The Major League Debut of Ted Williams 1-4 1 2B
Ted Williams, the John Wayne of American Sports
There are few American Icons who can measure up to the status of Ted Williams. He exhibited greatness and heroism at every given opportunity, and walked with such confidence that he would have stood out even if he weren’t a famous athlete.
Were it not for his valiant (albeit reluctant) service in the second world war, would we look at his statistical accomplishments different? What if instead of fighting in a war, he had 4 of his average seasons? We would then be looking at a slugger with 700 home runs.
The debut itself was an inauspicious start to a legendary big league career. The Splendid Splinter went 1-4 with a double in front of many other fellow future hall of famers. He would go on to finish 4th in the MVP voting in his 1939 rookie campaign.
Splendid Splinter played first big league game 70 years ago[Samantha Carr / National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum]
