WILLIAMS, TED

born Aug. 30, 1918, San Diego, Calif., U.S. byname of Theodore Samuel Williams U.S. professional baseball player who compiled a lifetime batting average of .344 as a left-handed hitting outfielder with the Boston Red Sox from 1939 to 1960. He twice won the Triple Crown (best batting average, most home runs, and most runs batted in during a single season). He also hit a total of 521 home runs, although he lost five years of his career to service as a flyer in World War II and the Korean War. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1966. He was the last of the .400 hitters in the 20th century (.406 in 1941). Williams returned to the major leagues from retirement in 1969 to manage the Washington Senators. In his first year he was named American League Manager of the Year, but he left the franchise in 1972, after it had become the Texas Rangers. After his retirement as a manager, he occasionally worked as a batting coach and became a consultant for a line of fishing equipment. His autobiography, written with John Underwood, My Turn at Bat, was published in 1969 and The Science of Batting in 1971.