Discover the Best Books Written by Ted Williams

Theodore Samuel Williams (August 30, 1918 – July 5, 2002) was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played his entire 19-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career, primarily as a left fielder, for the Boston Red Sox from 1939 to 1960; his career was interrupted by military service during World War II and the Korean War. Nicknamed "Teddy Ballgame," "the Kid," "the Splendid Splinter," and "The Thumper," Williams is regarded as one of the greatest hitters in baseball history and, to date, is the last player to hit over 400 in a season.

Williams was a nineteen-time All-Star, a two-time recipient of the American League (AL) Most Valuable Player Award, a six-time AL batting champion, and a two-time Triple Crown winner. He finished his playing career with a .344 batting average, 521 home runs, and a .482 on-base percentage, the highest of all time. His career batting average is the highest of any MLB player whose career was played primarily in the live-ball era and ranks tied for 7th all-time (with Billy Hamilton).

Born and raised in San Diego, Williams played baseball throughout his youth. After joining the Red Sox in 1939, he immediately emerged as one of the sport's best hitters. In 1941, Williams posted a .406 batting average; he was the last MLB player to bat over .400 in a season. He followed this up by winning his first Triple Crown in 1942. Williams was required to interrupt his baseball career in 1943 to serve three years in the United States Navy and Marine Corps during World War II. Upon returning to MLB in 1946, Williams won his first AL MVP Award and played in his only World Series. In 1947, he won his second Triple Crown. Williams returned to active military duty for portions of the 1952 and 1953 seasons to serve as a Marine combat aviator in the Korean War. In 1957 and 1958, at the ages of 39 and 40, he was the AL batting champion for the fifth and sixth time.

Williams retired from playing in 1960. In his first year of eligibility, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1966. Williams managed the Washington Senators/Texas Rangers franchise from 1969 to 1972. An avid sport fisherman, he hosted a television program about fishing and was inducted into the IGFA Fishing Hall of Fame. Williams's involvement in the Jimmy Fund helped raise millions of dollars for cancer care and research. In 1991, President George H. W. Bush presented Williams with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award bestowed by the United States government. He was selected for the Major League Baseball All-Time Team in 1997 and the Major League Baseball All-Century Team in 1999.

Williams was born in San Diego on August 30, 1918, and named Theodore Samuel Williams after former president Theodore Roosevelt and his father, Samuel Stuart Williams. He later amended his birth certificate, removing his middle name, which he claimed originated from a maternal uncle (whose actual name was Daniel Venzor), who had been killed in World War I. His father was a soldier, sheriff, and photographer from Ardsley, New York. At the same time, his mother, May Venzor, a Spanish-Mexican-American from El Paso, Texas, was an evangelist and lifelong soldier in the Salvation Army. Williams resented his mother's long hours working in the Salvation Army, and Williams and his brother cringed when she took them to the Army's street-corner revivals.

Williams's paternal ancestors were a mix of Welsh, English, and Irish. Williams's family's maternal, Spanish-Mexican side was quite diverse, having Spanish (Basque), Russian, and American Indian roots. He said of his Mexican ancestry, "If I had my mother's name, there is no doubt I would have run into problems in those days, the prejudices people had in Southern California."

Williams lived in San Diego's North Park neighborhood (4121 Utah Street). At the age of eight, his uncle, Saul Venzor, taught him how to throw a baseball. Saul was one of his mother's four brothers and a former semi-professional baseball player who had pitched against Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Joe Gordon in an exhibition game. As a child, Williams's heroes were Pepper Martin of the St. Louis Cardinals and Bill Terry of the New York Giants. Williams graduated from Herbert Hoover High School in San Diego, where he played baseball as a pitcher and was the star of the team. During this time, he also played American Legion Baseball, later being named the 1960 American Legion Baseball Graduate of the Year.

Though he had offers from the St. Louis Cardinals and the New York Yankees while he was still in high school, his mother thought he was too young to leave home, so he signed up with the local minor league club, the San Diego Padres.