Misplaced Pages

#588411

186-521: As manager Theodore Samuel Williams (August 30, 1918 – July 5, 2002) was an American professional baseball player and manager . He played his entire 19-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career, primarily as a left fielder , for the Boston Red Sox from 1939 to 1960; his career was interrupted by military service during World War II and the Korean War . Nicknamed " Teddy Ballgame ", "

372-411: A bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding . The game occurs over the course of several plays , with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding team , called the pitcher , throws a ball that a player on the batting team , called the batter , tries to hit with a bat . The objective of the offensive team (batting team)

558-452: A humid subtropical climate , abbreviated "Cfa" on climate maps. It receives approximately 28 inches of snow per year. As of the census of 2000, there were 4,269 people, 1,432 households, and 1,212 families residing in the village. The population density was 3,242.9 inhabitants per square mile (1,252.1/km ). There were 1,456 housing units at an average density of 1,106.0 units per square mile (427.0 units/km ). The racial makeup of

744-425: A sacrifice fly . In order to increase the chance of advancing a batter to first base via a walk, the manager will sometimes signal a batter who is ahead in the count (i.e., has more balls than strikes) to take , or not swing at, the next pitch. The batter's potential reward of reaching base (via a walk) exceeds the disadvantage if the next pitch is a strike. The evolution of baseball from older bat-and-ball games

930-430: A second baseman to the right of second base, a shortstop to the left of second base, and a third baseman to the right of third base. The basic outfield positions are left fielder , center fielder , and right fielder . With the exception of the catcher, all fielders are required to be in fair territory when the pitch is delivered. A neutral umpire sets up behind the catcher. Other umpires will be distributed around

1116-564: A "hell of a boo" after walking Williams with the bases loaded after Williams had gotten three straight hits one game in September. In mid-September, Williams was hitting .413, but dropped a point a game from then on. Before the final two games on September 28, a doubleheader against the Philadelphia Athletics , he was batting .39955, which would have been officially rounded up to .400. Red Sox manager Joe Cronin offered him

1302-520: A .344 batting average , 521 home runs , and a 1.116 on-base plus slugging percentage , the third highest of all time. His career batting average is the highest of any MLB player whose career was played primarily after World War II, and ranks 11th all-time. Born and raised in San Diego , Williams played baseball throughout his youth. After joining the Red Sox in 1939, he immediately emerged as one of

1488-491: A 12–1 loss to the Detroit Tigers , allowing one earned run on three hits, while striking out one batter, Rudy York . In the second week of spring training in 1941, Williams broke a bone in his right ankle, limiting him to pinch hitting for the first two weeks of the season. Bobby Doerr later claimed that the injury would be the foundation of Williams' season, as it forced him to put less pressure on his right foot for

1674-466: A Red Sox uniform, passing Jimmie Foxx. Williams is still the Red Sox career home run leader. However, despite being ahead of the Yankees by one game just before a 2-game series against them (last regular-season games for both teams), the Red Sox lost both of those games and the Yankees won the pennant. They went on to win the first of what would be five straight World Series titles, beginning with 1949. For

1860-447: A ball that results in the team's third out, even if it is recorded against a teammate. On rare occasions, a batter may be at the plate when, without the batter's hitting the ball, a third out is recorded against a teammate—for instance, a runner getting caught stealing (tagged out attempting to steal a base). A batter with this sort of incomplete plate appearance starts off the team's next turn batting; any balls or strikes recorded against

2046-450: A base at any given time; the same applies for other runners if they are on a base that a teammate is forced to advance to. If a ball hit into play rolls foul before passing through the infield, it becomes dead and any runners must return to the base they occupied when the play began. If the ball is hit in the air and caught before it lands, the batter has flied out and any runners on base may attempt to advance only if they tag up (contact

SECTION 10

#1732798128589

2232-571: A batter needed 400 at bats, despite Lou Boudreau 's attempt to bat Williams second in the lineup to get more at-bats. Williams led the league in base on balls with 136 which kept him from qualifying under the rules at the time. By today's standards (plate appearances) he would have been the champion. The rule was changed shortly thereafter to keep this from happening again. On August 25, Williams passed Johnny Mize for sixth place, and on September 3, Williams passed Joe DiMaggio for fifth all-time in career home runs with his 362nd career home run. He finished

2418-637: A child, Williams' heroes were Pepper Martin of the St. Louis Cardinals and Bill Terry of the New York Giants . Williams graduated from Herbert Hoover High School in San Diego, where he played baseball as a pitcher and was the star of the team. During this time, he also played American Legion Baseball , later being named the 1960 American Legion Baseball Graduate of the Year. Though he had offers from

2604-472: A female householder with no husband present, and 15.3% were non-families. 12.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.96 and the average family size was 3.22. In the village, the population was spread out, with 27.9% under the age of 18, 4.5% from 18 to 24, 24.5% from 25 to 44, 27.8% from 45 to 64, and 15.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age

2790-521: A fire destroyed the village center in 1914. This led to the reconstruction of several buildings, and the establishment of a fire department in the former schoolhouse. Two population booms would follow, the first between the end of World War I and the beginning of the Great Depression , and the second following World War II . The Concord Road elementary school was built in 1953 with an addition in 1966. The town outgrew its original high school by

2976-525: A following in much of the world was a factor, more important was MLB's reluctance to allow its players to participate during the major league season. MLB initiated the World Baseball Classic , scheduled to precede its season, partly as a replacement, high-profile international tournament. The inaugural Classic , held in March 2006, was the first tournament involving national teams to feature

3162-416: A football or soccer field does not affect play the way foul territory in baseball does, so variations in that regard are largely insignificant. These physical variations create a distinctive set of playing conditions at each ballpark. Other local factors, such as altitude and climate, can also significantly affect play. A given stadium may acquire a reputation as a pitcher's park or a hitter's park, if one or

3348-493: A further indication, of the ten best seasons for OPS , short for On-Base Plus Slugging Percentage , a popular modern measure of offensive productivity, four each were achieved by Ruth and Bonds, and two by Williams. Williams is one of only 29 players in baseball history to date to have appeared in Major League games in four decades. "All I want out of life is that when I walk down the street, folks will say, 'There goes

3534-435: A game, involves an individual, one-on-one contest: "the pitcher and the batter in a battle of wits". Pitcher, batter, and fielder all act essentially independent of each other. While coaching staffs can signal pitcher or batter to pursue certain tactics, the execution of the play itself is a series of solitary acts. If the batter hits a line drive, the outfielder is solely responsible for deciding to try to catch it or play it on

3720-479: A good pitch to hit". Talking with the game's greats would become a pattern for Williams, who also talked with Hugh Duffy , who hit .438 in 1894, Bill Terry who hit .401 in 1930, and Ty Cobb with whom he would argue that a batter should hit up on the ball, opposed to Cobb's view that a batter should hit down on the ball. While in Minnesota, Williams quickly became the team's star. He collected his first hit in

3906-487: A home run at another. A team that plays in a park with a relatively short right field, such as the New York Yankees , will tend to stock its roster with left-handed pull hitters , who can best exploit it. On the individual level, a player who spends most of his career with a team that plays in a hitter's park will gain an advantage in batting statistics over time—even more so if his talents are especially suited to

SECTION 20

#1732798128589

4092-762: A home run in his last at-bat on September 28 1960 . He refused to salute the fans as he returned to the dugout after he crossed home plate or after he was replaced in left field by Carroll Hardy . An essay written by John Updike the following month for The New Yorker , "Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu", chronicles this event. At the time of his retirement, Williams ranked third all-time in home runs (behind Babe Ruth and Jimmie Foxx), seventh in RBIs (after Ruth, Cap Anson , Lou Gehrig , Ty Cobb , Foxx, and Mel Ott ), and seventh in batting average (behind Cobb, Rogers Hornsby , Shoeless Joe Jackson , Lefty O'Doul , Ed Delahanty and Tris Speaker ). His career batting average of .3444

4278-455: A large ovation from the crowd and hitting a home run in the eighth inning. In the season, Williams ended up hitting .407 with 13 home runs and 34 RBIs in 37 games and 110 at bats (not nearly enough plate appearances to qualify for that season's batting title). On September 6, Williams hit his 332nd career home run, passing Hank Greenberg for seventh all-time. On the first day of spring training in 1954, Williams broke his collarbone running after

4464-495: A lead , the pitcher may attempt a pickoff , a quick throw to a fielder covering the base to keep the runner's lead in check or, optimally, effect a tag out. Pickoff attempts, however, are subject to rules that severely restrict the pitcher's movements before and during the pickoff attempt. Violation of any one of these rules could result in the umpire calling a balk against the pitcher, which permits any runners on base to advance one base with impunity. If an attempted stolen base

