1941 BOSTON RED SOX ... 
THE SUMMER OF .406 AND "THE STREAK" ...

As World War II escalated around the world, the baseball world prepared for the upcoming 1941 baseball season.

With Johnny Pesky and Eddie Pellagrini a year away, the Red Sox wanted a solid backup for Joe Cronin and hoped that, as a right-handed hitter, Skeeter Newsome would find the left-field wall helpful. He was traded for a minor league player from the Philadelphia Phillies in September and was expected to relieve Cronin at the end of ball games..

Also that September pitcher Mike Ryba was traded from the St. Louis Cardinals for pitcher Al Brazle. Ryba was seen as a one-man pitching staff, because he could pitch every day. The 31-year old Dick Newsome was also purchased from the San Diego Padres of the PCL for $5000. He was 21-10 at the time the Red Sox purchased his contract.

On December 12th the Red Sox traded All Star outfielder, Doc Cramer, whose 200 hits led the American League in 1940, to Washington for veteran outfielder Gee Walker. Then Walker, catcher Gene Desautels and pitcher Jim Bagby were traded to Cleveland for catcher Frankie Pytlak, secondbasemen Odell Hale and a young pitcher, Joe Dobson. Cramer had been unhappy about losing his job to Dom DiMaggio and therefore utility outfielder Pete Fox was bought from the Detroit Tigers. The key player was Pytlak, who could assure that Jimmie Foxx would no longer have to catch

Along with Dobson, pitcher Mickey Harris, who won 10 games with Scranton were seen to make the rotation as camp opened. And so, Fritz Ostrermueller and Denny Galehouse were sold to the Browns for $25,000.

But the Sox still needed help. In addition to weak pitching and questionable defense, Cronin and Foxx were showing their age. When pitching was the great need, the Red Sox had traded medicore pitching and a solid outfielder for a couple of back-up players and a pitching prospect. But the Sox had little more to offer and stood pat as the season began.

Before the season started, Tom Yawkey had invited Lefty Grove to come down to his estate in South Carolina on their annual hunting trip. With his car packed and ready to head home, Yawkey asked Lefty about his unsigned contract for the upcoming season. Lefty didn't care and signed a blank contract, telling Yawkey to pay him whatever he wished. Yawkey filled it in and paid him only $10,000.

On January 23rd, Ted Williams appeared before the draft board in Minneapolis. He proceeded to register for conscription into the military under terms of the Selective Service Act, signed into law in September. He was given a class 3A deferment, being the sole supporter of his mother.

On March 3rd, general manager Eddie Collins presented Ted with a new contract and a $6000 raise to $18,500

Ted came to spring training oozing with confidence, announcing that his feud with the press was a thing of the past and that he would rather play than eat, sleep or hunt. He arrived smiling and shaking hands with everyone, but he was still groping for maturity and acceptance. He hadn't yet won a batting title and was most considered an incomplete outfielder.

Then in a spring training game against Newark on March 19^th, Ted caught a spike sliding into second base, trying to stretch a single into a double. X-rays uncovered a hairline fracture in his ankle that sidelined him for almost three weeks. It bothered him enough that there was a slight hesitation in his swing. That gave him a fraction of a second longer to size up the ball. He himself said the ball looked like a watermelon coming in that year. But the time the season opened, Ted still couldn’t run and Pete Fox started the year in left field.

Jim Tabor got into trouble with Joe Cronin early in spring training. Tabor’s apparent disregard for training rules and lack of interest in the welfare of the team, prompted Cronin to threaten him, and on March 21st he was suspended indefinitely for repeated violation of training rules. 

At the end of March, the Sox traveled to Havana for a series of four games, the first against a team of Cuban all-stars and the other three against the Cincinnati Reds. Earl Johnson pitched the first game against the Reds, allowing just four hits in six innings. 

Opening day on April 15th, showed that it would be a tough season. Jack Wilson was the Sox starter against Washington.  He didn’t last long, but Ted’s pinch hit single, in the ninth inning, sparked the Sox to a 7-6 come-from-behind win. And Joe Cronin homered in his first at bat of the season.

The Red Sox settled down to business on the second day of the season, April 16th, by winning an extra inning marathon, 8 to 7, in 12 innings on a walk-off base hit by Pete Fox. 25-year-old Tex Hughson made his major league debut in relief. Then, after two poor relief outings, Hughson spent some time with Louisville,.

Lefty Grove's first start was in Philadelphia, on April 18th. He gave up two hits, including a two-run homer and left the game in the seventh inning, trailing 2 to 1. But Bobby Doerr knocked out two home runs to allow the Sox to blast out their third straight ninth inning attack in a 3-2 win. Two hitless innings in relief of Lefty, saw Herb Hash walk away with the win.

