Ted Williams Was Robbed of Baseball's GOAT Status
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- Опубліковано 28 гру 2023
- Creator: Mike
Twitter: / srsmike
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Baseball is the only sport without one universally agreed upon greatest of all-time. Well, the closest anyone ever came to holding that honor down was Boston Red Sox legend Ted Williams...
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In addition to being in the Baseball Hall of Fame, Ted Williams is also in the Fly Fishing Hall of Fame. Can't leave that detail out.
That's prestigious
He was an ace fighter pilot too. His eyesight was so good they couldn't measure it.
I fished with Ted many times in New Brunswick. I always enjoyed talking to him. The only times he talked baseball was when he brought it up otherwise the topic of conversation was fishing. One thing about Ted he respected you for being patriotic to your country.
Nice catch!
@@livelife4471 Hey, I married a Canadian, became a Canadian citizen myself, and have lived half the year outside of St John for 20 years now. If I could spend the day with one athlete, hands down it would be spending the day fishing with Ted Williams! I have a TON of Ted Williams sports memorabilia and hope to finally make it up to the Miramichi this year. Do you know of one or two places I should go there to see anything about Ted? If you're in the area I also wouldn't mind buying you a coffee and listen to you tell a Williams' story or 2!
He was hitting.3999 going into the last day of the 1941 season. He refused to sit out the end of the season, and raised his avg to .406. And during his "lost" seasons, he was a fighter pilot! He once landed a jet on fire! Ted WAS the hero John Wayne always played in the movies.
.3995*
Too bad he was a terrible father and a complete prick
John Wayne slander is always wonderful. Bravo to you.
.3996
The time he missed in the Navy were some of his prime years. Same with Mays.
Ted Williams may have had his issues with the media, but his response to the farting question was absolutely spot on.
His issues with the media stemmed from the fact that the Boston press used to dump on him for not swinging at pitches that were out of the strike zone but that the sports writers thought were hittable. The fact that many of them either never actually played any organized ball or never got past little league really irked him. He talks about it in his book that is titled My Turn At Bat, if I remember correctly.
I will forever argue that Joe DiMaggio’s mainstream popularity hurt Ted Williams’s career when Ted was CLEARLY the superior baseball player.
Streaks are so overrated
Agreed. DiMaggio won 3 MVPs that should have gone to other players, 2 of them should have gone to Williams
Superior baseball player and human being. Teddy Baseball stopped his career momentarily to serve in WW2 while Joe was beating women and drinking himself to death
Ted Williams was a great hitter, but not the greatest all-around player. Ken Griffey Jr. was clearly better. Even Carl Yastrzemski was better. A shoulder injury in 1971 diminished his hitting, but Yastrzemski was a superior fielder, while Williams was an average fielder at best.
Joe d also served
Just looking at his stats. He only had one year hitting under .300, having under a 1.000 OPS, under a .400 OBP and under a .500 Slugging. All in the second to last year of his career. That is absolutely mind blowing.
The guys were throwing 75-85 mph fastballs at most so it’s really not that crazy
Bob Feller may have thrown at 100 mph. Since radar guns didn't exist, they had him throw at a target while a motorcycle went the same fast at full speed and compared the difference in time between the fastball arriving and the motorcycle.
Also, Steve Dalkowski reportedly threw 98.6 mph on a flat surface. Ted Williams said Dalkowski was the hardest throwing pitcher he ever faced/@@TheEMTizzle
Ted Williams was so disgusted at the 1959 season that it may have been the reason he played in 1960. He reportedly said, "That wasn't Ted Williams." In fairness, the only thing that Ted Williams liked about the 1959 season was that the Red Sox finally integrated, adding Pumpsie Green and Earl Wilson to their roster.
While Ted Williams was a stinkpot in many respects, he greatly admired African-American players. I've often wondered if he knew that the Red Sox could have signed both Jackie Robinson and Willie Mays yet singed neither, and how he would have wanted to play with them.
The year he hit under 300 was because he had a pinched nerve in his neck ! He may have also had other health problems . He came back his last year and had a great final , in his book My turn at bat , he said the Yankees asked him to sign with them and just pinch hit . No free agents then so I don't know how that would of played out maybe a trade or clear waivers don't know I think after 1960 he was done ! Great hitter he was absolutely unbelievable at bat
Yeah I’ve always thought that exact same thing.
he'll make a comeback in the near future and get back those prime years missed
You never know with cryogenics 🤷♂️
@@StarkRavingSports yeah there was even an episode of the morton downey jr show about this back in like 1988 or 89
if they bring back Teddy Ballgame it'll be for WW3
@@shawnleighton339 they are thawing him out now gotta get ready, maybe he will take down some aliens too
One thing that isn’t talked about often enough is how discriminated against Ted Williams was. His mother was Spanish-Mexican-American and he said something along the lines of “if I had her last name they wouldn’t have even let me play.” I assume it plays some role in his relationship with the media.