4650-524: A line drive. Williams was out for six weeks, and in April he wrote an article with Joe Reichler of the Saturday Evening Post saying that he intended to retire at the end of the season. Williams returned to the Red Sox lineup on May 7, and he hit .345 with 386 at bats in 117 games, although Bobby Ávila , who had hit .341, won the batting championship. This was because it was required then that

4836-481: A lot of myself. I love to hit. You're one of the most natural ballplayers I've ever seen. And if my record is broken, I hope you're the one to do it". Williams later said he was "flabbergasted" by the incident, as "after all, it was Babe Ruth". In the game, Williams hit a 425-foot home run to help give the American League All-Stars a 9–8 win. On September 2, 1945, when the war ended, Lt. Williams

5022-437: A moment which he later said "moved me quite a bit." Private Wolf (an injured Korean veteran from Brooklyn) presented gifts from wounded veterans to Ted Williams. Ted choked and was only able to say,"... ok kid ...". The Red Sox went on to win the game 5–3, thanks to a two-run home run by Williams in the seventh inning. In August 1953, Williams practiced with the Red Sox for ten days before playing in his first game, garnering

5208-478: A new rule officially banning the spitball and other pitches that depended on the ball being treated or roughed-up with foreign substances, resulted in a ball that traveled farther when hit. The rise of the legendary player Babe Ruth , the first great power hitter of the new era, helped permanently alter the nature of the game. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, St. Louis Cardinals general manager Branch Rickey invested in several minor league clubs and developed

5394-699: A number of competitions between clubs from different countries. Other competitions between national teams, such as the Baseball World Cup and the Olympic baseball tournament , were administered by the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) from its formation in 1938 until its 2013 merger with the International Softball Federation to create the current joint governing body for both sports,

5580-408: A park with little space between the foul lines and the stands, but a foulout in a park with more expansive foul ground. A fence in foul territory that is close to the outfield line will tend to direct balls that strike it back toward the fielders, while one that is farther away may actually prompt more collisions, as outfielders run full speed to field balls deep in the corner. These variations can make

5766-544: A permanent fixture of the post-season. Regular-season interleague play was introduced in 1997 and the second-highest attendance mark for a full season was set. In 2000, the National and American Leagues were dissolved as legal entities. While their identities were maintained for scheduling purposes (and the designated hitter distinction), the regulations and other functions—such as player discipline and umpire supervision—they had administered separately were consolidated under

Ted Williams - Misplaced Pages Continue

5952-427: A pitcher's park when the strong winds off Lake Michigan are blowing in, it becomes more of a hitter's park when they are blowing out. The absence of a standardized field affects not only how particular games play out, but the nature of team rosters and players' statistical records. For example, hitting a fly ball 330 feet (100 m) into right field might result in an easy catch on the warning track at one park, and

6138-411: A player has been removed for a substitute, that player may not reenter the game. Children's games often have more lenient rules, such as Little League rules, which allow players to be substituted back into the same game. If the designated hitter (DH) rule is in effect, each team has a tenth player whose sole responsibility is to bat (and run). The DH takes the place of another player—almost invariably

6324-433: A professional while Williams had been in San Diego. By July, Williams was hitting just .280, but leading the league in RBIs. Johnny Orlando, now Williams' friend, then gave Williams a quick pep talk, telling Williams that he should hit .335 with 35 home runs and he would drive in 150 runs. Williams said he would buy Orlando a Cadillac if this all came true. Williams ended up hitting .327 with 31 home runs and 145 RBIs, leading

6510-483: A run in the fifth inning, singled in the seventh inning, and hit a three-run home run against Rip Sewell 's " eephus pitch " in the eighth inning to help the American League win 12–0. For the 1946 season, Williams hit .342 with 38 home runs and 123 RBIs, helping the Red Sox win the pennant on September 13, in a 1–0 win over Cleveland; Williams hit the only inside-the-park home run in his Major League career for

6696-431: A run to give the American League the lead in the fifth inning, but by that time Williams' arm was a "balloon" and he was in great pain, so he left the game. Both of the doctors who X-rayed Williams held little hope for a full recovery. The doctors operated on Williams for two hours. When Williams took his cast off, he could only extend the arm to within four inches of his right arm. Williams only played 89 games in 1950. After

6882-480: A run. The team in the field attempts to prevent runs from scoring by recording outs , which remove opposing players from offensive action until their next turn at bat comes up again. When three outs are recorded, the teams switch roles for the next half-inning. If the score of the game is tied after nine innings, extra innings are played to resolve the contest. Many amateur games, particularly unorganized ones, involve different numbers of players and innings. The game

7068-400: A runner legally advances around the bases in order and touches home plate (the place where the player started as a batter). The initial objective of the batting team is to have a player reach first base safely ; this generally occurs either when the batter hits the ball and reaches first base before an opponent retrieves the ball and touches the base, or when the pitcher persists in throwing

7254-441: A significant effect on how ground balls behave and are fielded as well as on baserunning. Similarly, the presence of a roof (seven major league teams play in stadiums with permanent or retractable roofs) can greatly affect how fly balls are played. While football and soccer players deal with similar variations of field surface and stadium covering, the size and shape of their fields are much more standardized. The area out-of-bounds on

7440-629: A significant number of MLB participants. The Baseball World Cup was discontinued after its 2011 edition in favor of an expanded World Baseball Classic. Baseball has certain attributes that set it apart from the other popular team sports in the countries where it has a following. All of these sports use a clock, play is less individual, and the variation between playing fields is not as substantial or important. The comparison between cricket and baseball demonstrates that many of baseball's distinctive elements are shared in various ways with its cousin sports. In clock-limited sports, games often end with

7626-409: A skillful contact hitter , the runner takes off with the pitch, drawing the shortstop or second baseman over to second base, creating a gap in the infield for the batter to poke the ball through. The sacrifice bunt , calls for the batter to focus on making soft contact with the ball, so that it rolls a short distance into the infield, allowing the runner to advance into scoring position as the batter

Ted Williams - Misplaced Pages Continue

7812-514: A strategy Williams credited with his success as a hitter; as a result, Williams' bases-on-balls-to-plate-appearances ratio (.2065) is the highest of any player in the Hall of Fame. Williams nearly always took the first pitch. He helped pass his expertise of playing left-field in front of the Green Monster to his successor on the Red Sox, Carl Yastrzemski . Baseball Baseball is

7998-422: A team that holds the lead killing the clock rather than competing aggressively against the opposing team. In contrast, baseball has no clock, thus a team cannot win without getting the last batter out and rallies are not constrained by time. At almost any turn in any baseball game, the most advantageous strategy is some form of aggressive strategy. Whereas, in the case of multi-day Test and first-class cricket ,

8184-402: Is anticipated, the catcher may call for a pitchout , a ball thrown deliberately off the plate, allowing the catcher to catch it while standing and throw quickly to a base. Facing a batter with a strong tendency to hit to one side of the field, the fielding team may employ a shift , with most or all of the fielders moving to the left or right of their usual positions. With a runner on third base,

8370-441: Is awarded a base on balls or walk, a free advance to first base. (A batter may also freely advance to first base if the batter's body or uniform is struck by a pitch outside the strike zone, provided the batter does not swing and attempts to avoid being hit.) Crucial to determining balls and strikes is the umpire's judgment as to whether a pitch has passed through the strike zone , a conceptual area above home plate extending from

8556-424: Is called a grand slam . A player who reaches base due to a fielding mistake is not credited with a hit—instead, the responsible fielder is charged with an error . Any runners already on base may attempt to advance on batted balls that land, or contact the ground, in fair territory, before or after the ball lands. A runner on first base must attempt to advance if a ball lands in play, as only one runner may occupy

8742-414: Is called. While the team at bat is trying to score runs, the team in the field is attempting to record outs. In addition to the strikeout and flyout, common ways a member of the batting team may be put out include the ground out , force out , and tag out . These occur either when a runner is forced to advance to a base, and a fielder with possession of the ball reaches that base before the runner does, or

8928-570: Is difficult to trace with precision. Consensus once held that today's baseball is a North American development from the older game rounders , popular among children in Great Britain and Ireland . American baseball historian David Block suggests that the game originated in England ; recently uncovered historical evidence supports this position. Block argues that rounders and early baseball were actually regional variants of each other, and that

