Wednesday, February 3, 2016

#510 Ted Williams


Possibly the greatest hitter ever but can he manage?....the answer, after first year success, not so much....Started managing 1969 cold having been away since his last playing season in 1960....1969 Senators surprised many with a huge improvement of 21 games...standing out were career seasons from Del Unser, Ed Brinkman, Ed Stoud, Dick Bosman along with a prime year from Frank Howard....however team stumbled in 1970 and a gap between Ted and the players developed....things got worse in 1971 with bad trades and questionable acquisitions....Joe Foy? Don Wert?... Curt Flood after sitting out 1970?....Denny McClain after being suspended most of 1970....Brutal 1971 season ending with 96 losses and the announcement of a move to Texas....Went west with team but it got worse....100 loses, team .217 BA...only bright spot was pitching improved slightly..... Ted had seen enough and bowed out of his 5th year of contract....was replaced by Whitey Herzog....As a player his stats are sometime to behold....fun facts are 145 RBI's rookie season....Historic .406 mark of 1941....2 MVPs....all star every year he played (other than 1952 when got 10 at bats before serving in Korea)....ending his career with a .316 BA and a home run in last at bat....plus the wonderment of what he would done had he 1.  entered the big leagues out of PCL San Diego;  2.  played the 3 years during World War 2;  3.  Got 900 more at bats in year 1952-53....A career average of .344....Wow.  

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