That explained why he was an advocate for integration in baseball. Thanks for that fact, I never knew this
@@kiddReyes Yeah this is news to me too. Makes sense also.
Your comment speaks volumes as to what made him tick. Every time he heard the crowd cheer he might have wondered 'would they cheer if they knew my mother's heritage' . I loved this man even though I am not a Boston fan. I always thought him a HERO for his service. I think even more of him now.
It is worth noting that much of the reason Williams struggled so much in the 1946 World Series was because he got hit in the elbow by a pitch in an exhibition game before the World Series. It was mentioned in a Ted Williams documentary in 2009 or 2010 I think.
It was also mentioned in Ben Bradlee’s book released in 2012.
Not arguing it just asking, so like after the season there was an exhibition game?
@@thomasguglielmo1509 Basically, after the Sox won the AL pennant in 1946 (remember, no wildcard, division, or league championship series back then), their manager, to prevent the team from going cold or complacent, set up an exhibition game against the best players in the AL. It was after the regular season ended, but before the World Series. During said game, Williams got hit in the elbow by a pitch, which probably messed with his mechanics, timing, and power.
@@zmr3352 There was a little more to it, too. The reason they had time for the exhibition was because the Cardinals had tied the Dodgers in the standings after 154 games, but back then they would play a best of three series, which ended up adding ~4 extra days off for the Red Sox before the WS started.
@@kendelljillson7939 Thanks for the added context.
When I was 8 years old and in 2nd grade, we had a project where we had to dress up like our favorite historical person and give a quick presentation and speech to the class.
Being a little baseball stat nerd, and reading books about the legends, naturally, Teddy Ball Game was my favorite.
The class looked at me cluelessly and bored as I rattled off some of his accomplishments on and off the field. I wasn't even voted in the top 3 best presentations, despite my cool baseball uniform.
Now, 33 years later, I can rest easy, and am vindicated by this wonferful video, knowing I chose wisely.
And to anyone wondering, NO, I did not tip my cap to the class nor the teacher. I think Ted would be proud.
i did one on Joe DiMaggio in I think 4th grade
Your comment is too boring. I stopped reading after the first sentence.
That comment really was a hard read.
Dude sacrificed 30 war to fight in a war what a chad
like tying an onion on your belt, fighting in the war was the style at the time.
He heard they had a BIGGER war goin in Europe so he invaded….which was the style at the time
When I played little league in the early 90's, we had a hitting instructor who was taught by Ted Williams.
Taught me to try and line up my finger knuckles instead of my hand knuckles and right away, I started hitting the ball so much farther til I went from back up to all-star that season.
Just that one little adjustment that came from Ted Williams teaching changed how good I was at batting.
My dad was old school and born in the 30's and had been trying to teach me the same thing on Williams grip but I was stubborn.
He died before the year I made all-stars.
You was right Dad. Ted Williams grip was perfect!
im trying to do what you're saying and it just makes my wrists almost touch
williams did not line up his knocker knuckles though
Teddy was not a jerk. Ted Williams is a great man and war hero. He donated his time to the kids and the jimmy fund that supports children with medical needs. Ted was a fine fly fisherman and has many records in saltwater fishing. ❤ this man
Yep the more I learn about him the more it seems he just wasn’t a kiss ass. Maybe he wasn’t friendly to strangers or was a bit ornery but for things that really mattered he was in the right. The man fought in two wars. I’d rather someone have a heart of gold, but be a little rough around the edges than deal with someone always acts friendly but deep down isn’t.
Not a great man, wouldn’t acknowledge the fact he was Mexican 😂
@@SuperJuggerNog 1/2 Mexican amigo!!
He just wasn't buddy buddy with the media, who painted him as a surly jerk.
That 99 All Star pre-game was such a moment, I'm so glad I was able to witness it as it happened. Still gives me goosebumps.
my favorite baseball stat is that ted williams is one of only two players to win two triple crowns, in 1942 and 47. he lost the mvp award vote both of those years. since, no triple crown winner has ever lost an mvp race. unbelievable.
Mike Trout has never had a single season OPS as high as Ted's career OPS. That's nuts.
He has had a single season OPS+ that was as high as Ted’s career OPS+
Ted's career OPS is a monster all-time year. He did that FOR HIS CAREER.
Trout is a better player than Williams. Ted Williams was a great hitter. He wasn’t a good base runner, wasn’t a good defender, he was a great hitter. Trout is a great player…Great hitter, great base runner and great defender. Just because Ted Williams played decades ago doesn’t mean he’s the best by default. Some people take the stance that players from back in the day were the best ever and no one can compete. Thats ludicrous.
