What Ted Williams Might Have Done
 

From 1942 to 1946 a number of MLB players, including Stan Musial, Hank Greenberg, Bob Feller, Warren Spahn, and Joe DiMaggio joined the United States Armed Forces and served their country during World War II. After winning the Triple Crown in 1942, Ted Williams went on active duty as part of the U.S. Marine Corps from 1943 until early 1946.

The prime seasons of Williams’ career - ages 24, 25, and 26 - were lost.

Even losing three of what would have been his greatest years in baseball, Ted Williams finished his career with 2,654 hits, 521 home runs, 1,839 RBI, a career .344 BA, and the record for highest On Base Percentage at .482.

But, what if World War II never happened, and Ted Williams did get those three years back?

I simmed those seasons to see what could have been - and, of course, Williams was amazing.

https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...61&oe=56FB9FF6

After his Triple Crown in 1942, Williams went on to accomplish the feat again in 1944. He was named to the AL All-Star team each year, winning the Most Valuable Player Award in each! With these 3 added MVPs, his career total would be 5 - something no player would match until Barry Bonds won his 5th MVP in 2002.

Also, with these three added seasons, Williams would reach some new milestones. With 3,199 hits, he would currently have the 15th most ever, behind Nap Lajoie’s 3,243. His new doubles total of 603 would tie him with with Cal Ripken Jr. for for 13th overall. 642 home runs would put him 7th behind, new Hall of Famer, Ken Griffey Jr. Williams would also have the 2nd highest walk total, as well as the 3rd most runs batted in.

https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...57&oe=573915E7

Man, was he good....

You should simulate 1952 also and add that in. You don't really think of Williams as an all-time slugger, but could have easily had 650-700 HR without the war years. (instead of his measly 500 HRs).

Yeah, some point I'll do another post where he plays his Korean years. I assume he'll be the home run leader when that happens.

Just imagine what he might have accomplished with another alternate scenario - Alternate Universe Tom Yawkey isn't a racist idiot, and cashes in on having the first shot at adding both Jackie Robinson AND Willie Mays to the Red Sox of the Ted Williams era. Mays in CF might have helped the pitching staff cover up for Teddy Ballgame's complete indifference to defense in LF, AND turning the lineup over more times would have given Williams even more counting stats, I suspect.

For background, I'd recommend the book "Red Sox Century", where I first learned about these historical travesties under Yawkey.

1952 & 1953 Seasons. Williams didn't return from Korea until mid August of 1953 and spent his first 10 days in a delayed Spring Training. In 1954 he broke his collarbone in Spring Training. So, there's a ton of more time lost. Let's not also forget that right field in Fenway is not exactly a hitter's best friend despite the bullpens they built there for Teddy Ballgame. Just saying.

You are so right. The Red Sox under Yawkey were the last team in the majors to add negro (at the time) talent. And, that was pathetic Pumpsie Green. The first real negro player they got was Earl Wilson. They also trained in Winter Haven, FL at the time which would not allow their black players to stay with the rest of the team.

The Red Sox really need to come to terms with what a bastard Yawkey was.

The only historical season I've ever done was to play out 1947 with Robinson playing first for the Red Sox (though I couldn't help also doing some trading, mainly picking up Warren Spahn). Won the AL handily with an MVP performance from Williams and strong play by Robinson, but lost to the Cardinals in the WS.

I'm somewhere in the 1980s in my "fix every single stupid transaction the franchise ever made" sim league that I started in 1901. Figuring out how to optimally deploy Robinson, Doerr, and Pesky was interesting. Even with Robinson and Mays, the pitching on those late-40s/early-50s teams was still mostly abysmal.


Things got a little bit tedious once I started applying my "fix stupid 1st round draft picks" rule, with essentially too much talent showing up by the 1980s to be managed around, so I ran out of steam.

The only thing I disagree with the sim here on is the 3 MVP awards. Williams was not a favorite of the media members who did the voting, so as long as the Yankees were winning and DiMaggio was playing like DiMaggio, Williams was going to have a hard time edging him out.

Out of curiosity, who won the pennants during the '43-'45 seasons? IRL the best player on those teams probably would've had the inside track for the MVP...

To follow up on DB930's comments about Williams not being a media darling, especially in MVP voting, consider this:

1941 - Ted .406/ 37/120 2nd to Joe D. (NYY) .357/30/125
1942 - Ted .356/ 36/137 2nd to Joe Gordon (NYY) .322/18/103
* Triple Crown year for Ted and still loses to Gordon
1947 - Ted .343/ 32/114 2nd to Joe D. (NYY) .315/20/97
* Another Triple Crown year for Ted and still loses
1948 - Ted .369/ 25/127 3rd to Lou Boudreau (CLE) .355/18/106
* Ted led the league in Doubles as well
1957 - Ted .388/26/85 2nd to Mickey Mantle (NYY) .365/34/94
* At 38 years old he also led the league in BA/OBP/SLG/OPS/OPS+
Ted also led the league in RUNS in: 1940/1941/1942/1946/1947/1949

RED = Led the League in that category.

1943: Yankees, MVP: Spud Chandler (Yankees)
1944: Browns, MVP: Hal Newhouser (Tigers)
1945: Tigers, MVP: Hal Newhouser (Tigers)

In 1944 the Tigers finished only a game behind the Browns and had the top two MVP vote-getters in Newhouser and Dizzy Trout. Browns shortstop Vern Stephens was third.

Williams was the best pure hitter, MLB has ever seen.

Agreed.

Yes!