The Greatest Player of All Time

A Blog By Dean

It was a cold winter day in Boston the other day, too cold to bring my middle school students out to play for recess. So, we stayed within the classroom and had discussions. One thing led to another, and the next thing I knew, the students were asking me why we dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I hesitated as we live in a world now where anything you say can be heavily criticized, and showing your opinion could be detrimental to your career. From my experience, I know that this question is now often posed in high school and especially college. It has also made its way onto social media, which is where I assumed the students saw it.

So, I told them the truth. “I don’t know, I wasn’t there.” But I was blessed to know the people who were there in my life. Those people believe it was the right decision, so I agree with what they say. I didn’t live it. They asked, “Why are you just going with what they said?” I followed with,

“Because he was there.”

As I sat down to begin my Top 10 All-Time list the other day, I began to think about the greatest baseball player ever. I go back and forth about who that is, but I always choose these four: Ted Williams, Willie Mays, Babe Ruth, and Hank Aaron. 

As a Red Sox fan, I often lean towards Williams. You can argue that he is the greatest hitter ever, but the greatest player? That is more difficult. However, when you dig into the time he missed, you see that he is the greatest player. I did some math, and with the help of Chat GPT, I got some numbers for us.

Williams missed 727 games due to World War II and the Korean War. With an average of 4 bats per game, he lost about 2,908 at-bats. That would have made his career total 10,614. Taking his average of .344, AB/HR 14.79, and OBP of .482. I ran some numbers to see where he would fall in some major categories.

Editor's Note: If you want to argue that we don’t know how he would have played in those missed years, I invite you to look at his stats before and after his deployment.

Ted Williams’ Estimated Career Totals Without Military Service

Based on his lost time due to WWII and the Korean War, Ted Williams' projected career stats would be:

• Hits: 3,654 (Would rank 3rd all-time behind Pete Rose and Ty Cobb)

• Home Runs: 718 (Would rank 3rd all-time, behind Barry Bonds and Hank Aaron)

• RBIs: 2,422 (Would rank 1st all-time, ahead of Hank Aaron's 2,297)

• Total Bases: 6,724 (Would rank 2nd all-time, behind Hank Aaron's 6,856)

Where This Puts Him Historically

• Only Hank Aaron (6,856 TB) would have more total bases than Williams' 6,724.

• He would be the all-time RBI leader, surpassing Hank Aaron.

• His home run total (718) would place him just behind Bonds and Aaron, ahead of Babe Ruth (714).

• With 3,654 hits, he would be in the rare club of elite contact hitters, sitting just behind Pete Rose and Ty Cobb.

For me, looking at those numbers and rankings makes it a lot easier to look people in the eye and say, “Ted Williams was the greatest baseball player ever.”

I began to dig into the archives to get the data I needed. Williams famously said

“All I want out of life is that when I walk down the street, folks will say, 'There goes the greatest hitter that ever lived”

I knew there had to be footage of him talking about how he got screwed with the wars and what his numbers would have been. And well, there was some, but what I found more of shocked me.

Williams was asked numerous times who the greatest player ever was. His answer? Joe DiMaggio. Not once, but every time he was asked. You can see him talking about it in the clip below.

Not only did Williams always speak highly of DiMaggio, but in 1969, when baseball was voting on “The Greatest Living Player.” Ted voted for Joe. His justification when asked,

“Because I was there.”

My mind began to crumble. How could I justify putting Ted Williams over Joe DiMaggio now? I just told a classroom full of students that I cede to the people that were there, and here is Ted Williams, WHO WAS THERE, telling me Joe DiMaggio was better.

Well, you'll have to wait to find out. Next week, I'll release Dean's Definitive Top 10 All-Time Baseball Players.