On September 28, 1941, Boston Red Sox star Ted Williams completed one of the greatest individual seasons in baseball history, finishing the year with a .406 batting average. More than eight decades later, Williams remains the last Major League Baseball player to finish a season batting .400 or better.
Williams entered the final day of the 1941 regular season on the brink of history. His batting average stood at approximately .400—officially .3995, which would have rounded up to .400. With Boston scheduled to play a doubleheader against the Philadelphia Athletics, Williams could have remained on the bench and preserved the milestone. Instead, the fiercely competitive 23-year-old chose to play. He wanted to earn the achievement without leaving any doubt.
It proved to be a memorable decision.
In the first game at Philadelphia's Shibe Park, Williams collected four hits in five at-bats, raising his average to .404. Rather than stop there, he played the second game and added two more hits in three at-bats. His combined 6-for-8 performance pushed his final average to an extraordinary .406.
The accomplishment capped a remarkable season for the young left fielder. Williams also led the major leagues with 37 home runs, 135 runs scored, 147 walks, a .553 on-base percentage and a .735 slugging percentage. His .406 average made him the first major leaguer to reach .400 since New York Giants star Bill Terry batted .401 in 1930.
Williams' 1941 campaign became even more legendary as the decades passed. Several great hitters have approached .400 since then, including George Brett, who hit .390 in 1980, and Tony Gwynn, who was batting .394 when the 1994 season was cut short by a players' strike. But no one has matched Williams' .406.
Known as "The Splendid Splinter," Williams would build one of baseball's greatest careers despite losing nearly five seasons while serving his country as a Marine Corps pilot during World War II and the Korean War. He finished his career with a .344 batting average, 521 home runs, and 2,654 hits and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1966.
In a fitting coincidence, exactly 19 years after completing his .406 season, Williams played his final major league game on September 28, 1960. In his final career at-bat at Fenway Park, he hit a home run—an appropriate ending for one of baseball's most celebrated hitters.
September 28 therefore holds a special place in baseball history. It marks both the day Ted Williams accomplished a feat no major leaguer has matched since and the day, nearly two decades later, that he ended his extraordinary playing career in unforgettable fashion.
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