re: How would Ted Williams do in today's game?

It was a matter of discussion 50 years ago

LMAO

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He was a 3 outcome guy.

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Ted definitely wasn’t a 3 true outcome hitter. He never struck out more than 64 times in a season, 709 times in 7706 at bats.

Ted’s Baseball Reference Page

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His Science of Hitting teaches a slight upward angle

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Which is what makes listening to him and Bogs and Mattingly talk hitting so interesting in that article, because Mattingly was at least partially a Charley Lau disciple which taught kind of swinging downwards at the ball to get a backspin. Ted was super against that.

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MATTINGLY: He's getting better. He's learning, it seems like more and more. He's trying that weight-shift thing, and getting back seems to help.

WILLIAMS: What do you mean? Tell me about the weight shift.

MATTINGLY: Just transferring from back to forward. It has helped me a lot. When I was in the middle of my body and my head was in the middle of my body, I was always right here. [He puts his hands tight to the middle of his body.] I was always inside-outing the ball, and I was popping up the ball away. So when I went here [leaning on his back foot], then went to there [striding forward], I got on top of the ball more, and I could pull the ball inside. It allowed some kind of freedom. I think you don't agree with me.

WILLIAMS: I don't think what you're telling me is right. My impression is that, even with all your great success, you don't really realize what you're doing.

MATTINGLY: I think I realize what I'm doing. I don't believe in the total Lau thing, but I think I need some sort of weight shift to hit the ball with more power. It's simple: I have to go back before I can go forward. It has helped me to put the ball in the seats, which I never did before. I always got a topspin, and I'd hit the ball to the warning track. Now I get the backspin, and the ball carries for me. Everything before was an uppercut and I was hitting on top of the ball, so I was getting line drives that would drop down.

WILLIAMS: What you're saying is that you're swinging down on the ball and—get me some paper, O.K. There's a great thing in life called logic. If you say you like to swing down....

MATTINGLY: I didn't say that. I just said I like to get backspin on the ball.

WILLIAMS: O.K. You want backspin, so you're cutting the ball. We'll say you're swinging level. At the moment of impact, in order to hit the ball just right and cut it, you have to hit it on the underneath side with the ball coming slightly down. Now, if I swing slightly up, I hit it with the greatest impact. This swing incorporates the single most important thing—not shifting your weight but getting your butt moving, your hips working. Do you believe that?

MATTINGLY: Yes, definitely.

WILLIAMS: [Standing in back of Mattingly.] Try to swing down. There's no hip movement at all there. If Don Mattingly wants to swing up, you're pretty well forced to move your hips, are you not? Two reasons I like slightly up. First, it incorporates your hips, which makes it possible to be quick and fast. Second, you're hitting in the exact plane of the pitch.

BOGGS: How do you think I swing?

WILLIAMS: You swing up a little, but you practice, practice that down stuff. [He puts his head down and chops downward. Boggs gets up and swings, keeping his head down.] Yeah, that downswing. Since whatever you practice, you're more inclined to do, that's what you do in games. Everyone tells me that in batting practice you're hitting them out of sight, that you're pulling the ball and getting it in the air and going to hit 30 home runs. Why not in a game?

MATTINGLY: But by exaggerating the downswing—if I'm an uppercutter—I'm not really swinging down in games, but I'm at least going to try to get my hands extended....

WILLIAMS: I want you to show me how you think your hands are. This is funny, because you don't realize what you're doing. Let me ask you something. How do you think your hands are at the moment of contact?

MATTINGLY: It depends on where the ball is.

WILLIAMS: Is your left hand on top of your right hand?

MATTINGLY: I don't know.

WILLIAMS: Ohhhh.

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Yeah, I've watched that several times, along with the one they did at the All Star Game in Boston that included Gwynn.

I went to the old Ted Williams Hitters Hall of Fame that was in Citrus Hills before they moved it to Tampa in the Rays stadium, and spent a day there as the only visitor. Met all of the staff that was present, most of which had personal connections to him. I have a commemorative bottle of wine used at the Opening Ceremonies of the museum that I was given by a fishing guide that volunteered to take him in his later years.

I have a lot of VHS tapes I collected years ago with interviews and game highlights from his playing days.

There are several biographies that you can find that deal with his life only, and some that cover his relationships with teammates, along with some that cover the Red Sox. I am partial to Leigh Montville's effort, if any one is interested in this topic.

Only a fool would argue hitting fundamentals with Ted Williams

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Bob Feller threw over 100mph.


Yeah and his offspeed stuff was a joke compared to todays pitchers which is my point

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"I don't think anyone is ever going to throw a ball faster than he does," Joe DiMaggio was quoted as saying during his epic 1941 season, when he hit in a record 56 consecutive games. "And his curveball isn't human."

Ted Williams hit .344 in 57 career games against the most dominating pitcher of that era. Williams is the greatest hitter who ever played the game. He was also a badass mother fricker.

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Ted Williams hit .344 in 57 career games against the most dominating pitcher of that era. Williams is the greatest hitter who ever played the game. He was also a badass mother fricker.

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“The first time I interviewed Ted Williams, I said you really are the guy John Wayne played in all those movies. You are John Wayne," Costas says in the documentary. "And he goes, ‘Yeah, I know it.’"

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Ted was the classic example of the gifted athlete that had a hard time understanding when those he was managing were not as gifted.

He was much better as a consultant at Red Sox Spring Trainings.

He essentially told Gwynn that his approach didn’t take advantage of his power, and that he should have put more emphasis on pulling the ball. He admired Gwynn’s dedication to his craft, but Ted was more Rizzo than Gwynn in his approach.

Ted never went oppo on purpose. Just think what he could have done at Fenway, but of course, he wouldn’t have been Ted.

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Ted was the classic example of the gifted athlete that had a hard time understanding when those he was managing were not as gifted.

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Yup, think Jordan. Truly the personification of "Those who CAN do, those who CAN'T teach."

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Ted never went oppo on purpose. Just think what he could have done at Fenway, but of course, he wouldn’t have been Ted.

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Exactly...can you imagine him just spraying balls off the green monster all game long if pitchers went outside on him?

And yeah, Ted was from San Diego...

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Exactly...can you imagine him just spraying balls off the green monster all game long if pitchers went outside on him?

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better yet, can you imagine Ted pulling balls in today's ballparks?
yeah, Fenway was the same size, but he played half his games on the road in some absolute caves.

his best year for Homers was 1949 when he hit 43.

Yankee Stadium was 407' to the RC power alley in '49.
Today it's only 385.

Old Griffith Stadium got as deep as 438' just to the right of center.
Camden Yards is in the 390' range in that spot.

in the 40's, Cleveland Stadium was a ridiculous 435' to the RC power alley .
The Jake (i ain't calling it progressive) is only 375'

Shibe Park was over 400' to RC and had a 34' tall wall.
The Coliseum in Oakland is 385' and has an 8' fence.