@ericjefferson9684 He had three things that are important whatever Era u play in and why he was such a good pilot: 20-10 vision that enabled him to pick up the spin on a pitch as soon as it left the pitcher's hand, incredibly quick reflexes, and incredible hand, eye, and foot coordination. All three needed for flying as well.
@@ericjefferson9684you are absolutely crazy. I like trout a lot, but he is NOWHERE near as good as Ted Williams.
One of the things I appreciate about Williams's career over a lot of the early greats is that he has sufficient post-integration numbers to make a judgment on how he performed in that environment, and the answer is "he still raked."
“All I want out of life is that when I walk down the street folks will say, ‘there goes the greatest hitter who ever lived’”
He achieved that. He may have been deprived of several years of his career but that doesn’t detract from what he accomplished
He hated that his family was Mexican
@@donaldpump3072 He had a lot of problems, understandable ones, with his family. Part of his greatness was his ability to overcome childhood adversity.
Heritage and ancestry didn’t change that one way or the other.
I remember someone asked me if "Who was a better hitter Gwynn or Ted Williams?" It felt like the dumbest question I ever heard.
I've been waiting for someone to make a video like this but man you did this in such a way that I was crying at the end. Ted is truly the GOAT of Baseball
Totally agree. I will note that Boudreau in 1948 was also a player-manager. That wasn't supposed to count in MVP voting, but it did sometimes (see also Mickey Cochrane 1934).
Although it's not SUPPOSED to factor in the MVP voting, Boudreau's Cleveland INDIANS won the one-game playoff against William's Red Sox at the end of the 1948 season. What made that hard to take, aside from the obvious disappointment of coming up just that "short", was that their cross-town NL "rivals", the Braves, had inexplicably won their pennant ("Spahn and Sain, and two days of 'rain' "), missing out on what would have been the ONLY World Series held only in Beantown. Williams got an undeserved reputation as a "selfish" player, one who readily "padded" his batting stats, but didn't hit well "in the clutch".
Ted Williams was to baseball what David Pearson was to NASCAR. Neither were the GOATs, but both consistently whooped them, and were only limited by their lack of starts.
Pearson was the goat in nascar. Petty said he was the best driver and Pearson agreed with Richard 😂
This is actually a really good comparison as a nascar and baseball fan
He also holds the record for consecutive games reaching base safely (hit, walk and hit by pitch) with 84 in 1948. Error dropped 3rd strike and fielder's choice don't count).
Yep. Second on the list is Dimaggio and third is Ted again with a separate 66 game streak. Nobody has come close since Ted retired.
Ted was such a talented pilot that much to his chagrin the military kept him training pilots for most of WWII. He’s also in like two separate fishing hall of fames. He was a super talented person.
When asked what he wants to be remembered for Ted answered:
When I walk down the street, I want people to see me and say “there goes the greatest hitter to ever live”
He was. He is.
If he hadn’t _also_ been one of the greatest fighter pilots of his era (facts, look it up) while fighting in TWO wars IN HIS PRIME, he’d have record on top of record. Ted was inhuman.
He has always been the greatest hitter ever in my book. No one ever reports on it but he was even harder as a manager. He thought all pitchers were stupid etc.😂
For me its between him and Bonds
Bonds, lol
@@thirdlegstallianoif bonds didn’t do roids it may have been him
If Ted played in Yankee Stadium as a home venue, he probably would've had 700+ HRs, even with his military service.
I might be wrong, I don't think Williams said he was the greatest player of all time. He said greates hitter
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.' -Ted Williams
0:29 "Baseball doesn't have a guy they put on a pedestal".......you serious?🤔🤣
Clearly he’s never heard of The Sultan of Swat!
The King of Crash!
The Colossus of Clout!
I think this younger generation has really fallen out of touch with how incredible and larger than life that the Babe was.
29 seconds in I already know this is a troll video
Babe Ruth pitched had and 94 wins with back to back seasons with 23 and 24 wins and career era was 2.28 with 488 strike out....he also hit the ball well too :) When I was 7 y/o I went with my friends father fishing in the Marmichi River in New Brunswick with some tall old guy....who ended up being Ted Williams....who was also pretty good
Babe Ruth is the only player in baseball history who is provably of Hall of Fame caliber both as a hitter and a pitcher. Not possibly. Not arguably. Provably. He had 350-win potential as a pitcher. If he had been a position player throughout his whole career, he might have had 850 career home runs. The live ball was introduced in 1914. Ruth never played in the dead ball era as a major leaguer.
I agree. Ted was probably the greatest hitter ever but you have to count Ruth as the greatest player although Ohtani might yet have something to say about that.