9114-551: Is no doubt I would have run into problems in those days, [considering] the prejudices people had in Southern California." Williams lived in San Diego's North Park neighborhood (4121 Utah Street). At the age of eight, he was taught how to throw a baseball by his uncle, Saul Venzor. Saul was one of his mother's four brothers, as well as a former semi-professional baseball player who had pitched against Babe Ruth , Lou Gehrig , and Joe Gordon in an exhibition game. As

9300-596: Is not adjacent to a river; she described these "Rivertowns" as among the "least suburban of suburbs, each one celebrated by buyers there for its culture and hip factor, as much as the housing stock and sophisticated post-city life." Of those, Foster stated that Ardsley was "the most landlocked". The Bee-Line Bus System serves Ardsley with several lines. Lines running north–south along Route 9A and 100B like 1C, 5, and 6 provide connections with Elmsford , White Plains , and Getty Square , Yonkers . Lines running east–west like 66 provide connections to commuter rail stations and

9486-411: Is one), or if the batter-runner otherwise safely circles all the bases, it is a home run : the batter and any runners on base may all freely circle the bases, each scoring a run. This is the most desirable result for the batter. The ultimate and most desirable result possible for a batter would be to hit a home run while all three bases are occupied or "loaded", thus scoring four runs on a single hit. This

SECTION 50

#1732798128589

9672-405: Is played on a field whose primary boundaries, the foul lines, extend forward from home plate at 45-degree angles. The 90-degree area within the foul lines is referred to as fair territory; the 270-degree area outside them is foul territory. The part of the field enclosed by the bases and several yards beyond them is the infield ; the area farther beyond the infield is the outfield . In the middle of

9858-467: Is the highest of any player who played his entire career in the live-ball era following 1920. Most modern statistical analyses place Williams, along with Ruth and Barry Bonds , among the three most potent hitters to have played the game. Williams' baseball season of 1941 is often considered favorably with the greatest seasons of Ruth and Bonds in terms of various offensive statistical measures such as slugging, on-base and "offensive winning percentage." As

10044-474: Is thrown out at first. A batter, particularly one who is a fast runner, may also attempt to bunt for a hit. A sacrifice bunt employed with a runner on third base, aimed at bringing that runner home, is known as a squeeze play . With a runner on third and fewer than two outs, a batter may instead concentrate on hitting a fly ball that, even if it is caught, will be deep enough to allow the runner to tag up and score—a successful batter, in this case, gets credit for

10230-403: Is to hit the ball into the field of play, away from the other team's players, allowing its players to run the bases , having them advance counter-clockwise around four bases to score what are called " runs ". The objective of the defensive team (referred to as the fielding team) is to prevent batters from becoming runners , and to prevent runners advancing around the bases . A run is scored when

10416-579: The American Association 's Triple Crown and finished second in the voting for Most Valuable Player . Williams came to spring training three days late in 1939, thanks to Williams driving from California to Florida, as well as respiratory problems, the latter of which would plague Williams for the rest of his career. In the winter, the Red Sox traded right fielder Ben Chapman to the Cleveland Indians to make room for Williams on

10602-568: The American League , which evolved from the minor Western League , was established in 1893, and virtually all of the modern baseball rules were in place by then. The National Agreement of 1903 formalized relations both between the two major leagues and between them and the National Association of Professional Base Ball Leagues, representing most of the country's minor professional leagues . The World Series , pitting

10788-602: The Boudreau shift (also Williams shift ) against Williams, having only one player on the left side of second base (the left fielder). Ignoring the shift, Williams walked twice, doubled, and grounded out to the shortstop, who was positioned in between first and second base. Also during 1946, the All-Star Game was held in Fenway Park. In the game, Williams homered in the fourth inning against Kirby Higbe , singled in

10974-525: The Detroit Tigers and Chicago Cubs that year. Williams was discharged by the Marine Corps on January 28, 1946, in time to begin preparations for the upcoming pro baseball season. He joined the Red Sox again in 1946, signing a $ 37,500 contract. On July 14, after Williams hit three home runs and eight RBIs in the first game of a doubleheader, Lou Boudreau , inspired by Williams' consistent pull hitting to right field, created what would later be known as

11160-496: The National Association of Base Ball Players , was formed. In 1867, it barred participation by African Americans . The more formally structured National League was founded in 1876. Professional Negro leagues formed, but quickly folded. In 1887, softball , under the name of indoor baseball or indoor-outdoor, was invented as a winter version of the parent game. The National League's first successful counterpart,

11346-815: The United States Marine Corps as a naval aviator on May 2, 1944. Williams also played on the baseball team in Chapel Hill, North Carolina , along with his Red Sox teammate Johnny Pesky in pre-flight training, after eight weeks in Amherst, Massachusetts , and the Civilian Pilot Training Course. While on the baseball team, Williams was sent back to Fenway Park on July 12, 1943, to play on an All-Star team managed by Babe Ruth. The newspapers reported that Babe Ruth said when finally meeting Williams, "Hiya, kid. You remind me

SECTION 60

#1732798128589

11532-666: The Washington Senators / Texas Rangers franchise from 1969 to 1972. An avid sport fisherman , he hosted a television program about fishing, and was inducted into the IGFA Fishing Hall of Fame . Williams' involvement in the Jimmy Fund helped raise millions in dollars for cancer care and research. In 1991, President George H. W. Bush presented Williams with the Presidential Medal of Freedom ,

11718-778: The West League and East League . The World Baseball Classic , organized by the World Baseball Softball Confederation , is the major international competition of the sport and attracts the top national teams from around the world. Baseball was played at the Olympic Games from 1992 to 2008, and was reinstated on a one-off basis in 2020. A baseball game is played between two teams, each usually composed of nine players, that take turns playing offense (batting and baserunning) and defense (pitching and fielding). A pair of turns, one at bat and one in

11904-461: The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC). Women's baseball is played on an organized amateur basis in numerous countries. After being admitted to the Olympics as a medal sport beginning with the 1992 Games , baseball was dropped from the 2012 Summer Olympic Games at the 2005 International Olympic Committee meeting . It remained part of the 2008 Games . While the sport's lack of

12090-532: The Yankees on August 7, after Williams was booed for dropping a fly ball from Mickey Mantle , he spat at one of the fans who was taunting him on the top of the dugout; Williams was fined $ 5,000 for the incident. The following night against Baltimore, Williams was greeted by a large ovation, and received an even larger one when he hit a home run in the sixth inning to break a 2–2 tie. In the Boston Globe ,

12276-455: The ball , the bat , and the glove or mitt : Protective helmets are also standard equipment for all batters. At the beginning of each half-inning, the nine players of the fielding team arrange themselves around the field. One of them, the pitcher , stands on the pitcher's mound. The pitcher begins the pitching delivery with one foot on the rubber, pushing off it to gain velocity when throwing toward home plate. Another fielding team player,

12462-408: The catcher , squats on the far side of home plate, facing the pitcher. The rest of the fielding team faces home plate, typically arranged as four infielders—who set up along or within a few yards outside the imaginary lines (basepaths) between first, second, and third base—and three outfielders. In the standard arrangement , there is a first baseman positioned several steps to the left of first base,

12648-774: The national sport of the United States , though in modern times is considered less popular than other sports , such as American football . In addition to North America , baseball spread throughout the rest of the Americas and the Asia–Pacific in the 19th and 20th centuries, and is now considered the most popular sport in parts of Central and South America , the Caribbean , and East Asia , particularly in Japan , South Korea , and Taiwan . In Major League Baseball (MLB),

12834-444: The poverty line , including 0.4% of those under age 18 and 3.8% of those age 65 or over. Per the U.S. Census Bureau 's 2018 estimates 4,534 people lived in the village. There were 1,688 housing units and the racial makeup of the village was 68.3% non-Hispanic white , 3.4% Black or African American, 0.2% American Indian or Alaska Native, 15.5% Asian, and 4.3% from two or more races . Hispanics or Latinos of any race made up 8.2% of

13020-410: The slider . Pitchers have different repertoires of pitches they are skillful at throwing. Conventionally, before each pitch, the catcher signals the pitcher what type of pitch to throw, as well as its general vertical or horizontal location. If there is disagreement on the selection, the pitcher may shake off the sign and the catcher will call for a different pitch. With a runner on base and taking

13206-607: The van der Donck grant purchased by Frederick Philipse in 1682, first lord of Philipsburg Manor . In 1785 the state of New York confiscated the land from his Loyalist grandson, Frederick Philipse III, after he sided with the British in the American Revolution, and sold it to local farmers who had been tenants of the Phillipse family. The village of Ashford was formed from some of these portions, named for