The next day, Dom DiMaggio had four hits and Joe Cronin knocked out three, including a double and a homer to give the Sox a 7-2 win in Philly. On April 20th, Dom knocked out four hits for the second day in a row against the Nationals in Washington, keeping the Sox undefeated. But the Sox lost the next two games in Washington and then lost two in New York to the Yankees, dropping to second place.

Dick Newsome’s pitching debut was on April 25th at Fenway against the Philadelphia Athletics. He held the A's scoreless on two hits through the first eight innings, giving up one lone run in the top of the ninth. It was a five-hit, 3-1 win, the one run coming on a ball that he himself might have fielded for a triple play, but the late-afternoon shadows at Fenway made the hard-hit ball tougher to field and it caromed off him past Skeeter Newsome at short and into left field.

The Sox were high on pitcher Bill Fleming. His first win came in 6 1/3 innings of one-hit relief on April 26th. “Fireman Fleming” also doubled to drive in the Sox first run. It was his only win of the year, balanced by one loss.

Ted Williams continued doing pinch-hitting duties until he returned to the starting lineup for good on April 29th.  He was already hitting an even .400 and the Sox were 7-4, and only one game out of first place.

On May 1st the Red Sox teed off against the Tigers in Detroit, blasting them 15-9. Dom DiMaggio and Frankie Pytlak collected four hits apiece and Bobby Doerr had three.

Lefty Grove got on track against the St.Louis Browns, beating them on May 4th, 11 to 4. In the first three inning he only gave up three hits and his teammates put together five runs in the fourth, so he could coast home.

The Red Sox stayed in the pennant race over the next few weeks as Ted Williams went absolutely crazy at the plate. On May 7th in Chicago, he broke up a 3-3 tie in the 11th inning with a monstrous home run into the second deck in right field.  It was his second home run of the afternoon.

On May 11th, the Sox hosted the Yankees and beat them 13-to-5 at Fenway. Jim Tabor helped Earl Johnson win by driving in five runs with a homer and a double. Ted and Joe Cronin each contributed three of the 17 Red Sox hits. Lefty Grove faced the Yankees the next day. Thanks to a three run homer by Jimmie Foxx, he registered his 295th career victory and 20th consecutive home victory on May 12th.

Joe Cronin broke open a 6-5 deficit by belting a grandslam homer against the White Sox at Fenway on May 14th. It was part of a seven run, seventh inning in a 10 to 7 Bosox win.

On May 15th, the American League pennant race became a historical footnote to the larger drama. On that day both Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams embarked on the longest hitting streaks of their major-league careers, which carried each man into baseball legend. It was no longer the Red Sox versus the Yankees, it became DiMaggio versus Williams and it lasted that way throughout the 1940s.

Both streaks started with a defeat. Ted singled off the glove of Cleveland second-baseman Ray Mack in the eighth-inning of a 6 to 4 loss to the Indians. It was the third loss in a row for the Red Sox and dropped the team into third place. The same day, Joe D singled and knocked in the Yankees only run in their 13 to 1 drubbing, at the hands of the White Sox.

Joe D went three for three against the Browns on May 18th in a 12-6 Yankees win, his fourth straight game of the streak.

The Red Sox slump continued, but Ted's batting streak got hotter. The Yankees followed in the wake of DiMaggio, playing better as the streak grew longer. The Red Sox lost six games in a row before they finally won, as Ted's batting streak reached five games.

Earl Johnson gave up four hits in a Sox 4-2 win on May 20th against the Tigers. Until the last inning he had a two-hitter going. On May 21st, Ted (.369 BA) banged out four hits, leading the Sox in a comeback against the Browns, but it was a pinch hit home run by Stan Spence that tied up the game in the late innings. Then the Yankees then passed the Red Sox in the standings and began their climb toward first place.

Lefty Grove won his 296th in Yankee Stadium on May 25th, as the Sox knocked off the Yanks, 10-3.  Ted had four hits, going 13 for 20 in his last five games, extending his streak 11 games, and raising his batting average back over the .400 mark for the first time since the second week of the season, to .404.

On May 27th, Ted extended his streak to 13 games. In the first game of a doubleheader against the A's at Fenway however, Dom DiMaggio was 3-for-3 with a double and a triple in a 5-2 win. Meanwhile Joe D hit a home run and three singles to extend his hitting streak to 12 games in Washington.

