them when they became the Texas Rangers in 1972. He then retired to the Florida Keys and pursued his love of fishing, specializing in tarpon. He served as a sporting goods consultant to Sears department stores, designing fishing equipment.
After suffering three strokes in his seventies that left him partially blind, he remained active in sports, campaigning to get Shoeless Joe Jackson inducted into the Hall of Fame. Williams was cheated out of approximately $2 million by a partner dealing in sports memorabilia during the 1980s; his signature was forged on bats and other souvenirs. Williams's son, John Henry, ferreted out the forgeries and started a business selling authentic Ted Williams memorabilia. In 1994, Williams opened his own baseball museum in Hernando, Florida, adding the Hitters Hall of Fame in 1995, complete with his own annual Greatest Hitters Award. The museum is known as "the Cooperstown of the South."
After receiving a pacemaker in 2000, Ted spent many of his last days watching baseball on television. He died on July 5, 2002, at the age of 83. On the evening of his death, in preparation for the ballgame at Fenway Park, a giant number 9, Williams's jersey number, was mowed into the grass at left field, his longtime position. Thousands of people lined the streets outside the park to mourn the city's favorite son, and the game between the Detroit Tigers and the Red Sox went on, after a solemn playing of taps and singing of the national anthem. An empty red chair marked the spot where Williams once hit a 502-foot home run into the rightfield bleachers, the longest ball ever hit at Fenway Park.
(My Turn at Bat is Ted Williams' own story of his spectacu...)
1969
Religion
Williams was an atheist and this influenced his decision to be cryogenically frozen.
Politics
Politically, Williams was described as "to the right of Attila the Hun" except when it came to Civil Rights.
Views
Ted Williams spent much of his spare time, effort, and money in support of cancer organizations. He gave generously to those in need. He was linked with the Jimmy Fund of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, which provides support for children's cancer research and treatment. Throughout his career, Ted made countless bedside visits to children being treated for cancer.
Quotations:
"If you don't think too good, don't think too much."
"Baseball is the only field of endeavor where a man can succeed three times out of ten and be considered a good performer."
"No one has come up with a substitute for hard work."
"The hardest thing to do in baseball is to hit a round baseball with a round bat, squarely."
"Just keep going. Everybody gets better if they keep at it."
"A man has to have goals - for a day, for a lifetime - and that was mine, to have people say, 'There goes Ted Williams, the greatest hitter who ever lived.'"
"There's only one way to become a hitter. Go up to the plate and get mad. Get mad at yourself and mad at the pitcher."
"All managers are losers, they are the most expendable pieces of furniture on the face of the Earth."
"Baseball gives every American boy a chance to excel, not just to be as good as someone else but to be better than someone else. This is the nature of man and the name of the game."
"Baseball's future? Bigger and bigger, better and better! No question about it, it's the greatest game there is!"
"Hitting is the most important part of the game. It is where the big money is, where much of the status is, and the fan interest."
"There has always been a saying in baseball that you can't make a hitter, but I think you can improve a hitter. More than you can improve a fielder. More mistakes are made hitting than in any other part of the game."
Personality
Ted Williams was temperamental, high-strung, and at times tactless. Though he quietly committed countless acts of kindness and generosity, he also railed at sportswriters, cursed and spat at fans, and took out his rage on those closest to him, hurling profanity at his wives and children and ripping phones out of the wall.
General Douglas MacArthur was Williams' idol and he had a strong respect for him.
Physical Characteristics:
Ted Williams was 6 ft 3 inches (190 cm) tall and weighed 205 lb (92 kg).
In his last years, Ted suffered from cardiomyopathy. In November 2000 he had a pacemaker implanted. In 2001 Williams underwent open-heart surgery. After suffering a series of strokes and congestive heart failure, he died of cardiac arrest.
Quotes from others about the person
Ty Cobb: "Williams is one batter I thought would break my lifetime batting average of .367. If he'd learned to hit to left, Ted would have broken every record in the book."
Eddie Collins: "If he'd tip his cap just once, he could be elected mayor of Boston in five minutes. I don't think he will ever do it."
Bob Costas: "For my money, Ted Williams is the greatest hitter of all-time. I'd take him over Ruth, I'd take him over Cobb. I'd take him over Cobb because of the combination of power and average. I'd take him over Ruth because with Ruth, you can only speculate about what he would have done in the modern era. Ted Williams hit .388 at the age of 39 in 1957. He was what few of us ever become; he was exactly what he set out to be. He said he wanted to be able to walk down the street someday and have people say "There goes the greatest hitter who ever lived". And if they don't say that, it's only because they don't know what they're talking about."
Mickey Mantle: "If we were choosing sides and every player was in the pool my first pick would be Whitey Ford and my second would be Ted Williams. Beyond that, there would be just too many and I would be afraid of leaving somebody out. Besides, with Whitey on the mound and Williams in the lineup, the rest of the team wouldn't much matter; we'd still beat just about anybody."
Interests
fishing, pigeon-shooting
Sport & Clubs
baseball
Athletes
Pepper Martin, Bill Terry
Connections
On May 4, 1944, Ted Williams married Doris Soule. Their daughter, Barbara Joyce, was born on January 28, 1948. The couple divorced in 1954.
Seven years later, on September 10, 1961, Williams married the socialite model Lee Howard. They divorced in 1967.
Williams married Dolores Wettach in 1968. The couple had son John-Henry and daughter Claudia. They were divorced in 1972.
For twenty years, Ted lived with Louise Kaufman.
Father:
Samuel Steward Williams
Mother:
May Williams
ex-spouse:
Doris Soule
ex-spouse:
Lee Howard
ex-spouse:
Dolores Wettach
Daughter:
Barbara Joyce
Son:
John Henry Williams
Daughter:
Claudia Williams
Partner:
Louise Kaufman
Friend:
Ty Cobb
Friend:
Dom DiMaggio
Friend:
Bobby Doerr
References
The Kid: The Immortal Life of Ted Williams
The Kid is a biography of the highest literary order, a thrilling and honest account of a legend in all his glory and human complexity.
2013
Ted Williams: The Biography of an American Hero
With unmatched verve and passion, and drawing upon hundreds of interviews, acclaimed best-selling author Leigh Montville brings to life Ted Williams's superb triumphs, lonely tragedies, and intensely colorful personality, in a biography that is fitting of an American hero and legend.
2004
Ted Williams at War
Bill Nowlin has interviewed over 40 pilots who flew with Capt. Williams from K-3 in Korea, and interviewed over 120 people in all who knew or encountered Ted Williams during his years of service. Combined with access to Williams' squadron records, his personal flight logbooks, and his fitness and evaluation reports, Ted Williams At War presents by far the most comprehensive portrait of a man that many termed the real John Wayne.
2007
Ted Williams, My Father: A Memoir
In this poignant memoir, Claudia Williams, the last surviving child of legendary Boston Red Sox great and Hall of Famer Ted Williams, tells her father's story, including never-before-told anecdotes about his life on and off the field that reveal the flesh and blood man behind "The Kid."