Ted Williams 20 Greatest Hitters

as a young man Ted Williams had one goal he wanted the fans who cheered for him to one day pass him on the street and say there goes Ted Williams the greatest hitter who ever lived it was like the star came on the center stage today the man who wrote the book on hitting selects his top 20 hitters of all time Joe DiMaggio was a fella that had more confidence Willie Mays of the best ball player I have ever seen from baggy flannels to double myths from the dead-ball era to the rabbit ball era you'll see why Ted calls them the 20 greatest hitters [Music] 4:19 beautiful summers Ted Williams held court right here at Fenway Park the swing King as he was called in one movie the splendid splinter as he was known to most sports fans Ted Williams took the art of hitting and made it a science and took the science of hitting and made it an art hello I'm al Trautwig Ted Williams is arguably the greatest hitter of all time and I say arguably because anytime you compile a list of the greatest in any sport you're bound to start an argument but that's exactly what Ted Williams is about to do because he's put together his list of the greatest hitters of all time and he has some impressive numbers to back up his opinions Ted was the last player in the major leagues to hit above 400 hitting 406 and 1941 he had a lifetime batting average of 344 in 521 home runs and had almost 1,900 RBIs in his 19 years in the big leagues the numbers would have been high had Ted not taken time out from professional ball to serve as a fighter pilot in two wars six times he won the American League batting title during his career with the Boston Red Sox and became a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1966 Ted relished discussions about hitting he studied hitting he loved to hit he lifted his intensity off the baseball world his talent sparked his teammates and instill fear in his rivals the same at Ted Williams wrote the book on hitting is no exaggeration he really did in 1970 he wrote the science of hitting a collection of thoughts theories diagrams and instructions detailing how the art of hitting a baseball could be analyzed like a science in it he examines the best pitches to him out of time to swing the best way to stand and paints his famed box of baseballs that indicated what Ted called his happy zone the location of a pitch he needed to hit could be a 400 hitter for serious batsmen the book became their Bible I finally started playing baseball and started to wonder why I did sort of things out there you know I decided to go to the library to get this book read this book and sitting there and reading this book even then that I don't know thirteen I read the book but it didn't really register you know and but some of the things that I had read in a book I guess subconsciously had stuck and as I went on through my high school career and and I started to play bass but I started doing things and I couldn't understand why I did probably go back at the book and finally I bought play oh look I bought my own book it was like 495 and I remember I started highlighting certain phrases certain things in there that I thought was gonna be important for me to understand when I got to college and all of a sudden you start to hear guys say what kind of pitch did you hit and where was it in and boom go back to the book I still have that book in my library at home I know there are major league players even today even the major league players today that still carry it around the one thing the foot gave me gave me the incentive to really understand what it takes to be a successful third shelf in my book room when I need it I give for Ted's newest book Ted Williams hitless head has put his theories to use to identify the players he believes to be the 20 greatest hitters of all time we researched every hitter that I could think of every hitter that I'd ever heard is a great hitter and we had a research team who wouldn't quit we got some formulas that were absolutely foolproof I'm gonna get me a real clip that they're using now they never used it before and one is percentage of times on first base which means that percentage of time you got on base birth I'm at that certainly a very important thing and the fellow that gets a lot of walks isn't given enough credit some guy hits 360 the other guy hits 330 he's watching their needs a 388 getting a base so that's a very important factor that is entwined with this formula that we have because we give a lot of credit to that and then of course slugging percentage which means what did you do every time you hit the ball those are the single classic double plus or even born after writing the book ted wrote invitations inviting the greatest players alive to come and join him at the Ted Williams hitters Hall of Fame for a weekend long induction celebration it's a tremendous honor to be picked by someone like Ted Williams to be a part of one of 20 of the greatest hitters in the game and I feel very strongly that there is no one more qualified than he when the greatest student of the art of hitting baseball in the history of the game decides to pick people he thinks are the 20 greatest hitters in history and he includes me in it that's got to be the ultimate compliment hitting is Ted's religion and his goal in life is to spread the gospel which is why on February 9th 1994 he opened the Ted Williams Museum that day at a celebrity-filled event in front of his disciples