Against the A's at Fenway on May 29th, Ted (.421 BA) hit his seventh round tripper, which was a mighty clout that cleared the Red Sox bullpen and landed in the runway between the right-field grandstand and the bleachers. It was a game breaker coming as it did, with the score knotted at three all in the seventh inning. Skeeter Newsome provided an insurance home run in the eighth inning, leading to a 6-4 victory.

On Memorial Day, May 30th, the Sox and Yankees split a doubleheader. Joe DiMaggio (.315 BA) got two hits and Dom (.382 BA) got cheered when he delivered two singles and a double. The Yankees won the opener 4 to 3. The second game was won by the Sox 13-0, as Mickey Harris shut out the Yankees on just two hits. Pete Fox became instrumental in the continuation of Joe D's streak. In the second game, Fox lost Joe’s fly ball in the sun, and Joe was credited with his only hit of the game. Jim Tabor knocked out two doubles and a homer and Ted (.429 BA) was 3-fo-5 in the doubleheader.

Ted was crushing the ball and banging out two or more hits in almost every game, as well as hitting with more power than he ever had before. He batted .436 for the month and .536 from May 17th to May 31st. Joe Cronin tried to keep pace, batting .372.

As May turned into June, Joe D had hit in 18 straight games and was batting .328 and Ted's hitting streak reached 20 straight. The Red Sox went on the road to start the month and won eight of the ten games they played.

The Sox swept a doubleheader from the champion Detroit Tigers on June 1st, 7 to 6 and 6 to 5. Mike Ryba and Jack Wilson each won a game in relief, but Dom DiMaggio was instrumental in each win. In the opener he doubled home Frankie Pytlak with the winning run. His daring baserunning produced the winning run in the second game. Ted (.430 BA) went 4-for-9 in the doubleheader with his 8th home run in the second game.

The next day, Joe Dobson brilliantly led the Red Sox to a 9-1 win, for a sweep of their three game series with the Tigers. He belted a home run in his first at bat and later knocked out two singles. Dobson only gave up four hits and the only run made against him was unearned.

Sadly, on June 2nd the sports world stopped to mourn Lou Gehrig, who died just a couple of weeks short of his 38th birthday.

The Yankees followed the Red Sox into Detroit on June 3rd. Joe DiMaggio (.330 BA) homered, keeping his streak going at 20 straight games.

Mickey Harris threw a six-hitter at the Indians on June 5th while the Sox batters racked up 16 hits, beating the Tribe, 14 to 1. Ted (.424 BA) went 3-for-4 with a home run.

The Sox made it six straight wins in Chicago the next day, winning 6 to 3. Jimmie Foxx opened a home run barrage in the first inning. Ted (.436 BA) hit his 10th homer in the third, and Jim Tabor added a home run in the fourth.

Lefty Grove outdueled Ted Lyons and the White Sox in Chicago on June 8th. Dom DiMaggio's tenth inning single gave the Sox a 5 to 3 decision and Lefty his 297th win, 5 to 3, in the first game of a doubleheader. Dick Newsome shut out Chicago 3-0 in the second game. Ted's hitting streak ended at 23 games, when he went hitless in the doubleheader.

Ted Williams had hit .488 with six homers during his streak, batting .416 on the day the streak ended, in which he batted .487. Joe DiMaggio went 4 for 8 in a doubleheader at St. Louis, extending his streak to 24 games on that day also. Both the Sox and the Yankees were in second place, four games behind the Indians.

The Sox were in St. Louis for a doubleheader with the Browns on June 12th. They split the day with the Browns taking the opener and the Sox taking the nitecap, 3 to 2. Ted provided the winning runs with the score knotted at one run each. He rapped a fly ball a mile over the roof in right field for his 11th round-tripper of the season.

Joe D and the Yankees beat the White Sox in Chicago, 3 to 2. Joe was 2-for-4, including his 12th home run, which was the game winner in the tenth inning.

Returning to Fenway, the Sox swept a doubleheader from the White Sox on June 15th. Lefty Grove started the first game but was nicked by a batted ball on his pitching arm. Johnny Peacock drove home two runners in the sixth inning to put the Sox ahead 7-6 and Bobby Doerr later drove in an insurance run to give the Bosox an 8 to 6 win. Ted was 2-for-3 in the first game. The second game was won by the Sox 6 to 4. Ted (.423 BA) doubled and homered in three plate appearances in game number two.

Meanwhile in New York, Joe D rifled his 13th home run into the upper deck of Yankee Stadium to provide the winning run in a 3 to 2 win over the Indians. It was the 28th game of his streak.

