Ted Williams, as Aaron Boone would put it, was a dude. The last .400 batter in baseball and unquestionably the greatest Red Sox hitter that ever was or will be. Williams was the foremost authority to hitting to the point where he literally wrote the book on it. "The Science of Hitting" is a must read for anyone who wants to learn how to properly dominate in the batters box. I believe it was actually required reading for anyone playing for Boston at some point in time.
But what does Williams really know? Could he really understand the game in a way that could benefit more than himself?
If only there was an example in baseball history where Williams successfully turned a bunch of sub par hitters into competent major leaguers...
Meet the Washington Senators (version 2). Before they left for Texas, they enjoyed only 1 season above .500, and it wasn't a coincidence that it happened to be the first season where Williams took over as manager. The turnaround for the hitters between 1968 and 1969 is undeniable.
Bernie Allen here exhibits a change here that will be seen for everyone else; on-base goes up. Allen also get a little extra pop in his bat, gets faster and improves his defense in a big way. Improvements almost everywhere.
Most people won't even care, but I couldn't find a proper '69 pic of Allen, so just ignore the pinstripes in that card. Pic issues also are present in Brinkman...
Brinkman goes from vomit educing, to a possible bench option with his perfect +5 defense and not having a near 50% out potential on his own chart. No power, but '69 at least gives you a chance at extra base hits.
Epstein continues the trend of going from a joke player, to someone you can talk yourself into adding to the bench. '69 gives you some decent PH or DH potential with that attractive 12 on-base.
Hank Allen also showcases Ted's ability to make his team better baserunners where Hank gets a massive speed turnaround on top of his better on-base and the ability to roll a 9 and not make an out on his own chart.
Frank Howard features a rare drop in power under Williams. But his card in '69 is far superior anyway. Williams would preach that you avoid swinging at bad balls. Swinging at everything will help you hot more homers, but you'll also strike out more. Howard goes from 1-4 strikeouts on hiw own chart to not striking out at all.
Howard in '69 will hit more home runs for you more likely as well; his higher on-base will give him the advantage more, leading to more dingers, and if not, getting on more in general which may still lead to runs for your team.
McMullen has the expected higher on-base, but he get a drop on power and his chart seems to take a step back...but that beyond perfect +4 defense for third base means he may still find a place on your bench.
Better on-base, better power, better speed. Too bad he's an outfielder cuz going from bad to average still wouldn't be enough to even get on some people's bench.
Unser is a good average example of the Williams Effect: about 2 point increase to on-base, strikeouts get/remain almost nonexistent, you get more pop in your swing, and you get on base more often. Defense and/or speed also get improvements.
However, improvements can only go so far.
You can make a bad player good, and a good player great, but you can't make a bad player great. The Washington Senators were bad. So Williams led them to being a respectable team in the American League, but they weren't putting the East on notice beyond the blip on the radar that 1969 was. In 1970, they went back under .500 and returned to obscurity. You need more than just hitting, and Williams was on record for not caring much about pitchers (pitchers being kind of important to a winning ball club).
Williams led the team for a while, even when they left DC and became the Rangers, but after a year in Texas, the Splendid Splinter was done as manager. Texas would need about 30 more years to be a true pennant contender, and another 10 years after that to finally win the American League. Still waiting on that championship though...