had dedicated his museum to the sport and its place in American Life this museum we hope is going to enlighten people about baseball it's gonna get their interest to where they want to learn more about it what started as a dedication for the museum became a tribute to Ted himself so I won't say that some people like to set goal that and Ted did this years and years ago he was quoted as saying as I read in the newspaper he wanted to be known as the greatest hitter who's ever played basically from 1936 to the present day I can truthfully say I have never seen a better hitter than Ted and it was on that day that Ted first announced his hitters all of fame we're gonna have a hitter's Hall of Fame we think that's a very important addition because if we if you would ask 50 of the most or the most learned at people baseball baseball history you'd have a hell of an argument trying to pick out the greatest hitters in baseball because all of them come back and say well what about this guy and what about this guy but we have a secret formula that we apply to all and we have tons of years of experience of people that saw a lot of the gay players and so we think we got a pretty good really get a handle on when we when we put the names of those greatest hitters it would be pretty hard to argue against it because of number 9 this area of Fenway Park and right field used to be known as Williamsburg here 502 feet from home plate sits a lonely red seat it marks the spot for one of Ted Williams 521 career home runs still to this day the longest ever hit here at Fenway to right-field when we come back to the house the Ted bill will finally get a look at his list of the 20 greatest hitters of all time [Music] one year to the day after opening the Ted Williams Museum Ted opened his Elite hitters Hall of Fame [Music] the players on the twenty greatest hitters list were to be inducted during the halls opening ceremony the induction took place in a tent at the site of the museum in Hernando Florida and Bob Costas was the master of ceremonies [Applause] [Music] already worked out his list of the 20 greatest hitters of all time the enshrined in the beautiful new museum now this is always the subject of debate that's what baseball is about differences of opinion you have your perspective I have mine and Ted worked out a very complicated formula I can't explain it all but you either had to be a great hitter in some objective way 3000 hits 500 moments a slugging percentage around 600 or you could be a very mediocre hitter remove a lot of great fishing spots [Music] on to the 20 greatest hitters of all time some up over here most of whom are here let us start with number 20 on the list as I mentioned earlier Ralph Kiner is second only to Babe Ruth in a home run frequency with those 369 lifetime home runs and the seven national championships either one we're sharing the strength of seven the like saw him and he could hit a ball of fun he could get it in the air and I don't think Kiner has ever really got the credit as a great hitter that he should have had recent vintage on the list is Mike Schmidt [Applause] there he is that looked like his 500th home run in Pittsburgh a few years ago and there are all his teammates out to greet him and he wound up with 500 he supreme almighty supreme for several years in home run Department in the National League and hell of a player hell of a hitter number 18 rolek for Frank Robinson [Applause] [Music] [Music] and I think of all the players that I've heard about the scene I think it's time that Frank Robinson hasn't really got its high on the niche of the greatest players and he should have be certainly in my book Frank's is one of the one of the greatest offensive players number 17 on the list a great Detroit Tiger [Music] when I first got the big leagues nineteen years old I got a chance to talk to a lot of the great players that were in in Detroit Cleveland even players around Chicago that it and on our own team the breath of that suck who had seen quite a little bit of pound a Highland was a very personable man everybody used to say that I heard say anything about him what a kid it I hit 401 and he has a 340 lifetime average and that told you life is number 16 on the list and for those of you too young to remember [Music] batting style like Sabo who holds the Japanese for lifetime home runs and come to think of it like Schatzi always lifted that leg at the plate [Music] eleven lifetime home runs and a lifetime batting average of 304 into the big leagues for the New York Giants at the age of 17 and played more than 20 years with them the last segment of it of all the hitters in the history of baseball he probably accommodated the place that he plays and developed the style that would blend in with that environment and pull the ball get in here and still he did it with his bat he was a valuable man on the ball club he had keen eyes very so you know in a bad ball I was impressed immediately about he didn't swing in this too often I was also impressed that he didn't swing it bad ball and he still hit run a home run and 51 years I always thought that he was one of the very best hitters I saw 19 1931 emacs Philadelphia age that was one of the great teams of all time there won the American League pennant appreciate 29 30 and 31 and al had a lifetime batting average not many players impress me the board now Simmons and I didn't see Allison even talking - players he was pinch-hitting playing once