The Red Sox staged an eight run rally in the first game of a June 17th doubleheader with the Tigers at Fenway, winning 14 to 6. Down 6 to 5 going into the seventh inning, the Sox scored eight times. Ted (.424 BA) put them ahead with a two run homer to start the inning as 13 men came to the plate. Joe Cronin and Jim Tabor each had three hits. The Sox lost the second game but Dom DiMaggio and Jimmie Foxx both homered.

Joe DiMaggio was a perfect 3-for-3 for the Yankees on June 19th, including his 14th home run, in beating the White Sox 7-2 at Yankee Stadium. The next day Joe (.354 BA) banged out four hits in five trips and two days later Joe doubled and homered against the Tigers. On June 22nd Joe D and Red Rolfe hit home runs making it 18 straight games that the Yankees had hit home runs. It was Joe's 36th game in his hitting streak.

On June 22nd, the German Army invaded the Soviet Union in an effort called "Operation Barbarosa" with the intention of repopulating the area with Germanic people. They wished to occupy a territory rich in agriculture and oil reserves. But their ultimate goal was the extermination of the indigenous Slavic people by genocide.

The Sox knocked out 18 hits in beating the Indians 13-2 at Fenway on June 24th. Jim Tabor blasted a grandslam while Bobby Doerr, Dom DiMaggio and Lou Finney each collected three hits. Ted was the only player in the Sox lineup without a hit.

Lefty Grove won his 298th game on June 25th with a 7-2 win against Cleveland. The Sox broke the game open with five runs in the seventh inning. Ted (.407 BA) rapped out his 14th homer and in New York, Joe D (.350 BA) homered for the 15th time. Lefty's quest for 300 wasn't supplying the drama for the fans because as far as the baseball world was concerned, it was just a matter of time before he got it.

The Sox hammered Bob Feller at Fenway on June 26th, but ended up losing 11-8. Lou Finney doubled and homered, Bobby Doerr homered and Ted (.412 BA) hit three singles.

Dom DiMaggio never had to wait until he read the newspaper to find out who his brother was doing. Ted had Bill Daley, the left field scoreboard operator yell out to  him what happened as soon as he found out. Ted would then yell to "Dommie" in center field that Joe had gotten another hit.

Joe DiMaggio and his streak captured the attention of the press. He was nearly shut out on June 26th in St. Louis. With the Yankees leading in the last half of the eighth, there were three batters ahead of Joe, who was hitless. Red Rolfe walked and the next batter, Tommy Henrich decided to bunt rather than take a chance of hitting into a doubleplay. Joe came up next and lined a double to left.

The next day, Joe went 2-for-3 and the streak reached 39 games, two games away from breaking George Sisler's hitting streak of 41 straight.

On June 28th, Philadelphia A's pitcher Johnny Babich, tried to end the streak by throwing only balls and no strikes. With the count 3-0, in his last at bat, Joe reached across the plate and stroked the ball into the outfield to keep his streak alive at 40 games.

Joe then tied and broke Sisler's streak in a doubleheader at Washington the next day, on June 29th. He doubled off Dutch Leonard in the sixth inning of the first game and then singled off Red Anderson in the seventh inning of second game, with a borrowed bat after a fan had stolen his favorite. He had hit in 42 staright games.

Joe had become the most famous and recognizable person in the United States. Factory workers, farm hands and ranch hands would stop in cafes all over America to find out what happened. This was a time before televison and radio news was sketchy. But everyone wanted to know if Joe got his hit.

Joe next tied the Willie Keeler all-time mark of 44 games on July 1st, beating the Sox in a doubleheader at Yankee Stadium.  He broke the record the next day with a home run over Ted's head into the left field bleachers, with the Yankees again beating the Sox, 8 to 4.

The Sox had plenty of offense but the pitching was still spotty. Rookie Dick Newsome was winning more than his share. But the other pitchers on the Red Sox staff were not up to the task. On July 2nd the Red Sox recalled Tex Hughson from the Louisville Colonels and optioned both Emerson Dickman and Bill Fleming to Louisville.

Lefty Grove (6-2) finally got his 299th win on July 3rd in Philadelphia, beating the A's, 5 to 2. Jim Tabor's three run double and Ted's two-run homer gave him his win.

In a doubleheader at Fenway on Ted's batting average dropped below the .400 mark for the first time since May 24th after the first game, but he was 3 for 4 second game, which included two doubles.

In New York, the Yankees swept Philly in a doubleheader. Joe D (.357 BA) had a big day at the plate. He was 4-for-5 in the opening game and 2-for-4 in the closing game, extending the streak to 48 straight.