@@psymar Ohtani won't have anything to say about it. He is 29 years old. He has 171 home runs and 38 wins as a pitcher. He is only the second player in modern baseball history to be provably of even all-star caliber both as hitter and a pitcher. Modern mean from 1900 forward. I cannot speak to what happened in the 19th Century.
By the way, the live ball era began in 1914, not 1919 as many believe. Ruth never played in the dead ball era as a major leaguer. Ruth was provably of Hall of Fame caliber both a pitcher and as a hitter. He had 350-win potential as a pitcher. More than 20,000 individuals have played major league baseball. Only two are known to be both top hitters and top pitchers. If the designated hitter had existed in Ruth era. he might have continued to pitch.
Williams during WWII was an instructor and didn’t see active duty during the war. So all of his active duty combat missions came in Korea, where his life was very much on the line. He even got shot down on his first combat mission.
Still very impresse. Coolest MLB player of all-time
holy crap, two of my favorite things ever in one video! wrasslin' and pre-dodgers-leave-brooklyn era (mostly since he played for like 40 years) baseball.
One of the low key biggest accomplishments a hitter can achieve is to have an OPS of 1.250 for a whole season. Three players have combined to do it 12 times in MLB history; Babe Ruth did it six times (1920, 1921, 1923, 1924, 1926, 1927), roid-aided Barry Bonds did it four times (2001-04), and Ted Williams did it the other two (1941 and 1957). If anything screams one of the best baseball players ever, that is it.
Wasn't his wingman in Korea someone famous too? Like a famous astronaut or something????
crap, i never realized John Glenn also became a US Senator
Yep, Jon Glenn. Said Williams was one of the best pilots he ever flew with.
Actually it was Williams who was the "wingman" to the "MiG-Mad Marine", Major John H. Glenn.
Cloudbuster Nine is a fantastic book about Ted’s time in the military during WWII. Great read, I highly recommend.
"The only player better than Ted in [insert category] was Babe Ruth." Oh, and Babe Ruth was also one of the best pitchers ever.
Can we please....PLEASE.....stop acting like Babe Ruth wasn't head and shoulders above EVERY other MLB player? Including Ted Williams, Barry Bonds, Shohei Ohtani, etc.?
He IS the GOAT
Thanks for putting up this video..i had a replica ted williams card. thats as close as i can come to one..i was 14 at the time. Good times...id love for you to do mickey mantle or pete rose next! im subscribing takes me back to the old days im 42 now
Great video. The 3 greatest hitters all lost significant time for different reasons. Ruth was a pitcher his first 3 full seasons. Gehrig lost his last 5 years to tragedy. Williams lost 5 prime years to war. Williams would also be the all time leader by a large margin in runs and RBI's with around 2,500 each.
U say Ted Williams disliked the media and then show a clip of “stuttering John” from Howard stern asking him aboot farting in a catchers face?! The media is awful, was awful, has only gotten worse and worse and worse over the decades and generally writers should never vote for anything that actually matters or has relevance. Stuttering John from Howard stern when Ted Williams was how old?! Nice one ☝🏾
Great job on this video. My dad would tell me how great Ted was when I was growing up. I had the pleasure of watching Carl Yastrzemski (no slouch either). But you covered all the bases here (no pun intended).
My grandfather played tennis with Ted regularly in Florida during the 70s
He also took my dad to see his final game, HR.
I didn't realize he won Triple Crown sandwiched around his military service. this right there just goes to show how diabolical he was. In his 1941 season he was hitting .39957 or something like that and the Red Sox had a doubleheader on the last day and went 7-8 I believe to get to .406. he would not sit on his laurels to round up to .400. he wanted to actually hit .400 or better without rounding
this might be the greatest documentary I have seen on a player. you hit on everything and even somethings that people do not mention.
and also the best Mexican-American hitter ever as his father was of Hispanic origin.
Just stop it lolol
Stevie Wonder can see that the bulk of that mans genetics are European.
Mother
He is now one of my fav players. Thank you for this
His stat lines are video game level #’s. He was by far the most complete player ever. Considering he lost 3 years to military service in WW2 in his prime his numbers would be even more cartoonish than they are already. I’m not a Red Sox fan but they have every right to claim they watched the greatest player of all time suit up in Beantown.
I am a Canadian who grew up reading about all the greats in books; but I'm not immersed in the culture. As a result I had no idea he was such an ass to the media; I already had him with Nolan Ryan as my GOATS, this makes me like him more.
Amazing video! Would you be able to make a video rewarding MVPs throughout history to their rightful players? I think we need a new perspective on MVP awards
Cy Young awards too. Most of time, before 2000, they just looked at wins and k's.