in a while and he looked dangerous just look at him for that bat meat there number 13 on the list is Tris speaker who knows how many American League batting titles he might have won had he not been a contemporary of Ty Cobb won nine in a row and then speaker broke that string in 1916 and then Cobb won reward succession speaker had a lifetime batting average in excess of 340 he still holds the all-time record for doubles with nearly 800 of them one of the great defensive outfielders of all time Chris Baker you know it was a 400 hitter and when I came to the big leagues he was he was talked about as much as anybody even though a young guy named de Maggio put his stats up on the board but Baker in his day was recognized as a absolute superstar in a moment Ted Williams celebrated list rolls on with the make first game at one here's the payoff pitch [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] number 12 on the list is Mickey Mantle broke in in 1951 is a 19 year old out of Commerce Oklahoma Congress comment comes from immediate successor to Joe DiMaggio [Music] and here's Mickey I can't say enough about Mickey Mantle he was devastating right-handed absolutely devastating and left-handed you scare everybody out of the ballpark I don't think they'll ever be able to I don't think they'll ever be a switch hitter that had the power on both sides Mickey Mantle just ahead of Mickey on the list is Greenberg a career slugging percentage of 605 and I believe it was 1938 which was as close see at 58 one year Jimmie Foxx also a 58 as close as anybody came from this record until Roger Maris Brogan in 1961 [Music] the great first baseman of the Tigers Hank Greenberg and son Steve Beaver Buicks he was the type of person that reached out and he he sort of took me under his wing and I had some big theories on hitting and they were basically theories I learned from Hank Greenberg and I jumped from 23 home runs my first year in the major leagues the 51 my second so they did work pretty well he was always recognized as a smart hitter and the old thing about Greenberg is that you made him look bad don't throw too many more of those because he bleh for it and one of the most personable guys was ever the big league one of the reading and our book substantiates it even more than he's recognized the formula that we've used is that he was one of truly one of the real sluggers in baseball history Ted Williams was good friends with Hank Greenberg and Ted says he probably talked more about hitting with Hank than anybody else and if there's one thing Ted to do even better than hit it was talk about hitting and that's exactly what he'll do with Tony Gwynn when we continue in a moment I'm gonna predict write this show why me over good right hit 12 which is a lot all right I'm gonna predict you're gonna start hitting more home line thank you the Ted Williams museum is devoted to acknowledging not only the legendary hitters of the past but the great hitters of the present as well each year Ted and the museum hand out awards to the top hitters in the major leagues and with the opening of the new hitters wing at the Museum the first modern hitters to be awarded were Jeff Bagwell and Tony Gwynn Jeff Bagwell of the Houston Astros with a phenomenal slugging percentage of 750 Bagwell led the league in total bases and extra-base hits in 1994 oh so knee when fear was no less outstanding as he was on target to possibly become the first man to hit 400 in a season since Ted Williams did it over fifty years ago the strike put an end to that aspiration but Gwynn did have the chance to sit down with Ted and talk hitting what more could a lifetime 336 batter asked for in order to have that 400 year which is a wonderful year everything has to fall into place you have to have you know you get you get cycles of good hitting good pitching you know everything has to fall in place good years bad everything has to come in place and but a hitter like Tony has a much better chance of doing it's a than a big swinger that misses a lot well I mean over get like hit 12 which is alive all right I'm gonna predict you're gonna start getting more home well I thank you certainly don't change but you're doing I'll take more more advantage of the count exact more advantage of the type pitcher you're hitting against crowd the plate once in a while because you know you can pull the ball better in you can get the ball hard when it's over the plate through the middle I mean you're underneath the pitch what are you generally earlier late if you're underneath the pitch we'll see that's different with me I see me I say your lifetime batting average is 333 you've won five batting titles and when Ted Williams said now do you swing all the way through in this situation or do you push at the ball you had the look of a schoolboy hoping he would have the right answer or the teacher would slap his hand with a ruler no question no question about it you know and it's funny because you know a lots of people look towards Ted Williams is their teacher whether even if they were fortunate enough to work under him or do like I did reading books and stuff and I mean anybody else asked me that question there's no doubt I'll say yeah I try to stay behind the ball and block the ball up with Ted sitting there I think I was a bit but you know I only wish that other hitters had the opportunity to sit and talk to about their own personal situations because yeah you can learn so much just from