Between Grove going for his 300th win, Joe D's hitting streak and Ted's quest to hit .400, baseball welcomed it's mid-summer break. Along with Bobby Doerr, Dom DiMaggio, Joe Cronin, and Jimmie Foxx, Ted Williams went to play in the All Star Game at Briggs Stadium in Detroit.

In the fourth inning, with Cecil Travis on second, Ted laced a line drive to right field, which Bob Elliot misjudged. The ball went sailing over his head for a double, driving in a run that gave the American League a 1-0 lead.

Behind Arky Vaughn's two home runs, the National League went ahead by three runs going into the eighth inning.  With one out Joe D doubled to center. Then Dom singled to drive in his brother Joe, making the score 5-3.

In the bottom of the ninth inning down by two runs and with one out, Ken Keltner and Joe Gordon singled off Claude Passeau. He walked Cecil Travis to load the bases and Joe D hit a grounder to short and Travis was erased at second, but Keltner scored to make the score 5-4. So with Joe and Gordon on base, that brought up Ted. After a conference on the mound, Passeau was left in the game because he had struck out Ted the inning before.

Passeau's first pitch was high and wide. Then came another ball, high and tight. With the next one, Ted swung for the fences. He hit a towering fly ball down the right field line. The only question would be whether it was fair or foul.  It landed fair into the upper deck of Briggs Stadium to win the game, 7 to 5.

Most baseball fans have seen the film of the lanky 22-year-old “Splendid Splinter” as he galloped around the bases, almost bouncing on air at time. Hardened veterans like Gordon and Joe DiMaggio, Bob Feller, Bill Dickey and Jimmie Foxx, suddenly were transformed into boyish hero worshippers as the curly haired All Star crossed the plate.  Ted later said that this was the greatest thrill of his career.

After the break, the Sox traveled to Detroit. On July 11th, Lefty Grove pitched well but lost 2 to 0 to Bobo Newsom and the Tigers, 2-0, and remained stuck on 299. The next day, Ted reinjured his ankle sliding back into first base. The x-rays were negative, so he relegated to pinch-hitting duties for the next ten days.

Joe DiMaggio's hitting streak continued. He had a single on July 10th, three singles and a homer on July 11th, a single and a double on July 12th, four singles on July 13th, a single on July 14th, a double on July 15th and 3-for-4 on July 16th. His hitting streak had reached 56 games.

On July 17th, Joe's hitting streak was ended at 56 games by two terrific back-handed stops by Indians third baseman Ken Keltner. Joe then started a new 16 game hitting streak, thus having hit safely in 72 of 73 straight games. Now the baseball world focused on Ted's chase of .400 and Lefty's chase of his 300th win.

For a while it seemed as both players would fall short. Grove gave it another try in Chicago on July 18th, the day after Joe's streak was halted. He should have gotten the win, but the Red Sox defense, as usual, let him down. Errors by Jimmie Foxx and Joe Cronin led to two Chicago runs. Then in the seventh inning, with the Red Sox up 3 to 2, Grove himself made an error on a bunt by the White Sox, Jimmy Webb. He got to the ball late and slipped as Webb beat out the hit. Webb scored when Johnny Rigney bounced the ball past Cronin to tie up the game. Lou Finney then dropped a fly ball in the 10th inning and the game was lost.

Ted returned to the lineup on July 22nd, and was put in the cleanup spot, with Cronin batting third and Foxx batting fifth. The change had an impact because pitchers now pitched around Ted to get to Foxx. The move led to an enormous number of walks in the second half for Ted and more balls to hit for Cronin.

On July 23rd, White Sox manager Jimmy Dykes unveiled was later would be called the "Boudreau Shift" against Ted, placing three fielders on the right side of the infield. But it didn't work because Ted simply drove the ball into left-field. Dykes never used the shift again.

On July 25th, on a hot and humid afternoon at Fenway Park, Lefty Grove trudged back onto the mound in search of number 300. Little remained in his arm and the Indians raked him for nine hits and four runs in the first four innings. But after that he settled down and saw his teammates score 10 runs, including a homer by Ted.  It was Jimmie Foxx, however, who finally handed Lefty his passport to baseball immortality, by plastering a prodigious triple with two on in the eighth inning. Lefty hung on, outlasting three Indians pitchers, going the distance for a 10 to 6 win and the 300th of his career.

Lefty Grove was the 12th player to win 300 games. Pete Alexander had been the last to get 300 in 1924. Winless in his next six starts, Lefty would never win another game in baseball.

