What if? Ted Williams
Somewhere along the line I heard someone state that while John Wayne played the all-American man, Ted Williams was the real John Wayne. Superb baseball player, ace marine fighter pilot and expert fisherman, Williams was among the best that three different endeavors.
Those pesky wars to which he served interrupted his baseball career. Williams missed three full seasons due to World War II (1943-1945) and only played in a handful of games during the Korean War (1952-1953).
For non-cumulative stats, Williams still ranks at the top. Here are his totals and all-time ranks:
Batting Average: .344 (11th)
On Base Percentage: .482 (1st)
OPS: 1.113 (2nd to Ruth)
OPS+ 191 (2nd to Ruth)
When I was in 5th grade, my teacher and I got into a discussion on Ted Williams’ lost seasons. We talked about how he might have had as many home runs as Babe Ruth. In 1985 I didn’t have the math skills to do a true analysis, and my Commodore 64 computer was essentially useless.
But the year is 2023, the future is now, and using some simple Excel formulas I’ve found the answers I’ve long sought.
What would Ted Williams’ career totals be if he had not missed so much time due to military service?
The methodology I used to fill the gaps was as follows:
Calculate the 3-year average of the 3 seasons before 1943-1945
Calculate the 3-year average of the 3 seasons after 1943-1945
Average those 2 numbers to add in the 3 lost WWII seasons
Subtract the partial numbers of the 1952-1953 seasons
Calculate the 3-year average of the 3 seasons before 1952-1953
Calculate the 3-year average of the 3 seasons after 1952-1953
Average those 2 numbers to add in the 2 lost Korean seasons
Here are the results:
Williams doesn’t get to 700 homers, but he moves up from 20th to 6th place. But since baseball is about scoring runs, Williams takes the prize. He moves up to first all time in RBI (above Hank Aaron), runs (above Rickey Henderson) and walks (above Barry Bonds).
For WAR amongst position players, he moves up from 11th all-time to 3rd, trailing only Bonds and Ruth.
In the end Williams didn’t play those five seasons. Maybe playing the extra years in 1943-45, he wouldn’t have been as great later in his career. Or he could have suffered a serious injury, though he somehow avoided that while fighting Kamikazes over the Pacific.
But given that at age 38 Williams batted .388, and that there’s nothing to indicate there would be any drop-off in his baseball performance, I think this projection is a reasonable glimpse at what might have been.
Even with all that missed time, Tedy Ballgame’s wish came true. When he walked down the street, many people said, “There goes the greatest hitter than ever lived.”