talking to people of all time and to this whole date for me you know having being around guys like maybes Mantle Musial all those guys it's been I mean as a as a hitter who continually tries to improve it's the greatest thing in the world to sit down and talk to Stan Musial and asked him you know how did you do what you did and it is I just can't even begin to describe how exciting this wasn't for the things that these guys were able to accomplish on a baseball but I wouldn't that wouldn't even have wanted to be a baseball player I wouldn't even want it to be you know the best that I could be there are lots of guys here if you want to learn all you have to listen you don't have to you don't even have to go and talk to him you just sit quiet and now let's listen in on the announcement of the lists top ten hitters and you know if what I said before was true about Willie Mays why should I get in the way with any kind of facts or observations just watching play just watch how much fun it was to watch Willie Mays play but I will add this one thing he admitted to me two months ago we were about another parent you know I always feel [Music] so when I go into the sample people came for a show [Applause] he always had to bet ready to go and he always waited the last second to submit himself and that's why he was so good at hitting the breaking ball and he could pick up the spin on the ball and he knew a breaking ball he always had his hand in the right position to adjust the hell would you say well he made you got to think of the bad yo when you say too mad you gotta think of will he may they were - super super players they were linked for years and years in the National League and they're just that close content list at number nine is the all-time leader in home runs the all-time leader in RBIs he's second in runs scored all time he had eight seasons we topped 40 home runs and eventually he did the unthinkable he broke the most revered record in baseball history when he passed Babe Ruth hit number seven to 10 April 8 1974 in Atlanta he wound up with 750 fana lifetime number one and perhaps certainly in our lifetime unreachable hey Darren you gotta you've gotta be honest with yourself and you say well he's the homerun King he was a great hitter had great ability I remember one time I told one of our pitchers I said you're gonna pitch against a great hitter today we were playing spring training against Hank Aaron I said I want you to push ladders and curbs all the time first two times up you get the ground ball to shortstop now I told him the fourth time I said when he gets up there again keep pulling him that slider and serve him when you get one strike boom throw fastball as hard you can up in here just to see what'll happen well he got him out the first time second time third time and here's this first time up and you a couple of sliders then he do his best fastball and he had a pretty good fastball and mr. Aaron hits a blue Dardis that's an old expression baseball he hit one that went out of the park like a shy like a rifle shot boy did that convince me of one thing Hank Aaron could rip a fastball on the list out of Pickens County South Carolina Shoeless Joe Jackson Black Sox scandal of 1919 he has never been formally inducted in the baseball's Hall of Fame but he is number eight on the list in the Ted Williams hitters Hall of Fame his last years it turned out before the judgment by judge Landis and the scandal was handed down was 1928 380 in his final year 356 lifetime only Rogers Hornsby and Ty Cobb have higher lifetime batting averages get 408 in 1911 Joe Kent I wish I'd have seen them I felt like hey I wish I could have seen Joe Jackson coming up it's the heart of the order the top of the list of Ted Williams 20 greatest hitters of all time all the years that Ted Williams reigned as the greatest hitter in the American League the guy who paralleled him internationally was Stan Musial as I mentioned earlier a lifetime batting average of 331 and in fact that was always his answer he's right back to Stan's your happy-go-lucky to hip out you had a lifetime batting average of 331 you do happen to [Applause] in 1960 Santa man semi sent at that time with squat guy he just walked the friends with the ballroom and you couldn't play him no way he'd hit the ball to left field good he'd pull the balls right to you he was just an all-around ball player well I can only give the example that I told my kids for five years before we went to the Hall of Fame and Stan usually was the duck that I kept talking about the band usual Vanya's went to a banquet for Samuel who's there my son was listening to me and I brought up usual so darn much when he finally did get to the Hall of Fame by we had the ceremony you Jule was recognized and praised my kid after was all over he said do you think he was as good a hitter as you were I said yes I do history and is even more in the spotlight today it wasn't just what he accomplished that what he accomplished was overwhelming with the twelfth bat entitled to the 367 lifetime averaging three times topping 400 nearly 900 salvation but it was the passion and the ferocity with which played the game define not only style I didn't see side top very much but I had a chance of business with him quite often several things and of course the subject did get the hip he he was altogether different at the hitter and I was but no matter how you break his record dead ball live ball anyway you do