@frankenoise Except when they'd go insane and give it to closers. Three closers won not just Cy Young, but ***AL MVP*** in 12 years in the 80s and 90s.
My grandmother's favorite baseball player. He chose to serve over baseball and that alone is worthy of respect
If there were a Hall of Fame for fighter pilots he’d be in it. Thank you, Ted, for your service.
@@deepdrag8131 He's actually in a fly fishing hall of fame. The man had some serious skills.
Well….. he was drafted. For his second stint in the military for Korean War he tried to get out of serving by seeking help from some influential people such as Kennedy but somehow did not succeed
You also failed to mention the reason he was so good. His eyesight was so good it went beyond their ability to measure it at the time. So he could see the ball better than anyone else.
Where did you hear that?
@@Cereal_Killer007 Look it up.
Astronaut Jon Glenn who was Teds wingman in Korea nicknamed him Radar because he said he had the ability to see enemy planes long before anyone else did.
Glenn also said that Ted was maybe the best pilot he ever flew with.
Also his book: The Science of Hitting is a solid read for anyone who wants to play baseball in.
Williams joked on a Tv show that he preferred golf to baseball. When the show host asked him why, Williams explained: "Because in golf, the ball doesn't move."
And there goes Ted Williams, the greatest hitter who ever lived
If we put together all the years Ted Williams won MVP, got snubbed of MVP, would have won MVP but didn’t qualify because of injury, and years he lost in both World War II and the Korean War which were his prime so he should have been just as good if not better, Williams would have won 15 MVP awards in a row from 1941 to 1955. This is a stretch but it’s still insane.
This is an excellent video
I'm so glad that younger people ( I'm 55) still keep the old heros from yesteryear still relevant to this dsy. I love how you understand some of the issues Ted did have, like with the media, for instance, how he treated the fans and such. So this piece is not all glad handing the viewership. You bring stats to the forefront but also discuss the intangibles, and I loved Pete Weber inserted into the discussion.
Now only 1 thing that I differ in this awsome video has nothing to do with Ted Williams, it's everything to do with the modern term "GOAT" I may agree to most of the choices you cited except for one. Tom Brady is not the GOAT.
He may be the best qb of all time due to the length of service and his enormous numbers tops on virtually all qb stats. Yet players like Montana, Unitas, Bradshaw , Staubach etc etc all played a different numerical amount of seasons. So Brady, who played for 20 years or more, most likely would have theae kind-of numbers. Ted missed 5 plus seasons, and your analysis proves thst he could have shattered Ruth's home run record, for instance. So alit of non stat fans and the media coin Brady the GOAT based on the fact that he won 7 Superbowls and lost 3. Ten superbowl appearances, and he won 7 in his entire career. That's the most in the SuperBowl era in professional football. In a league that has 32 teams and plays a 16 game schedule , now 17 game....
So here comes the name that challenges the Brady argument..
Otto Graham....
Thus, the guy entered into professional football for the All American Football Conference for the Cleveland Browns. So before the stats come to play, I just want to state that if anyone thinks this is an inferior league, I say this. The NFL had only a handful of teams. The AFCC had a handful of teams. You're a professional football player making money. Thus, you represent the best in the world. Back then, even Canadian Football had some great players that moved over to the NFL. So even with all three leagues in place, they still don't add up to 32 teams. So what I'm saying is back when Graham played no matter whatnkeague you played in you still are the best inbthe world and if those players were taken and applied to today's teams in numbers all three leagues coukd be accommodated a d fit within the 32 team format.
So I don't want to take away from the Wiliams video, but maybe you could do something like this for Otto Graham.
Now the proof. Otto Graham played only ten seasons. He played qb in all ten of those seasons. While in the AAFC, his team appeared in the championship game every year for 4 years, and his team won all 4 of them. 4 championship appearances 4 wins.
So the league then defaulted, and the NFL absorbed the Cleveland Browns among a few others. Now, he is actually in the consensus biggest league. He comes out and the Cleveland Browns with the championship. 5 championship appearances in a row and 5 wins. In fact, that 5th win he ran for 99yards passed for 295 and had 4 touchdowns. Numbers that rival qb's of today.
The Browns appeared in the next three NFal championships and lost three in a row. It's hard, and I mean really hard tonhavebthe best record in season yet win the final. So, 8 years in a row at this level a championship game in every season he played. Then, in the next two years, the Browns made it to the final, and they won both of them. Graham was named MVP in his last season.
A ten year career.
Ten championship appearances
Seven championship trophies
A titalnrecord of 7 and 3, which is identical to that of Tom Brady in half the seasons played.
Identical!
Brady needed to win 8 to be the GOAT in my book. Sorry Tom, you probably would have gotten it during that undefeated season only to lose to Eli Manning led Giants. But as I said before, it's hard to win the final each and every time. But even harder to appear in 10 in a row.