After the game, Lefty threw a champagne dinner at the Myles Standish Hotel. Hugh Duffy, who batted .440 for the 1894 Boston Beaneaters was a guest.

Now it was Ted Williams and his pursuit of .400, as Joe D's hitting streak had ended, and the Yankees were running away with the pennant. The Red Sox were 15 games behind. Ted refused to swing at bad pitches and walked more often than getting a base hit, but he rarely missed when the ball came over the plate.

After he had sprained his ankle, Ted was only used as a pinch hitter. His batting average had dropped as low as .393, but it climbed back to .405 on July 26th, when he was back in the lineup and went 3-for-4 against the Indians at Fenway.

Ted hit his 20th homer against the Browns at Fenway on July 29th. Then in the next game, the Red Sox rallied from behind to beat the Browns. Down 7-5 going into the bottom of the 7th inning, the Sox scored six times. Ted had the big bang in the innning with a grandslam homer.

On August 4th, Jimmie Foxx returned to the Red Sox lineup after a weeks layoff. Against the Philadelphia A's at Fenway, during his first four times at bat, he couldn't buy a hit. The Sox and Athletics entered the last of the ninth-inning, tied at six apiece and Foxx was the first batter. Double-X lined a pitch from Bump Hadley over the left-field speakers for his 16th home run of the season, for a walk-off uphill 7 to 6 victory for the Red Sox. That the Sox remained in the running until the ninth-inning, was due mainly to Pete Fox and Dom DiMaggio, who accounted for seven of the eleven Sox hits between them.

The Red Sox handed the pace-setting New York Yankees a 9 to 5 trouncing in the deciding game of a three-game set on August 7th. Newsome now conquered every team in the American League at least once. Meanwhile, Ted slapped out his 22nd home run of the year and added a pair of singles, which sparked three run rallys by the Red Sox in the sixth and seventh innings.

The Red Sox clicked at the plate by beating Washington, 15-8 at Fenway on August 8th. Jimmie Foxx led the team with four hits, including a double and drove in three runs, giving hom 100 RBIs this year. Bobby Doerr had three hits including two doubles, Pete Fox tripled and Joe Cronin belted his eighth home run.

On August 10th the Sox finished their homestand by splitting a doubleheader with the Nats. The excellent relief pitching of Mike Ryba and Cronin's bat were responsible for a close 7 to 6 victory in the first game. Cronin got two hits, drove in three runs and scored two. He lofted a homer into the left field net with Pete Fox aboard, giving him four round-trippers in the last five days. Doerr's homer in the fifth was the one that one the game however. Ted went 4-for-7 in the doubleheader.

By the end of the Red Sox homestand, Ted Williams' average climbed to .410, having gone 31 for 67 for a .462 clip. The Sox then took to the road and Ted only picked up nine hits in 27 at bats to see his average drop to .404 

On August 13th in Philly, Charlie Wagner shutout the A's 4-0. Frankie Pytlak's four hits, including two doubles, led the Sox attack. Then the next day, home runs by Ted, Foxx and Doerr gave the Sox an 11-8 extra-inning triumph in the first game of a doubleheader. Ted's 23rd home run was a three run shot that knotted the score in the eighth inning. Double-X's 11th inning homer was the game winner. Doerr had two homers and Foxx banged out another in the second game, which the Sox lost.

Ted (.408 BA) went 3-for-5 in Washington on August 16th in an 8-6 Sox win. At Sportsman's Park on August 19th, Ted slugged three home runs and went 5-for-8, as the Sox split a doubleheader with the Browns.  The next day it was another home run, giving him five in the four game series with the Browns, getting 8 hits in 14 at bats.

On August 21st, in Chicago, the Red Sox belted their way to an 8 to 5 win. Foxx sewed up the verdict with a two-run triple in the fourth inning. Cronin homered and Ted's 2-for-3 afternoon put his batting average at .414

Joe Dobson's third triumph of the road trip came on August 22nd. He shut out the White Sox 2-1 on six hits. Pete Fox opened the third with a hit, stole second and went to third on a wild throw. Ted's sac fly, after drawing his 106th and 107th passes scored him with the tying run. Foxx doubled down the right field line and was brought home by Bobby Doerr with the game winner.

Charlie Wagner's best game came on August 25th, when he threw a four-hit 1-0 shutout opposing Bob Feller in Cleveland. 

The Sox finished their August road trip winning 10 of 21 games, falling 19 games behind the Yankees.  Ted Williams was 9 for 26, returning with a .407 average. Had the Red Sox been in the pennant race, Ted's individual quest would have received far less attention than it did. His pursuit of .400 gave Sox fans something to cheer about in the face of the success of Joe DiMaggio and the Yankees. Fans also knew that Tris Speaker had posted the highest Red Sox seasonal batting average of .385 in 1912, so Ted was also in pursuit of that team record.