13392-423: The wicket for an hour or much more. There is no statistical equivalent in cricket for the fielding error and thus less emphasis on personal responsibility in this area of play. Unlike those of most sports, baseball playing fields can vary significantly in size and shape. While the dimensions of the infield are specifically regulated, the only constraint on outfield size and shape for professional teams, following

13578-430: The '46 World Series. God, I would". The 1946 World Series was the only World Series Williams ever appeared in. Williams signed a $ 70,000 contract in 1947. Williams was also almost traded for Joe DiMaggio in 1947. In late April, Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey and Yankees owner Dan Topping agreed to swap the players, but a day later canceled the deal when Yawkey requested that Yogi Berra come with DiMaggio. In May, Williams

13764-662: The 19-year-old Williams was 10 days late to spring training camp in Sarasota, Florida , because of a flood in California that blocked the railroads. Williams had to borrow $ 200 from a bank to make the trip from San Diego to Sarasota. Also during spring training Williams was nicknamed "the Kid" by Red Sox equipment manager Johnny Orlando, who after Williams arrived to Sarasota for the first time, said, " ' The Kid' has arrived". Orlando still called Williams "the Kid" 20 years later, and

13950-484: The 1920s, it was joined by the Eastern Colored League . Compared with the present, professional baseball in the early 20th century was lower-scoring, and pitchers were more dominant. This so-called " dead-ball era " ended in the early 1920s with several changes in rule and circumstance that were advantageous to hitters. Strict new regulations governed the ball's size, shape and composition, along with

14136-634: The AL batting title by just .0002 to the Tigers' George Kell , thus missing the Triple Crown that year), hitting 43 home runs, his career high, and driving in 159 runs, tied for highest in the league, and at one point, he got on base in 84 straight games, an MLB record that still stands today, helping him win the MVP trophy. On April 28, Williams hit his 223rd career home run, breaking the record for most home runs in

14322-448: The DH rule, including MLB, Japan's Pacific League , and Caribbean professional leagues, along with major American amateur organizations. The Central League in Japan does not have the rule and high-level minor league clubs connected to National League teams are not required to field a DH. In leagues that apply the designated hitter rule, a typical team has nine offensive regulars (including

14508-684: The DH), five starting pitchers, seven or eight relievers, a backup catcher, and two or three other reserve players. The manager , or head coach, oversees the team's major strategic decisions, such as establishing the starting rotation, setting the lineup, or batting order, before each game, and making substitutions during games—in particular, bringing in relief pitchers. Managers are typically assisted by two or more coaches ; they may have specialized responsibilities, such as working with players on hitting, fielding, pitching, or strength and conditioning. At most levels of organized play, two coaches are stationed on

14694-514: The Dodgers. Latin-American players, largely overlooked before, also started entering the majors in greater numbers. In 1951, two Chicago White Sox, Venezuelan-born Chico Carrasquel and black Cuban-born Minnie Miñoso , became the first Hispanic All-Stars . Integration proceeded slowly: by 1953, only six of the 16 major league teams had a black player on the roster. In 1975, the union's power—and players' salaries—began to increase greatly when

14880-729: The Gotham Club. While there are reports that the New York Knickerbockers played games in 1845, the contest long recognized as the first officially recorded baseball game in U.S. history took place on June 19, 1846, in Hoboken, New Jersey : the "New York Nine" defeated the Knickerbockers, 23–1, in four innings. With the Knickerbocker code as the basis, the rules of modern baseball continued to evolve over

15066-625: The Kid ", " the Splendid Splinter ", and " the Thumper ", Williams is widely regarded as one of the greatest hitters in baseball history in addition to being the last player to hit over .400 in a season. Williams was a nineteen-time All-Star , a two-time recipient of the AL Most Valuable Player Award , a six-time AL batting champion , and a two-time Triple Crown winner. He finished his playing career with

15252-476: The MVP voting, losing to Joe Gordon of the Yankees. Williams felt that he should have gotten a "little more consideration" because of winning the Triple Crown, and he thought that "the reason I didn't get more consideration was because of the trouble I had with the draft [boards]". Williams joined the Navy Reserve on May 22, 1942, went on active duty in 1943, and was commissioned a second lieutenant in

15438-549: The Millers' first game of the season, as well as his first and second home runs during his third game. Both were inside-the-park home runs , with the second traveling an estimated 500 feet (150 m) on the fly to a 512-foot (156 m) center field fence . Williams later had a 22 game hitting streak that lasted from Memorial Day through mid-June. While the Millers ended up sixth place in an eight-team race, Williams ended up hitting .366 with 46 home runs and 142 RBIs. He received

15624-494: The PCL title, while Williams ended up hitting .291 with 23 home runs. Meanwhile, Collins kept in touch with Padres general manager Bill Lane, calling him two times throughout the season. In December 1937, during the winter meetings , the deal was made between Lane and Collins, sending Williams to the Boston Red Sox and giving Lane $ 35,000 and two major leaguers, Dom D'Allessandro and Al Niemiec , and two other minor leaguers. In 1938,

15810-647: The Pacific Coast League's San Francisco Seals . When Shiver announced he was quitting to become a high school football coach in Savannah, Georgia , the job, by default, was open for Williams. Williams posted a .271 batting average on 107 at bats in 42 games for the Padres in 1936. Unknown to Williams, he had caught the eye of the Boston Red Sox's general manager, Eddie Collins , while Collins

15996-924: The Putnam Division of the New York Central Railroad and the loss of much of the downtown business district. According to the United States Census Bureau , the village has a total area of 1.3 square miles (3.4 km ), all land. The Saw Mill River and Sprain Brook are two waterways that run through Ardsley. Over the years recurrent flooding along the Saw Mill River has caused damage to residential structures, commercial businesses, and industries as well as municipal infrastructure in Ardsley and other towns along

16182-484: The Red Sox all-time record. In the Red Sox' final two games of the regular schedule, they beat the Yankees (to force a one-game playoff against the Cleveland Indians) and Williams got on base eight times out of ten plate appearances. In the playoff, Williams went 1-for-4, with the Red Sox losing 8–3. In 1949, Williams received a new salary of $ 100,000 ($ 1,281,000 in current dollar terms). He hit .343 (losing

16368-422: The Red Sox had a "Ted Williams Day" in Fenway Park. Friends of Williams gave him a Cadillac, and the Red Sox gave Williams a memory book that was signed by 400,000 fans. The governor of Massachusetts and mayor of Boston were there, along with a Korean War veteran named Frederick Wolf who used a wheelchair for mobility. At the end of the ceremony, everyone in the park held hands and sang " Auld Lang Syne " to Williams,

16554-572: The Red Sox manager in 1955. Williams sat out the first month of the 1955 season due to a divorce settlement with his wife, Doris. When Williams returned, he signed a $ 98,000 contract on May 13. Williams batted .356 in 320 at bats on the season, hitting 28 home runs and driving in 83 runs. For his performance, he was named the "Comeback Player of the Year." On July 17 1956 , Williams became the fifth player to hit 400 home runs, following Mel Ott in 1941, Jimmie Foxx in 1938, Lou Gehrig in 1936 , and Babe Ruth in 1927 . Three weeks later at home against

16740-596: The St. Louis Cardinals and the New York Yankees while he was still in high school, his mother thought he was too young to leave home, so he signed up with the local Pacific Coast League (PCL) club, the San Diego Padres . Williams played back-up behind Vince DiMaggio and Ivey Shiver on the (then) Pacific Coast League 's San Diego Padres . While in the Pacific Coast League in 1936, Williams met future teammates and friends Dom DiMaggio and Bobby Doerr , who were on

16926-537: The Triple Crown. In 1957 , Williams batted .388 to lead the majors, then signed a contract in February 1958 for a record high $ 125,000 (or $ 135,000). At age forty that season, he again led the American League with a .328 batting average. When Pumpsie Green became the first black player on the Red Sox—the last major league team to integrate—in 1959 , Williams openly welcomed Green. Williams ended his career with

17112-403: The U.S. in 1629. The story told at one time is that Field agreed to use his influence to get the post office established, and in return the village would be renamed Ardsley. The first village postmaster was appointed in 1883. Ardsley was incorporated as a town in 1896. Ardsley High School was established in 1912, with an addition in 1925. The town would continue to grow at a steady pace until

17298-633: The United States and Canada was founded in 1878 in Cuba, which maintains a rich baseball tradition. The Dominican Republic held its first islandwide championship tournament in 1912. Professional baseball tournaments and leagues began to form in other countries between the world wars, including the Netherlands (formed in 1922), Australia (1934), Japan (1936), Mexico (1937), and Puerto Rico (1938). The Japanese major leagues have long been considered

