1960s "IN-ACTION" SPECIAL: 1960 TED WILLIAMS

The next "1960s In-Action" special to be profiled on the blog, my 1960 edition for the greatest hitter of them all, Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox:

Part of my recent custom printed set, it imagined if Topps had started using true action photography many years before 1971, when in-game play began finding its way into packs.

Just a wonderful photo of the "Splendid Splinter" up at bat during his magnificent career, in horizontal format as the 1960 set originally was.

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 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.