On This Date in Sports September 28, 1941: .406
In collaboration with the Sportsecyclopedia.com
Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox becomes baseball's final .400 hitter finishing the season with a .406 average. Williams began the day with a .39955 average, which would have rounded up to .400. He was given a chance to rest in the season-ending doubleheader to preserve the .400 average but opted to play in both games against the Philadelphia Athletics and went 6-for-8, raising his average to .406.
Theodore Samuel Williams was born on August 30, 1918, in San Diego. Raised in San Diego, Williams received offers from the St. Louis Cardinals but decided to sign with the hometown San Diego Padres of the Pacific Coast League at his mother's request. Williams quickly became a star in San Diego. When Ted Williams turned 20, his mother felt he was old enough to leave home, paving the way to sign with the Boston Red Sox before the 1939 season.
Ted Williams was the most hyped rookie since Joe DiMaggio when he joined the Red Sox in 1939. He would not disappoint, batting .327 with 31 home runs and a league-best 145 RBI, as he finished fourth in MVP voting. Williams would not suffer a sophomore slump batting .344, as he quickly became the face of the Boston Red Sox.
Things started slowly for Ted Williams in 1941, as he broke a bone in his foot in Spring Training. The injury limited Williams to pinch-hitting in the first two weeks of the season but may have led the foundation for the .400 season. Due to the injury, Ted Williams was forced to put less pressure on his foot. When Williams entered the lineup, he did not jump out to a fast start as he was batting a .310 on May 3rd. A few days later, the march to history began when he hit a monster home run in the 11th inning at Comiskey Park. Ted Williams predicted to teammates he would win the game and came through smashing the ball 600 feet, according to some, as the Red Sox beat the White Sox 4-3 on May 7th.
Following the bomb in Chicago, Ted Williams' batting average rose steadily over the next month, reaching .400 on May 25th. His batting average remained over .400 through June, reaching a highwater mark of .436 on June 6th. Ted Williams' batting average remained over .400 at the All-Star Break, as he was batting .405 when he won the midsummer classic with a walk-off home run in Detroit. Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak overshadowed the .400 average.
In July, Ted Williams saw his average drop to .393 after the All-Star Break, but his average was on the rise again as August arrived. The last player to bat .400 was Bill Terry, who hit .401 with the New York Giants in 1930. As September began, Williams was batting .407. He maintained a .400 average throughout the final month as the Red Sox finished second in the American League at 84-70. Batting .39955, Ted Williams was given the option of resting in the season's final two games, a doubleheader against the Philadelphia Athletics by manager Joe Cronin. However, Ted Williams wanted to play, saying, "If I'm going to be a .400 hitter, I want more than my toenails on the line.
In the first game of the doubleheader, Ted Williams went 4-for-5, with a home run and 2 RBI, as the Red Sox edged the A's 12-11. In the nightcap, Williams went 2-for-3 as the Red Sox were defeated by the Athletics 7-1. The combined 6-for-8 saw Ted Williams finish the season with a .406 average, along with 37 home runs and 120 RBI. Williams led the American League in average and home runs but finished five RBI behind Joe DiMaggio in the race for the triple crown. DiMaggio would also beat out Williams for the MVP, 15-8.
Only three players have come close to .400 in the last 80 years. Rod Carew of the Minnesota Twins in 1977 came close to .400 several times in the season but finished with a .388. George Brett flirted with .400 until mid-September before posting a .390 average in 1980. The closest to .400 was Tony Gwynn, who had a .394 average on August 12, 1994, when the season came to a sudden end due to a Player's Strike.