Cheer up, Buffalo and Minnesota. someday you'll get yours...
I rest my case, your honor.....
Willie Mays is the GOAT
660 Home Runs best centre fielder of all time and should have won 9 MVP if writers had access to modern day stats
One thing about Ted Williams was that he was partially Mexican from his maternal side. Considering the time he played, it wasn't something he actively advertised. I'd also highly recommend watching his interview with Ted Gwynn. It's crazy how far ahead of his time he was.
If I remember correctly he was told by the Red Sox to hide it and he did. There’s one story about how when he traveled back to San Diego after making it big. His extended family turned out to meet, being themselves their Mexican-ness evident, he apparently turned and ran the other way.
Makes you think about how that might have affected him and at least to me puts in perceptive his support integration.
The splendid splinter was one of the best to ever step foot on a baseball field he was also an amazing pilot too
There were no sac flies in MLB in 1941. Had there been, Ted Williams' batting average in 1941 would have been .413.
There's no doubt in my mind that Babe Ruth was the greatest player ever, and I don't think it's close. He might have made the Hall of Fame as a pitcher if his hitting hadn't been so outstanding that he moved to the outfield. In his official rookie year, Babe led the AL in winning percentage, and in the following season, won 23 games, led the league in ERA, and set a record for consecutive scoreless innings in World Series play that stood for 45 years. A couple of years later his hitting started to dominate...
He played before the sport matured, which is why people generally take his stats with a grain of salt. Very similar to Wilt Chamberlain in basketball. Not his fault, but hard to consider him the GOAT.
Babe Ruth is top 5 imo, but I have Teddy Ballgame as the best hitter ever. You're right when you bring up Ruth's pitching. He was the better all-around player imo.
That is not exactly the case. Organized, major league baseball, had been around for 50 years before Ruth became a professional. It is true that he played before integration, but he also played before expansion. I have seen qualified studies that point out that the influx of black baseball talent was almost exactly equal with the dilution of expansion.@@kevineiford2153
Babe Ruth maybe would have hit 150 home runs if he played against todays pitching
@@twite5462 Do you mean in his career? It's just a different ball game now. The talent pool is wider, there are more pitches, and film study makes it so every weakness is known. There's no way to know how well Babe Ruth would've done in the modern game.
Never forget, Ted played in a game with an infamous spitballer. When asked after the game how his teammates went hitless but he went 3/5 he replied with “yeah, he throws a nasty spitball but I hit the dry side”
100% you can argue Ted to be the goat. He went and fought in the war and came back. A true American hero
What made Ted Williams the GOAT in baseball, also made him possibly the GOAT at something else no one talks about, as a fighter pilot. His combination of perception, perfection and reflexes. Oh, don't forget sport fishing as well! Do you have any Sears Ted Williams fishing equipment?
I just wonder what else no one talks about that he was great at. Obviously one of the great competitors of all time.
I believe Ted Williams also gave away planes shot down to people he flew with. I think John Glen got credit for some planes Williams shot down.
GOAT is an opinion; others can be just as right about their goat as you are with yours. I wouldn't consider him the goat because he wasn't a five-tool player.
@@ron88303 wake me up when your five tool guys test off the Airforce charts for vision, target identification, reflexes, as well as set sport fishing records. Oh yeah, they become fighter aces and give kills to their buddies like John Glenn.
Ted Williams is pretty GOATy. And we are also grateful for his service.
Outstanding video !!
💜💜
Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio... all considered kings when I was growing up. Ted Williams? In the conversation sometimes, my step dad's favorite player, but generally snubbed. And yeah, that is crazy.
No rings
I'm a Boston man, but Ted Williams didn't bring home the title.
Never forget what the europoors took from you
He was also a fighter ace and flew 37 combat missions in Korea
In baseball history, Ted Williams is the biggest What If. The potential MVPs aside, think of the personal stats he could have had if he had not missed seasons to the wars. He grew up wanting to be known as the greatest hitter of all time and he is pretty much the greatest hitter of all time.
Babe was always THE GUY.
Great video!
Once upon a time I crunched the numbers in a spreadsheet, approximating the stats Ted lost serving in the military and adding them back in to his career totals. Very basic and un-scientific but I became convinced if Ted had not missed all that time due to wars then when he retired he would have owned virtually every major all time batting record including Runs Scored, RBI, Doubles and maybe even HR. In addition to OBP, which I believe he already owns and a couple of others.That's before elevating his WAR and all the other SABR type numbers of today.
