A Brief History
On September 28, 1941, Ted Williams, the “Splendid Splinter” of the Boston Red Sox, managed the feat of batting .406 for the season, the last time any major league hitter has batted over .400 for a season.
Digging Deeper
As incredibly hard as it may be to bat with such a high average, in the years since Williams’ feat, a few batters have come close. In 1994, Tony Gwynn posted a .394 average, and in 1980, George Brett managed a sterling .390. The only other batters to come even close were Williams himself in 1957 and Rod Carew in 1977, both slugging a .388 average.
While batters face many more relief pitchers than they used to, starting pitchers themselves face incredible odds against breaking old records due to starting and finishing far fewer games than pitchers used to. Records for wins, shut outs and complete games pitched seem out of reach.
Question for students (and subscribers) to ponder: When will a major league batter next hit .400?
If you liked this article and would like to receive notifications of new articles, please feel welcome to follow History and Headlines on Facebook and X!
Your readership is much appreciated!
Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Tavares, Matt. There Goes Ted Williams: Candlewick Biographies: The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived. Candlewick, 2015.
Williams, Ted. My Turn at Bat: The Story of My Life. Touchstone, 1988.