Back in Fenway Park, the Red Sox loaded up with an even dozen base hits, to rack up their 13th win in their last 17 games. This time they beat Connie Mack's Athletics by a 12 to 3 score, behind the Charlie Wagner again on August 30th.  Joe Cronin making his debut at the hot corner, Ted Williams rang up his 30th home run, also notching his 118th and 119th base on balls. Double-X chipped in with a sharp 379 foot double off the centerfield wall with the bases loaded in the six run second inning, and Bobby Doerr slammed a home run and a double.

The Sox and A's split a doubleheader on August 31st. Ted and Dick Newsome collaborated on the Sox win. Newsome's five-hitter helped him chalk up his 16th win of the year. Down 3-1, Ted (.408 BA) poked his 31st homer with two aboard, in the sixth inning, for the 5-3 victory. He also was passed four times.

In a doubleheader with Washington at Fenway on September 1st, Ted belted out three home runs. He broke his personal major league record for homers with 34. It also gave him a new mark for hitting home runs at Fenway Park, as he picked up his 15th, 16th and 17th during the doubleheader. The Red Sox swept their Labor Day doubleheader, by smashing counts of 13 to 9 and 10 to 2. Joe Cronin had three doubles and drove in six runs for the two games.

The next day, a young teenager from Maine had hitch-hiked down to see his favorite player play. But there was no game so he curled up outside Fenway Park and fell asleep. When the police found him, he told them his story. The officers went to the hotel to get Ted to come down and meet his fan. He did and the youngster was his guest for the game with the Yankees on September 3rd.

Jim Tabor lined three hits on September 6th, leading the Sox to an 8-1 thumping of the Yankees at Yankee Stadium. Joe Dobson allowed just seven hits to gain his 10th win. The next day, Ted got his 400th at bat, which qualified him for the batting title. The Yankees fans cheered his every at bat. Every fan of baseball, even those in New York, was pulling for Ted Williams.

Returning home, Dick Newsome shut out the Tigers, 6-0 on four hits at Fenway, on September 9th  Dom DiMaggio was a single away from hitting for the cycle, with a double, a triple and a home run and brought home four runs. It was the first of eight straight wins for the Red Sox.

The Sox beat the Tigers, 11 to 2, the next day. Bobby Doerr was the star of the game with his 16th home run and a double and three RBIs. Ted (.413 BA)  contributed a single and a double in four times up, brining in three runs also.

On September 11th, Ted made a personal appearance doing a batting clinic in Providence. Four thousand fans turned out to meet him. The night before Babe Ruth was the featured guest and only 1200 fans turned out to meet him.

The Browns were the next to come to Fenway and were shut out by Joe Dobson, 5-0 on five hits on September 12th. Jim Tabor supported his effort with four hits. The opposition all but stop pitching to Ted, who felt no pressure to do anything but take the walks and focus on getting base hits. In the two games with St. Louis, he came to bat nine times and failed to get a hit, but walked five times.

The next day on September 14th, playing in front of the Red Sox largest crowd of the season against Chicago, the Sox swept a doubleheader, 9-2 and 5-1. Foxx belted his 19th homer in the opening game and Ted collected two hits. In the second game Charlie Wagner chalked up his 10th win whlie Tabor and Cronin both homered. Ted struck out for the first time in three weeks.

The Red Sox swept the White Sox out of Fenway with a 6-1 victory on September 15th. Mickey Harris gave up just five hits and Ted slugged his 35th homer, a three-run blast. Ted was not just contending for the best batting average in the American League, but was also in contention for the Triple Crown. The homer gave him 116 RBIs, tied for second with Joe DiMaggio. Lou Finney had three hits in the game and Jimmie Foxx collected two, including a triple.

On September 17th, Joe Dobson (12-5) beat the Cleveland Indians, 3-2 at Fenway. It was his fourth straight win and where he had allowed only five runs. The Sox were down a run going into the last of the ninth. Foxx led off with a single and Skeeter Newsome came in to run for him. Frankie Pytlak hit a grounder to Lou Boudreau who threw wildly past first. Newsome went to third and Pytlak sprinted to second. Dobson was intentionally passed to load the bases, bringing up Dom DiMaggio, who had driven in the Sox first run. Dom lined a siungle to left scoring Newsome and Pytlak with the tying and winning runs.

During the winning streak, Sox pitchers gave up just ten runs in the eight games.