Its difficult because it's pure hypothetical, and do you take career average, or seasona around the time last as averages. In general most numbers are going to he ranges:
Avg: 340 through 345
Hits: 3300 through 3500
HR 650 - 690
RBI 2300 - 2500
Maybe he blasts those out of the water, given it was 3 years in his prime, maybe he gets injured and his stats fall, we'll never know. The best quote I've ever heard on the topic is "how much greater would Ted be if he didn't lose 5 years to service? None, that he did what he did sealed his legacy nore than numbers ever could"
@@nextgencowboy Agreed, on all counts.
Finally someone says it
& does it
with A Great video .
Most definitely Thee 🐐
Missed over 4 of His PRIME ⚾️ Seasons
His #’s are Stupid sick
Absolutely phenomenal presention!
“Think about sports…” is not a question.
Was that a “one beer” instrumental in the background? 🔥
He was .399+(which would have given him a .400 Avg for the 1941 season)going into the final game(a doubleheader)he refused to sit,and went 6 for 8 giving him .406 was incredible.
Every story i hear about people meeting Ted or interacting with Ted they all say he was a really nice or good guy
I am one of those people. While attending his baseball camp in Lakeville, Massachusetts during the summer of '74, I spoke with him, took some hitting tips, had my picture taken with him, and shook his hand. He truly was a classy guy and was great at fly fishing.
He was nice to humans. Mean to those other guys. 🤓
This raises an interesting question. If you made another video for Babe Ruth, arguing that he should have had more MVP's in the same way you made the case here for TW, I wonder if the stats would justify leaning back towards the Babe as GOAT.
Babe would have won 11 MVP's and finished runner-up in the AL Cy Young Award in 1916
The Babe was at least arguably the best player 11-13 seasons, so good point!
With AL expansion in '61, he might have had another strong year.
Those Astros Tequila Sunrise uni's should have been banned in Fenway.
Should have mentioned the connection between Ted and Tony Gwynn.
The dude driving straight down the fairway at 0:53 triggered my golf etiquette OCD in ways I can’t begin to explain.
Besides all those valid arguments the Red Sox management failed to take advantage of the availability of Negro players who could provide speed, defense and pitching. The Yankees had Elston Howard (who couldn't run, as Casey used to whine about but was an MVP) while it wasn't until 1959, Williams next to last season, when they signed Pumpsie Green, who was not a Willie Mays. Also, the stuborness of the Red Sox trying incessantly to find right handed hitters who could demolish the Green Monster hurt the team more than it helped. Even with those failures the team remained a contender during most of Williams career. Thanks for this great video, completely agree with you, Ted should have won more MVPs. Blessings from San Juan, PR 🇵🇷.
I know it's common in sports to describe the MVP as given to the best player on the best team nowadays, rather than the best player overall. But the emphasis on team success was even greater back in Ted's day. Back then there would be multiple instances of players with merely good statistics winning mvp solely for being on a pennant winning team. The worst example was Marty Marion winning it in 1944, despite not even being the most valuable player on his own team, let alone the league.
Back then if you tried to make an argument about how one player's supporting cast was way better than the other, it would have been immediately dismissed as whining and excuse making. While it still exists today, it was even more common back then to see the argument that despite having lesser stats, the pennant and mvp winning player was more of a leader and winning player and the other guy just put up empty stats and didn't do much to help their team win.
Also, Williams is half Mexican and my family loved him because of the little pride fact. He felt he had to hide the fact do to prejudice and racism at the time. I always wondered if that haunted him and fueled his distaste for a lot of the system at the time
Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Barry Bonds, and Albert Pujols are my GOATs. If we include leagues outside of the MLB I'd include Ichiro and Josh Gibson. A few guys currently playing have a shot, but they have to finish out their careers doing crazy shit to make it, like Trout, Ohtani, Judge, Soto, and a few more
I had the great pleasure to watch Ted Williams play at Fenway Park. There is no doubt that he was the greatest hitter of all time. This video proves the case that this is so. But the greatest baseball player of all time is Babe Ruth. Why? World Series ERA. There is a kid playing today who could challenge those kinds of numbers. But he has a long way to go and it remains to be seen if he will continue as a pitcher. The only number higher than The Babe's or Teddy Ballgames stats are the number of times I cried watching this. LOL
He hit .200 in his only world series appearance back when it's only the AL and NL pennant winners go in. Has there been a wild card the Red Sox would been in during the 1941, 1949 seasons. Was not good with the media and the fans. Yet to me he's the greatest hitter to ever play baseball. That swing was pure and a very tough out.
Went into that World Series with a pretty bad arm injury. Stinks that it’s still held against him, but the fact that he refused to use it as an excuse makes him even more of a boss.
