On the blog today, I spotlight my "missing" 1959 card for Ted Williams, which was part of my custom "Whole Nine" set released last Summer:
Of
course we all know that Williams was left out of the Topps sets in 1959
and 1960 because of his deal with Fleer, but that just gives us an
opportunity to create our magic all these years later!
“The Splendid Splinter” was just incredible as a hitter. The last .400
hitter, 521 home runs, a .344 lifetime average with SIX batting titles,
and the man missed MULTIPLE years in his prime due to war and his
service in the military.
I remember as a kid (nerd alert) I used to love averaging out the three seasons before and after his missed seasons and then factoring them into his final career numbers, and they were insane!
If I remember correctly (‘cause I ain’t doing it now) he would have had somewhere in the neighborhood of 700 home runs, 3500 hits, 2000+ runs scored and runs batted in along with the slugging and on-base percentages that would have made his already monster career just other-worldly!
I remember as a kid (nerd alert) I used to love averaging out the three seasons before and after his missed seasons and then factoring them into his final career numbers, and they were insane!
If I remember correctly (‘cause I ain’t doing it now) he would have had somewhere in the neighborhood of 700 home runs, 3500 hits, 2000+ runs scored and runs batted in along with the slugging and on-base percentages that would have made his already monster career just other-worldly!
The man was truly a “hitting-machine”, perhaps the greatest pure hitter ever (or the Babe? Or Cobb? Musial?).
By the way, by today’s rules, Williams should have won SEVEN batting
titles, but in 1954 he lost out to the Cleveland Indians Bobby Avila,
who hit .341 with the THEN required official at-bats instead of 501
plate appearances.
Williams hit .345 with 526 plate appearances based on his 386 at-bats and 136 walks, but under the rules of the day was denied that seventh title.
Williams hit .345 with 526 plate appearances based on his 386 at-bats and 136 walks, but under the rules of the day was denied that seventh title.