17484-865: The United States. While baseball is widely played in Canada and many minor league teams have been based in the country, the American major leagues did not include a Canadian club until 1969, when the Montreal Expos joined the National League as an expansion team. In 1977, the expansion Toronto Blue Jays joined the American League. In 1847, American soldiers played what may have been the first baseball game in Mexico at Parque Los Berros in Xalapa , Veracruz . The first formal baseball league outside of

17670-724: The Washington Senators' pitcher Mickey Haefner . Williams was immediately taken out of the game, and X-rays of his arm showed no damage, but his arm was "swelled up like a boiled egg", according to Williams. Williams could not swing a bat again until four days later, one day before the World Series, when he reported the arm as "sore". During the series, Williams batted .200, going 5-for-25 with no home runs and just one RBI. The Red Sox lost in seven games. Fifty years later when asked what one thing he would have done different in his life, Williams replied, "I'd have done better in

17856-486: The average major league game has increased steadily through the years. At the turn of the 20th century, games typically took an hour and a half to play. In the 1920s, they averaged just less than two hours, which eventually ballooned to 2:38 in 1960. By 1997, the average American League game lasted 2:57 (National League games were about 10 minutes shorter—pitchers at the plate making for quicker outs than designated hitters). In 2004, Major League Baseball declared that its goal

18042-474: The ball out of the batter's reach . Players on the batting team who reach first base without being called " out " can attempt to advance to subsequent bases as a runner, either immediately or during teammates' turns batting. The fielding team tries to prevent runs by using the ball to get batters or runners "out", which forces them out of the field of play. The pitcher can get the batter out by throwing three pitches which result in strikes , while fielders can get

18228-440: The base they occupied when the play began, as or after the ball is caught). Runners may also attempt to advance to the next base while the pitcher is in the process of delivering the ball to home plate; a successful effort is a stolen base . A pitch that is not hit into the field of play is called either a strike or a ball. A batter against whom three strikes are recorded strikes out . A batter against whom four balls are recorded

18414-413: The baseball in a certain manner, and by throwing it at a certain speed, pitchers can cause the baseball to break to either side, or downward, as it approaches the batter, thus creating differing pitches that can be selected. Among the resulting wide variety of pitches that may be thrown, the four basic types are the fastball , the changeup (or off-speed pitch), and two breaking balls —the curveball and

18600-427: The baseball season, Williams' elbow hurt so much he considered retirement, since he thought he would never be able to hit again. Tom Yawkey , the Red Sox owner, then sent Jack Fadden to Williams' Florida home to talk to Williams. Williams later thanked Fadden for saving his career. In 1951, Williams "struggled" to hit .318, with his elbow still hurting. Williams also played in 148 games, 60 more than Williams had played

18786-429: The batter out by catching a batted ball before it touches the ground, and can get a runner out by tagging them with the ball while the runner is not touching a base. The opposing teams switch back and forth between batting and fielding; the batting team's turn to bat is over once the fielding team records three outs. One turn batting for each team constitutes an inning . A game is usually composed of nine innings, and

18972-454: The batter the previous inning are erased. A runner may circle the bases only once per plate appearance and thus can score at most a single run per batting turn. Once a player has completed a plate appearance, that player may not bat again until the eight other members of the player's team have all taken their turn at bat in the batting order . The batting order is set before the game begins, and may not be altered except for substitutions . Once

19158-450: The bottom, or second half, of every inning. The goal of the game is to score more points ( runs ) than the other team. The players on the team at bat attempt to score runs by touching all four bases, in order, set at the corners of the square-shaped baseball diamond . A player bats at home plate and must attempt to safely reach a base before proceeding, counterclockwise , from first base, to second base, third base, and back home to score

19344-413: The bounce and for succeeding or failing. The statistical precision of baseball is both facilitated by this isolation and reinforces it. Cricket is more similar to baseball than many other team sports in this regard: while the individual focus in cricket is mitigated by the importance of the batting partnership and the practicalities of tandem running, it is enhanced by the fact that a batsman may occupy

19530-406: The chance to sit out the final day, but he declined. "If I'm going to be a .400 hitter", he said at the time, "I want more than my toenails on the line." Williams went 6-for-8 on the day, finishing the season at .406. (Sacrifice flies were counted as at-bats in 1941; under today's rules, Williams would have hit between .411 and .419, based on contemporaneous game accounts.) Philadelphia fans ran out on

19716-473: The difference between a double and a triple or inside-the-park home run . The surface of the field is also unregulated. While the adjacent image shows a traditional field surfacing arrangement (and the one used by virtually all MLB teams with naturally surfaced fields), teams are free to decide what areas will be grassed or bare. Some fields—including several in MLB—use artificial turf . Surface variations can have

19902-651: The downtowns of Dobbs Ferry , Scarsdale , Larchmont , and New Rochelle. With the demise of the New York and Putnam Railroad in favor of the construction of Interstate 87 , commuter rail service to New York City is available via the Dobbs Ferry train station and Ardsley-on-Hudson train station , served by Metro-North Railroad 's Hudson Line , and the Hartsdale train station and Scarsdale train station served by Metro-North Railroad's Harlem Line . There

20088-626: The early 1830s, there were reports of a variety of uncodified bat-and-ball games recognizable as early forms of baseball being played around North America. The first officially recorded baseball game in North America was played in Beachville, Ontario , Canada, on June 4, 1838. In 1845, Alexander Cartwright , a member of New York City's Knickerbocker Club , led the codification of the so-called Knickerbocker Rules , which in turn were based on rules developed in 1837 by William R. Wheaton of

20274-418: The effect of shortening 2023 regular season games by 24 minutes on average. Although baseball is a team sport, individual players are often placed under scrutiny and pressure. While rewarding, it has sometimes been described as "ruthless" due to the pressure on the individual player. In 1915, a baseball instructional manual pointed out that every single pitch, of which there are often more than two hundred in

20460-408: The ex-New York Yankee great skipper Joe McCarthy , Williams hit a league-leading .369 with 25 home runs and 127 RBIs, and was third in MVP voting. On April 29, Williams hit his 200th career home run. He became just the second player to hit 200 home runs in a Red Sox uniform, joining his former teammate Jimmie Foxx. On October 2, against the Yankees, Williams hit his 222nd career home run, tying Foxx for

20646-431: The field as well. Play starts with a member of the batting team, the batter, standing in either of the two batter's boxes next to home plate, holding a bat. The batter waits for the pitcher to throw a pitch (the ball) toward home plate, and attempts to hit the ball with the bat. The catcher catches pitches that the batter does not hit—as a result of either electing not to swing or failing to connect—and returns them to

20832-476: The field to confer with players during a game. Any baseball game involves one or more umpires , who make rulings on the outcome of each play. At a minimum, one umpire will stand behind the catcher, to have a good view of the strike zone, and call balls and strikes. Additional umpires may be stationed near the other bases, thus making it easier to judge plays such as attempted force outs and tag outs. In MLB, four umpires are used for each game, one near each base. In

21018-476: The field to surround Williams after the game, forcing him to protect his hat from being stolen; he was helped into the clubhouse by his teammates. Along with his .406 average, Williams also hit 37 home runs and batted in 120 runs, missing the triple crown by five RBI. Williams' 1941 season is often considered to be the best offensive season of all time, though the MVP award would go to DiMaggio. The .406 batting average—his first of six batting championships—is still

21204-467: The field when the team is at bat: the first base coach and third base coach, who occupy designated coaches' boxes, just outside the foul lines. These coaches assist in the direction of baserunners, when the ball is in play, and relay tactical signals from the manager to batters and runners, during pauses in play. In contrast to many other team sports, baseball managers and coaches generally wear their team's uniforms; coaches must be in uniform to be allowed on

21390-480: The field, by each team constitutes an inning . A game consists of nine innings (seven innings at the high school level and in doubleheaders in college, Minor League Baseball and, since the 2020 season , Major League Baseball ; and six innings at the Little League level). One team—customarily the visiting team—bats in the top, or first half, of every inning. The other team—customarily the home team—bats in

21576-410: The field, returning to their team's dugout or bench. A runner may be stranded on base when a third out is recorded against another player on the team. Stranded runners do not benefit the team in its next turn at bat as every half-inning begins with the bases empty. An individual player's turn batting or plate appearance is complete when the player reaches base, hits a home run, makes an out, or hits