What are you talking about? The world series is always only the NL and AL Pennant winners. Winning the Pennant is how a team makes it to the world series
@@thirdlegstallianohe means that there was no playoff series/tournament before that. So if you had the best record in the AL/NL, you went to the World Series. Forgot what year it started, but it went from one round or series (league championship, w/top 2 teams in each league), to two (division series and championship series), to, now, three (addition of the wild card series). So the path to winning the pennant is different
hank aaron should be in the discussion for number 2 goat behind ted.
Basketball you have arguments for Russell, Wilt, Magic, Jordan, Kobe, LeBron, and my personal choice, Larry Bird.
Personally I think Ted was the greatest hitter of all time with the possible exception of Barry Bonds. But I think I have to rate Babe Ruth as a better *player* given his pitching ability. Shohei is the first to challenge Ruth for total contribution in both sides of the ball, although if Ichiro had been given more opportunities to pitch or at least play Center Field I could see him having a case.
My favorite stat about Ted Williams is he had a 84-game on base streak, the MLB record. Second is Joe Dimaggio, who had 70-something, including his 56-game hitting streak. Third is... Ted Williams again, with 66 I think it was. Nobody else has more than 60 and only a couple even have 50.
Don't forget about the 1954 year that he had a .345 BA, but they gave the batting crown to Bobby Avila who hit .341. It's because Williams only had 386 at bats, but he had 136 walk, which led the league. He had 526 plate appearances, so MLB decided to change the rules after this to make on 501 plate appearances to qualify for a batting crown, but they didn't go back and award Williams. Williams could have also won the MVP that year.
Sports writers are real assholes. They should be held to a standard to ignore personal relationships from players it’s about production and impact not whose persona is your favorite.
As a native San Diegan I can say without any bias that Ted is the greatest player of all time
I read Ted Williams book on hitting, I believed he proved and uppercut swing was best, but most coaches I know teach a level swing.
I’ve always said. It shouldn’t come down to the writers
I often wonder he would have done if he didnt spend some of his prime years in the military. I read an article he did analyzing hitting. I never looked at it thst way until i read that article. I just like hitting a ball.
Agreed. Ted was a stud. One of the greatest. But, humility goes a long way. Had he just been great and not so arrogant, he might have been rewarded more.
Crazy: He lost his age 24 to 26 plus 34 to 35 seasons to service. Add about 160 HRs and 600+ RBIs to his career to get an idea of his greatness.
Great video. Yea they were not going to give Williams the award unless the Sox won the pennant or as long as DiMaggio didn't play a full season (1949). Another guy to look into as far as GOAT status is Willie Mays, who should have won the MVP in 1962 whose Giants actually won the pennant over the Dodgers Wills who won the award. But Mays basically missed 2 full seasons due to the Korean conflict and instead of seeing Aaron as the 2nd home run king rounding the bases in Atlanta that night, Mays was robbed of the chance and the MOMENT to be the HR King in the early 1970's. With those missed seasons, you're probably looking at the guy with highest WAR amongst position players. Also there is a case that Mays could have won the MVP in 1960 (Dick Groat), 1962 (Maury Wills), & 1964 (Boyer). This would have given him a total of five instead of two like Williams. But yea that military service takes away numbers and moments from Williams, Musial, Spahn, Mays, Ford, Greenberg, DiMaggio, Mize, Appling and so much more.
Ted williams and tony gwynn make me proud to be a San Diegan, they're both amazing baseball players and even better men
Sorry, but Babe Ruth is the greatest player in MLB history. He and his teams were winners, while Teddy never won a World Series. The Bambino has better lifetime stats, was a terrific pitcher, won 7 championships in 10 Series, is generally credited with saving the game after the Black Sox scandal, and was beloved by millions. Teddy was a great hitter but didn't give a rats ash about fielding or running. He hated the press, and often treated fans like dirt. You can tell me about Ted's service time cutting down on his lifetime numbers. I can tell you about Babe's 5 years as a pitcher cutting into his offensive numbers. Also, Babe's World Series numbers are great, while Ted's 1946 Series numbers are pedestrian. The Bambino was and still is THE GOAT!
We have so many great players that played in MLB that's it's near impossible to have just one guy on the top. There are also different time periods. Ruth has been regarded as the best for some and according to baseball-reference he is the all-time leader in WAR. A new statistic that is along with many that help dilute comparsions. Ruth played in a different era of baseball. Baseball has been broken down in several eras. Pre-1900, Dead Ball, WW2, Segregation, Post-War, Westward Expansion, Dead Ball 2, Designated Hitter, Free Agency/Arbitration, Steroid, Wild Card. Of course some of these overlap. Most have an opinion who is the so-called "goat" of baseball but it's just an opinion. A lot of them to would probably pick of there all-time greats from their fav teams. I personally don't include those who we know to have cheated which is another topic on itself.