Best of the Splendid Splinter

[jsfriedm]

Originally Posted by Fred

Simple sepia 1940 Play Ball of a young splinter

It's still so mind boggling to think of the career numbers he may have put up if he had those (3) prime years (ages 23-26) and basically two other full seasons (age 33 and 34) to play. Even with those missing years Teddy Ballgame still put up some incredible numbers.

Even without the years in the military, his numbers are actually better than people realize. Sacrifice flies aren't counted as at-bats - except that they were between 1931-1954. So, under the rules that Cobb and Hornsby hit .400 with, Ted Williams' average in 1941 would have been something like .419. His career .344 is actually probably at least .350 in comparison to Cobb's .366 and Hornsby's .358.