21762-709: The first British baseball champions winning the 1890 National League of Baseball of Great Britain . The 2020 National Champions were the London Mets . Other European countries have seen professional leagues; the most successful, other than the Dutch league , is the Italian league , founded in 1948. In 2004, Australia won a surprise silver medal at the Olympic Games . The Confédération Européene de Baseball (European Baseball Confederation), founded in 1953, organizes

21948-521: The first half of May, and on May 15, he started a 22-game hitting streak. From May 17 to June 1, Williams batted .536, with his season average going above .400 on May 25 and then continuing up to .430. By the All-Star break, Williams was hitting .406 with 62 RBIs and 16 home runs. In the 1941 All-Star Game , Williams batted fourth behind Joe DiMaggio , who was in the midst of his record-breaking hitting streak, having hit safely in 48 consecutive games. In

22134-629: The first modern farm system . A new Negro National League was organized in 1933; four years later, it was joined by the Negro American League . The first elections to the National Baseball Hall of Fame took place in 1936. In 1939, Little League Baseball was founded in Pennsylvania. Many minor league teams disbanded when World War II led to a player shortage. Chicago Cubs owner Philip K. Wrigley led

22320-604: The formation of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League to help keep the game in the public eye. The first crack in the unwritten agreement barring blacks from white-controlled professional ball occurred in 1945: Jackie Robinson was signed by the National League's Brooklyn Dodgers and began playing for their minor league team in Montreal . In 1947, Robinson broke the major leagues' color barrier when he debuted with

22506-469: The fourth inning Williams doubled to drive in a run. With the National League (NL) leading 5–2 in the eighth inning, Williams struck out in the middle of an American League (AL) rally. In the ninth inning the AL still trailed 5–3; Ken Keltner and Joe Gordon singled, and Cecil Travis walked to load the bases. DiMaggio grounded to the infield and Billy Herman , attempting to complete a double play , threw wide of first base, allowing Keltner to score. With

22692-609: The game's most direct antecedents are the English games of stoolball and "tut-ball". The earliest known reference to baseball is in a 1744 British publication, A Little Pretty Pocket-Book , by John Newbery . Block discovered that the first recorded game of "Bass-Ball" took place in 1749 in Surrey , and featured the Prince of Wales as a player. This early form of the game was apparently brought to Canada by English immigrants. By

22878-489: The great slugger Jimmie Foxx , with the idea that Williams would get more pitches to hit. Pitchers, though, proved willing to pitch around the eagle-eyed Williams in favor of facing the 32-year-old Foxx, the reigning AL home run champion, followed by the still highly productive 33-year-old Joe Cronin , the player-manager . Williams also made his first of 16 All-Star Game appearances in 1940, going 0-for-2. Although Williams hit .344, his power and runs batted in were down from

23064-432: The greatest hitter who ever lived'." — Ted Williams. Williams was an obsessive student of hitting. He famously used a lighter bat than most sluggers, because it generated a faster swing. In 1970, he wrote a book on the subject, The Science of Hitting (revised 1986), which is still read by many baseball players. The book describes his theory of swinging only at pitches that came into ideal areas of his strike zone ,

23250-435: The height of fences or other structures at the edge of the outfield. The most famously idiosyncratic outfield boundary is the left-field wall at Boston's Fenway Park , in use since 1912: the Green Monster is 310 feet (94 m) from home plate down the line and 37 feet (11 m) tall. Similarly, there are no regulations at all concerning the dimensions of foul territory. Thus a foul fly ball may be entirely out of play in

23436-629: The highest civilian award bestowed by the United States government. He was selected for the Major League Baseball All-Time Team in 1997 and the Major League Baseball All-Century Team in 1999. Williams was born in San Diego , California, on August 30, 1918, and named "Teddy Samuel Williams" after former president Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt as well as his father, Samuel Stuart Williams. Williams himself claimed that his middle name

23622-634: The highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, teams are divided into the National League (NL) and American League (AL), each with three divisions: East, West, and Central. The MLB champion is determined by playoffs that culminate in the World Series . The top level of play is similarly split in Japan between the Central and Pacific Leagues and in Cuba between

23808-844: The highest quality professional circuits outside of the United States. After World War II, professional leagues were founded in many Latin American countries, most prominently Venezuela (1946) and the Dominican Republic (1955). Since the early 1970s, the annual Caribbean Series has matched the championship clubs from the four leading Latin American winter leagues: the Dominican Professional Baseball League , Mexican Pacific League , Puerto Rican Professional Baseball League , and Venezuelan Professional Baseball League . In Asia, South Korea (1982), Taiwan (1990) and China (2003) all have professional leagues. The English football club, Aston Villa , were

23994-517: The highest single-season average in Red Sox history and the highest batting average in the major leagues since 1924, and the last time any major league player has hit over .400 for a season after averaging at least 3.1 plate appearances per game. ("If I had known hitting .400 was going to be such a big deal", he quipped in 1991, "I would have done it again.") Williams' on-base percentage of .553 and slugging percentage of .735 that season are both also

24180-407: The highest single-season averages in Red Sox history. The .553 OBP stood as a major league record until it was broken by Barry Bonds in 2002 and his .735 slugging percentage was the highest mark in the major leagues between 1932 and 1994. His OPS of 1.287 that year, a Red Sox record, was the highest in the major leagues between 1923 and 2001. Despite playing in only 143 games that year, Williams led

24366-425: The infield is a raised pitcher's mound, with a rectangular rubber plate (the rubber) at its center. The outer boundary of the outfield is typically demarcated by a raised fence, which may be of any material and height. The fair territory between home plate and the outfield boundary is baseball's field of play, though significant events can take place in foul territory, as well. There are three basic tools of baseball:

24552-410: The infielders may play in , moving closer to home plate to improve the odds of throwing out the runner on a ground ball , though a sharply hit grounder is more likely to carry through a drawn-in infield. Several basic offensive tactics come into play with a runner on first base, including the fundamental choice of whether to attempt a steal of second base. The hit and run is sometimes employed, with

24738-478: The league in the latter category, the first rookie to lead the league in RBIs and finishing fourth in MVP voting. He also led the AL in walks, with 107, a rookie record. Even though there was not a Rookie of the Year award yet in 1939, Babe Ruth declared Williams to be the Rookie of the Year, which Williams later said was "good enough for me". Williams' pay doubled in 1940, going from $ 5,000 to $ 10,000. A new bullpen

24924-402: The league with 135 runs scored and 37 home runs, and he finished third with 335 total bases, the most home runs, runs scored, and total bases by a Red Sox player since Jimmie Foxx 's in 1938. Williams placed second in MVP voting; DiMaggio won, 291 votes to 254, on the strength of his record-breaking 56-game hitting streak and league-leading 125 RBI. In January 1942, Williams was drafted into

25110-681: The main road. Notable businesses included a blacksmith , and a sawmill and grist mill both situated upon the Saw Mill River . Three pickle factories were in operation by the Civil War , and in the 1880s the construction of the Putnam Railroad and New Croton Aqueduct led to a population boom which saw the installation of electric lighting and improved roads. Due to the presence of an earlier Ashford Post Office in New York state,

25296-439: The manager of the batting team trying to arrange opposite-handed matchups. With a team that has the lead in the late innings, a manager may remove a starting position player—especially one whose turn at bat is not likely to come up again—for a more skillful fielder (known as a defensive substitution ). The tactical decision that precedes almost every play in a baseball game involves pitch selection. By gripping and then releasing

25482-500: The mid-18th century. This game was brought by immigrants to North America, where the modern version developed . Baseball's American origins, as well as its reputation as a source of escapism during troubled points in American history such as the American Civil War and the Great Depression , have led the sport to receive the moniker of "America's Pastime"; since the late 19th century, it has been unofficially recognized as

25668-477: The mid-1950s, resulting in the current facility being opened in 1957, and graduating its first class in 1958. The old school was converted into a middle school, until in 1971 the $ 5.5 million middle school was built. The village was greatly changed during its second boom by the construction of the New York State Thruway in the late 1950s, which resulted in both the loss of the Ardsley station on

25854-407: The midpoint between the batter's shoulders and belt down to the hollow of the knee. Any pitch which does not pass through the strike zone is called a ball, unless the batter either swings and misses at the pitch, or hits the pitch into foul territory; an exception generally occurs if the ball is hit into foul territory when the batter already has two strikes, in which case neither a ball nor a strike

