BASEBALL’S TED WILLIAMS – SAN DIEGO’S NATIVE SON
Spring is back (well, sort of...did summer ever leave SD???) with the Padres kicking off spring training in Peoria this week. The first spring training game is Friday, February 28th against the Seattle Mariners.
With baseball on the brain DID YOU KNOW that hall of famer Ted Williams was a San Diego native? Born and raised at 4121 Utah Street in North Park, Ted Williams went on to a hall of fame baseball career and was the last major leaguer to hit over .400 in a season.
In the summer of ’41, Ted hit .406 for the Boston Red Sox (not bad considering his $20K salary that year.) So you would think Ted Williams won the “most valuable player” award for that amazing feat but he did not. Nope. In the summer of ’41 Joe DiMaggio ripped a 56-game hit steak and DiMaggio’s Yankees went on to win the pennant that year against their cross-town rival the Brooklyn ‘Trolley’ Dodgers. Both Ted Williams .406 season batting average and DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak remain unchallenged 70 plus years later and are widely considered “untouchable” at this point. What a season!
Other facts about San Diego’s Ted Williams:
Ted’s first professional “at bat” was in 1936 with the San Diego Padres of the Pacific Coast League – Ted struck out looking at a called 3rd strike! But he recovered….
Ted played 19 seasons with the BoSox and retired with a .344 lifetime batting average.
Ted Williams served as a marine combat pilot in both WWII and the Korean War.
Witnesses recall Ted stepping into Boston’s Fenway Park batter’s box after returning from the Korean War and he hit 9 home runs in a row at his first batting practice.
After retiring from baseball, Ted later became a world-class sports fisherman and is a member of the International Game Fish Association Hall of Fame – Ted said his passion for fishing started when he was a kid casting lines into Mission Bay right here in Pacific Beach.
