On September 28, 1941, Boston Red Sox outfielder Ted Williams secured his place in baseball immortality on the final day of the Major League Baseball season. Entering a season-ending doubleheader against the Philadelphia Athletics at Shibe Park, Williams carried a .39955 batting average—high enough to round to .400 in the official record books.
Rather than sit out to preserve the milestone, Williams chose to play. Red Sox manager Joe Cronin left the decision to his star, and Williams refused the easy way out, saying he did not want to be known as a .400 hitter with a “lousy average of .39955.”
Under immense pressure, Williams went 4-for-5 in the first game and added two hits in the second. His 6-for-8 day raised his final average to an astonishing .406.
Williams remains the last player in Major League Baseball’s American or National League to finish a season batting .400 or better. The achievement became even more remarkable in light of what followed: Williams entered the Navy Reserve in 1942, was commissioned as a U.S. Marine Corps aviator in 1944, and spent much of World War II as a flight instructor. He later returned to military service during the Korean War, flying 39 combat missions as a Marine pilot.
Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