26040-457: The military, being put into Class 1-A . A friend of Williams suggested that Williams see the advisor of the governor's Selective Service Appeal Agent, since Williams was the sole support of his mother, arguing that Williams should not have been placed in Class 1-A, and said Williams should be reclassified to Class 3-A . Williams was reclassified to 3-A ten days later. Afterwards, the public reaction

26226-633: The nearby hamlet of Ardsley-on-Hudson , which is part of the village of Irvington . Prior to European settlement Ardsley and its surrounding area was inhabited by the Wickquasgeck tribe, a band of the Wappinger , related to the Lenape (Delaware) tribes which dominated lower New York state and New Jersey . After the Dutch came to the area, the land was part of the Bisightick tract of

26412-459: The next half-century. The game then went on to spread throughout the Pacific Rim and the Americas, with Americans backing the sport as a way to spread American values. In the mid-1850s, a baseball craze hit the New York metropolitan area , and by 1856, local journals were referring to baseball as the "national pastime" or "national game". A year later, the sport's first governing body,

26598-508: The nickname stuck with Williams the rest of his life. Williams remained in major league spring training for about a week. Williams was then sent to the Double-A -league Minneapolis Millers . While in the Millers training camp for the springtime, Williams met Rogers Hornsby , who had hit over .400 three times, including a .424 average in 1924. Hornsby, who was a coach for the Millers that spring, gave Williams useful advice, including how to "get

26784-452: The only run of the game. On June 9, he hit what is considered to be the longest home run in Fenway Park history, at 502 feet (153 m) and subsequently marked with a lone red seat in the Fenway bleachers. Williams ran away as the winner in the MVP voting. During an exhibition game in Fenway Park against an All-Star team during early October, Williams was hit on the elbow by a curveball by

26970-550: The other discipline notably benefits from its unique mix of elements. The most exceptional park in this regard is Coors Field , home of the Colorado Rockies . Its high altitude—5,282 feet (1,610 m) above sea level—is partly responsible for giving it the strongest hitter's park effect in the major leagues due to the low air pressure. Wrigley Field , home of the Chicago Cubs, is known for its fickle disposition:

27156-517: The park. Ardsley, New York The Ardsley post office serves the entire village of Ardsley, plus some nearby unincorporated sections of Greenburgh . The Ardsley Union Free School District includes the entire village of Ardsley plus parts of the village of Dobbs Ferry and unincorporated parts of Greenburgh. Ardsley has a library that is a member of the Westchester Library System . Ardsley should not be confused with

27342-441: The pitcher. A batter who hits the ball into the field of play must drop the bat and begin running toward first base, at which point the player is referred to as a runner (or, until the play is over, a batter-runner ). A batter-runner who reaches first base without being put out is said to be safe and is on base. A batter-runner may choose to remain at first base or attempt to advance to second base or even beyond—however far

27528-461: The pitcher—in the batting order, but does not field. Thus, even with the DH, each team still has a batting order of nine players and a fielding arrangement of nine players. The number of players on a baseball roster, or squad , varies by league and by the level of organized play. A Major League Baseball (MLB) team has a roster of 26 players with specific roles. A typical roster features the following players: Most baseball leagues worldwide have

27714-424: The player believes can be reached safely. A player who reaches base despite proper play by the fielders has recorded a hit . A player who reaches first base safely on a hit is credited with a single . If a player makes it to second base safely as a direct result of a hit, it is a double ; third base, a triple . If the ball is hit in the air within the foul lines over the entire outfield (and outfield fence, if there

27900-447: The playoffs, six umpires are used: one at each base and two in the outfield along the foul lines. Many of the pre-game and in-game strategic decisions in baseball revolve around a fundamental fact: in general, right-handed batters tend to be more successful against left-handed pitchers and, to an even greater degree, left-handed batters tend to be more successful against right-handed pitchers. A manager with several left-handed batters in

28086-469: The population. The Ardsley Union Free School District operates the village's public schools. Ardsley High School is the district's senior high school. Lyceum Kennedy International School maintains its Ardsley campus, serving elementary grades. In 2018 Brooke Lea Foster of The New York Times stated that it was one of several "Rivertowns" in New York State, even though physically Ardsley

28272-404: The possibility of a draw (which occurs because of the restrictions on time, which like in baseball, originally did not exist ) often encourages a team that is batting last and well behind, to bat defensively and run out the clock, giving up any faint chance at a win, to avoid an overall loss. While nine innings has been the standard since the beginning of professional baseball, the duration of

28458-401: The preceding decade's average of 3:18. In 2016, the average nine-inning playoff game in Major League baseball was 3 hours and 35 minutes. This was up 10 minutes from 2015 and 21 minutes from 2014. In response to the lengthening of the game, MLB decided from the 2023 season onward to institute a pitch clock rule to penalize batters and pitchers who take too much time between pitches; this had

28644-499: The previous season, 30 home runs, two more than he had hit in 1950, and 126 RBIs, twenty-nine more than 1950. Despite his lower-than-usual production at bat, Williams made the All-Star team. On May 15, 1951, Williams became the 11th player in major league history to hit 300 career home runs. On May 21, Williams passed Chuck Klein for 10th place, on May 25 Williams passed Hornsby for ninth place, and on July 5 Williams passed Al Simmons for eighth place all-time in career home runs . After

28830-408: The previous season, with 23 home runs and 113 RBIs. Williams also caused a controversy in mid-August when he called his salary "peanuts", along with saying he hated the city of Boston and reporters, leading reporters to lash back at him, saying that he should be traded. Williams said that the "only real fun" he had in 1940 was being able to pitch once on August 24, when he pitched the last two innings in

29016-495: The previous spring training. He made his major league debut against the New York Yankees on April 20, going 1-for-4 against Yankee pitcher Red Ruffing . This was the only game which featured both Williams and Lou Gehrig playing against one another. In his first series at Fenway Park , Williams hit a double , a home run, and a triple , the first two against Cotton Pippen , who gave Williams his first strikeout as

29202-486: The publishers ran a "What Globe Readers Say About Ted" section made out of letters about Williams, which were either the sportswriters or the "loud mouths" in the stands. Williams explained years later, "From '56 on, I realized that people were for me. The writers had written that the fans should show me they didn't want me, and I got the biggest ovation yet". Williams lost the batting title to Mickey Mantle in 1956, batting .345 to Mantle's .353, with Mantle on his way to winning

29388-463: The regular lineup, who knows the team will be facing a left-handed starting pitcher, may respond by starting one or more of the right-handed backups on the team's roster. During the late innings of a game, as relief pitchers and pinch hitters are brought in, the opposing managers will often go back and forth trying to create favorable matchups with their substitutions. The manager of the fielding team trying to arrange same-handed pitcher-batter matchups and

29574-472: The reserve clause was effectively struck down , leading to the free agency system . Significant work stoppages occurred in 1981 and 1994 , the latter forcing the cancellation of the World Series for the first time in 90 years. Attendance had been growing steadily since the mid-1970s and in 1994, before the stoppage, the majors were setting their all-time record for per-game attendance. After play resumed in 1995, non-division-winning wild card teams became

29760-469: The rest of Williams' career, the Yankees won nine pennants and six World Series titles, while the Red Sox never finished better than third place. In 1950, Williams was playing in his eighth All-Star Game. In the first inning, Williams caught a line drive by Ralph Kiner , slamming into the Comiskey Park scoreboard and breaking his left arm. Williams played the rest of the game, and he even singled in

29946-605: The rest of the season. Against the Chicago White Sox on May 7, in extra innings , Williams told the Red Sox pitcher, Charlie Wagner , to hold the White Sox, since he was going to hit a home run. In the 11th inning, Williams' prediction came true, as he hit a big blast to help the Red Sox win. The home run is still considered to be the longest home run ever hit in the old Comiskey Park , some saying that it went 600 feet (180 m). Williams' average slowly climbed in

30132-436: The river. Recent severe floods occurred in March and April 1980, April 1984, and September 1999. The Army Corps of Engineers has completed several construction projects to help minimize potential damage from future floods in downtown Ardsley and surrounding areas. The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Ardsley has

30318-465: The roster, even though Chapman had hit .340 in the previous season. This led Boston Globe sports journalist Gerry Moore to quip, "Not since Joe DiMaggio broke in with the Yankees by "five for five" in St. Petersburg in 1936 has any baseball rookie received the nationwide publicity that has been accorded this spring to Theodore Francis [ sic ] Williams". Williams inherited Chapman's number 9 on his uniform as opposed to Williams' number 5 in