every time on that you've got it you're compel the footy men even though he didn't hit no way in the world in the year [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] he was such a great player and did everything with fiction class that I have such high esteem for him as a player and the way he's conducted everything that I couldn't I know that [Music] [Music] another another guy I think real quick that he's recognized by more people is the greatest right-hand hitter the baseball ever saw but I I say that but some reservation because I saw valence for DiMaggio and I did see aren't be hip and he was great simply it was very fond of Jimmy box included as well Tetris is a raw rookie but even if he hadn't pretty hard to ignore the accomplishments of double axe 325 and for years and years is 550 for three or not but second highest all-time behind the great Bambino Jimmie Foxx 58 runs in 1932 and then hit 50 in 1938 Jimmy Fox Jimmie Foxx I saw hips boy I'll say it you're talking about some truly truly great hitters and a pair of Yankees right number two and obviously number one the runner-up spot the pride of the Yankees Lou Gehrig 2130 consecutive games and it's possible to be overshadowed despite what he did obviously played in the shadow with Babe Ruth but three times in his career we had better than a hundred and seventy RBIs in a season [Music] [Music] [Music] anniversary of [Music] he is arguably the most famous powerful intention twelve times the American League's home run champion a career slugging percentage of 619 [Applause] seasons beautiful five words Babe Ruth Babe Ruth Babe Ruth Babe Ruth Babe Ruth the one and only Babe Ruth aphaia he is the most recognized sports hero in American American sports and he is by far the most prevalent name ever mentioned when he comes to baseball one of the great things about Fenway Park is that on off days during the regular season the Red Sox will actually let you come in and take a tour of this great old ballpark so if you're ever in the vicinity of Yawkey Way come inside the stadium and see if you can hear the strong echoes of the past or better still take a seat and try to imagine what it was like in September of 1960 when Ted Williams stepped to the plate for the very last time and they remain standing here for the most fires at Fenway Park is Williams hit probably for the last time in a Boston uniform in this ballpark maybe gone [Applause] well if you had written it that way nobody would believe it the why even try pat williams at his 29th home run the 520 first of his major-league career when he played Ted Williams dream was that one day he would be able to walk down the street and hear someone say there goes the greatest hitter of all time now you might say in discussing Ted's list of the top 20 all-time greatest hitters that really it's a list of hitters 2 through 21 and you might be right you might also be able to say that in considering the list of the greatest baseball fans of all time Ted Williams would have to be considered for the number 1 slot as well after all that's what the Ted Williams museum and his top 20 all-time hitters list is all about and going back to our original thought maybe this didn't start an argument after all and I hope someday that this is a reflection I'm truly what a great game this is how important it is to America this hopefully will be a little bit of a stepping stone somewhere along the line that's going to get a kid to keep inspiring keeping boom in this museum you get the chance to see it I'm sure will say boy I know I can do it and maybe just a little inspiration that he needed to keep him going and maybe someday he will be a bigger and try to teach him the way I think he should hit I would incorporate almost everything Ted Williams had the stroke or spoke about in his book I think we all kind of hope Ted is kind of a godfather of of hitting the whole life hitting in general what William say about it or you know if it's hitting you want to know how Williams felt about it Ted Williams will credit to baseball and credit to himself because there will never be another Ted will you just like there'd never be another Babe Ruth I think it's important to know [Music] works than number two on the list maybe maybe we can see everybody's been around watching big body practice I like till he takes watch roots and Gary good they and the murderers row see Ted Williams and the electrifying appeal he had the crowds and his awesome ability hit a baseball his personality his flamboyance there was only that one Ted Williams and I grew up idolizing him and admiring him and as did the most famous hitter in the history of Yale University I'm told his first spring training one of our stars here today bobby doerr said to him when you see jimmy pop tip pen Trey said well Whittle Foxy's Meehan we all remember this I know all these guys attending 39.95 the statistical equivalent to an even 400 the season ended with a double-header and to protect the average Joe Cronin wanted 10 to sit it out and he refused he went six or eight to finish at 406 [Applause] and here's to the grandest hitter of all and one of America's greatest heroes who ever lived Ted Williams we are your friends and we love you dearly [Applause] [Music]

Channel: atomjackfuser

Views: 24,752

Rating: 4.8243904 out of 5

Keywords: ted williams, 20 greatest hitters

Id: Q-sjudc3oCE

Length: 40min 58sec (2458 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 07 2018