30504-413: The rubric of MLB. In 2001, Barry Bonds established the current record of 73 home runs in a single season. There had long been suspicions that the dramatic increase in power hitting was fueled in large part by the abuse of illegal steroids (as well as by the dilution of pitching talent due to expansion), but the issue only began attracting significant media attention in 2002 and there was no penalty for

30690-504: The rules of MLB and Minor League Baseball , is that fields built or remodeled since June 1, 1958, must have a minimum distance of 325 feet (99 m) from home plate to the fences in left and right field and 400 feet (122 m) to center. Major league teams often skirt even this rule. For example, at Minute Maid Park , which became the home of the Houston Astros in 2000, the Crawford Boxes in left field are only 315 feet (96 m) from home plate. There are no rules at all that address

30876-449: The runner is touched by the ball, held in a fielder's hand, while not on a base. (The batter-runner is always forced to advance to first base, and any other runners must advance to the next base if a teammate is forced to advance to their base.) It is possible to record two outs in the course of the same play. This is called a double play . Three outs in one play, a triple play , is possible, though rare. Players put out or retired must leave

31062-402: The score 5–4 and runners on first and third, Williams homered with his eyes closed to secure a 7–5 AL win. Williams later said that that game-winning home run "remains to this day the most thrilling hit of my life". In late August, Williams was hitting .402. Williams said that "just about everybody was rooting for me" to hit .400 in the season, including Yankee fans, who gave pitcher Lefty Gomez

31248-406: The season with 366 career home runs. On September 26, Williams "retired" after the Red Sox's final game of the season. During the off-season of 1954, Williams was offered the chance to be manager of the Red Sox. Williams declined, and he suggested that Pinky Higgins , who had previously played on the 1946 Red Sox team as the third baseman , become the manager of the team. Higgins later was hired as

31434-591: The season, manager Steve O'Neill was fired, with Lou Boudreau replacing him. Boudreau's first announcement as manager was that all Red Sox players were "expendable", including Williams. Williams' name was called from a list of inactive reserves to serve on active duty in the Korean War on January 9, 1952. Williams, who was livid at his recalling, had a physical scheduled for April 2. Williams passed his physical and in May, after only playing in six major league games, began refresher flight training and qualification prior to service in Korea. Right before he left for Korea,

31620-583: The sport's best hitters. In 1941, Williams posted a .406 batting average; he is the last baseball player to bat over .400 in a season . Williams's .482 on-base percentage is the highest of all time. Williams followed this up by winning his first Triple Crown in 1942. Williams was required to interrupt his baseball career in 1943 to serve three years in the United States Navy and Marine Corps during World War II . Upon returning to MLB in 1946, Williams won his first AL MVP Award and played in his only World Series . In 1947, he won his second Triple Crown. Williams

31806-404: The team with the greater number of runs at the end of the game wins. Most games end after the ninth inning, but if scores are tied at that point, extra innings are usually played. Baseball has no game clock, though some competitions feature pace-of-play regulations such as the pitch clock to shorten game time. Baseball evolved from older bat-and-ball games already being played in England by

31992-440: The town was forced to change its name in order to receive its own. The choice of "Ardsley" is attributed to Cyrus West Field , who owned 780 acres (3.2 km ) of land lying between Broadway ( Dobbs Ferry ) and Sprain Brook (Greenburgh) named Ardsley Park. He had named his home Ardsley Park after the English birthplace of his immigrant ancestor, Zechariah Field ( East Ardsley , West Riding of Yorkshire , England), who immigrated to

32178-419: The trouble with the draft board, Williams had a new salary of $ 30,000 in 1942. In the season, Williams won the Triple Crown, with a .356 batting average, 36 home runs, and 137 RBIs. On May 21, Williams also hit his 100th career home run. He was the third Red Sox player to hit 100 home runs with the team, following teammates Jimmie Foxx and Joe Cronin . Despite winning the Triple Crown, Williams came in second in

32364-414: The two major league champions against each other, was inaugurated that fall. The Black Sox Scandal of the 1919 World Series led to the formation of the office of the Commissioner of Baseball . The first commissioner, Kenesaw Mountain Landis , was elected in 1920. That year also saw the founding of the Negro National League ; the first significant Negro league, it would operate until 1931. For part of

32550-438: The use of performance-enhancing drugs before 2004. In 2007, Bonds became MLB's all-time home run leader, surpassing Hank Aaron , as total major league and minor league attendance both reached all-time highs. Despite having been called "America's national pastime", baseball is well-established in several other countries. As early as 1877, a professional league, the International Association , featured teams from both Canada and

32736-405: The village was 84.00% White , 1.52% African American , 0.09% Native American , 12.34% Asian , 0.02% Pacific Islander , 0.73% from other races , and 1.29% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.26% of the population. There were 1,432 households, out of which 43.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 75.1% were married couples living together, 7.5% had

32922-413: Was 42 years. For every 100 females there were 96.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.2 males. The median income for a household in the village was $ 105,293, and the median income for a family was $ 126,239. Males had a median income of $ 88,012 versus $ 57,216 for females. The per capita income for the village was $ 47,086. About 0.4% of families and 1.3% of the population were below

33108-403: Was added in right field of Fenway Park , reducing the distance from home plate from 400 feet to 380 feet and earning the nickname "Williamsburg" for being "obviously designed for Williams". Williams was then switched from right field to left field , as there would be less sun in his eyes, and it would give Dom DiMaggio a chance to play center. Finally, Williams was flip-flopped in the order with

33294-529: Was an average game of 2:45. By 2014, though, the average MLB game took over three hours to complete. The lengthening of games is attributed to longer breaks between half-innings for television commercials, increased offense, more pitching changes, and a slower pace of play, with pitchers taking more time between each delivery, and batters stepping out of the box more frequently. Other leagues have experienced similar issues. In 2008, Nippon Professional Baseball took steps aimed at shortening games by 12 minutes from

33480-502: Was an evangelist and lifelong soldier in the Salvation Army . Williams resented his mother's long hours working in the Salvation Army, and Williams and his brother cringed when she took them to the Army's street-corner revivals. Williams' paternal ancestors were a mix of Welsh, English, and Irish. The maternal, Spanish-Mexican side of Williams' family was quite diverse, having Basque , Russian, and American Indian roots. Of his Mexican ancestry he said that "If I had my mother's name, there

33666-424: Was extremely negative, even though the baseball book Season of '42 states only four All-Stars and one first-line pitcher entered military service during the 1942 season. (Many more MLB players would enter service during the 1943 season.) Quaker Oats stopped sponsoring Williams, and Williams, who previously had eaten Quaker products "all the time", never "[ate] one since" the company stopped sponsoring him. Despite

33852-644: Was hitting .337. Williams won the Triple Crown in 1947, but lost the MVP award to Joe DiMaggio, 202 points to 201 points. One writer left Williams off his ballot. Williams said he thought it was Mel Webb, whom Williams called a "grouchy old guy", although it now appears it was not Webb, and three writers left DiMaggio off of their ballots. Williams was the third major league player to have had at least four 30-home run and 100-RBI seasons in their first five years, joining Chuck Klein and Joe DiMaggio , and followed by Ralph Kiner , Mark Teixeira , Albert Pujols , and Ryan Braun through 2011. In 1948, under their new manager,

34038-407: Was in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii awaiting orders as a replacement pilot. While in Pearl Harbor, Williams played baseball in the Navy League. Also in that eight-team league were Joe DiMaggio , Joe Gordon , and Stan Musial . The Service World Series with the Army versus the Navy attracted crowds of 40,000 for each game. The players said it was even better than the actual World Series being played between

34224-433: Was in honor of a maternal uncle (whose name was actually Daniel Venzor) who had been killed in World War I . He disliked the name "Teddy" and later amended his birth certificate to say "Theodore" instead. His father was a soldier, sheriff, and photographer from Ardsley, New York , who had served in the United States Army and was a veteran of Philippine–American War . His mother, May Venzor, American from El Paso, Texas ,

34410-405: Was returned to active military duty for portions of the 1952 and 1953 seasons to serve as a Marine combat aviator in the Korean War . In 1957 and 1958 at the ages of 39 and 40, respectively, he was the AL batting champion for the fifth and sixth time. Williams retired from playing in 1960. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1966 , in his first year of eligibility. Williams managed

34596-416: Was scouting Bobby Doerr and the shortstop George Myatt in August 1936. Collins later explained, "It wasn't hard to find Ted Williams. He stood out like a brown cow in a field of white cows." In the 1937 season, after graduating from Hoover High in the winter, Williams finally broke into the line-up on June 22, when he hit an inside-the-park home run to help the Padres win 3–2. The Padres ended up winning

#588411