The Sox and Yankees met again at Fenway for two games. In the first game on September 20th, Double-X and Ted collected two hits, but the Yankees won, 8 to 1. The Sox won the next game 4 to 1, behind the six hit pitching of Mickey Harris. Home runs by Ted, Cronin and Lou Finney accounted for the Red Sox runs.

It was the last home game at Fenway for the season and Ted vowed that he would play in all six remaining games. Ted's .406 batting average and 36 homers led the American League. He had 118 RBIs, in second place, tied with Joe DiMaggio and four behind Charlie Keller of the Yankees.

On September 24th, in a doubleheader, Ted was 0-for-3 in the first game against knuckleballer Dutch Leonard, with a walk and his average went down a point to .405 ... He went and 1-for-4 in the second game, with his only hit coming on a questionable call at first.  He’d seen his average plunge to a perilous .401

There was a lot on the line, and the team had two days off, on the 25th and 26th. The Sox traveled to Philadelphia to play the Athletics for the final three games of the season.

Ted took personal batting practice at Shibe Park on Friday, the 26th with coach Fred Schellenbach, catcher Frankie Pytlak and few others to shag balls. He slammed the ball against the right field wall time after time.  He lamented that at that time of year, the shadows would be tricky, but was determined that a batting record was no good unless it was made under all conditions.

On Saturday, the 27^th he went 1-for-4 against another knuckleballer named Roger Wolff, a late season call-up. He went 1-for-4 with a double, and when he struck out in his last at bat, his batting average dropped below .400 for the first time since July 25th at .39955. It could have been rounded up to .400 if he had sat out the two Sunday games.

ROGERS HORNSBY

But to Ted Williams .39955 was not .400 and a .400 batting average was still a major mark of distinction. Ty Cobb and Rogers Hornsby had each hit .400 three times.

Hornsby could have done it a fourth time, if one applied rounding. Entering the last game of the 1921 season, Hornsby was hitting .39966. He went 0-for-4 and ended up with a .397 BA. But the next season Hornsby was hitting an .39967 going into the last day of the season and went 3-for-5 winding up with a batting average of .401 ... It was important to Ted that he remained true to the game and that if he was going to bat .400, it would be for the complete season.

Ted went out for a three hour walk on Saturday night with clubhouse man, Johnny Orlando by his side. He couldn't sleep and occasionally they stopped for an ice cream. They ran into Joe Cronin in the lobby of the hotel when they got back and Cronin gave him the option to sit out again. Ted emphatically said "No"

On Sunday, the 28th, the last day of the season in Philadelphia, A's manager Connie Mack had given his team the order to pitch to Ted and make him earn the .400 mark. Ted was batting cleanup and the A’s, Dick Fowler, another call-up, retired the side in the first, so Ted led off the top of the second. On the 2–0 count, he was ready and he swung at Fowler’s next pitch and singled sharply to right. After that first hit, his average stood at .40089. If he’d made an out his second time up, he’d be hitting exactly .400.

He had nothing to lose by taking that second at-bat. But the question became moot when he led off the fifth inning, still facing Fowler, and homered on a 1–0 pitch, driving the ball over the high right-center field wall, a shot of perhaps 440 feet. It was his 37th homer of the year and he was batting .40222. He could make outs each of the next two times up and still be hitting a little over .400 at .40044.

Next time up, in the top of the seventh, Ted hit a bullet right up the middle for a base hit. He was 4-for-5 in the first game with two RBIs and two runs scored. By the end of the first game, he was batting .40397.

But he wasn’t done and wasn't going to sit-out the second game. Even if he went 0-for-4 he'd still hit over .400. In the second game, he hit spanked a grounder in the hole between first and second (.4052 BA). The second time up Ted lashed a rising line drive right into a megaphone on the right field wall, and it fell back into the park for a ground-rule double. Finally, in his last time to the plate that day, with darkness encroaching, the Athletics got Ted out, when he flied out to right field.

Ted was officially 6-for-8, hitting .40570, or, rounded up to .406, the highest since Hornsby batted .424 for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1924. The last American Leaguer to hit above the .400 mark was Harry Heilmann of the Detroit Tigers, in 1923. 

Ted Williams finished his remarkable season batting .406 with 120 RBIs, a league-leading 37 home runs and league-leading 147 walks. More than half the times he came to bat, Ted got on base, and he struck out only 27 times all season.

Joe DiMaggio finished the season third in the American League in batting at .357, first in RBIs with 125, second in doubles with 43, and fourth in home runs. To put Ted's feat in perspective, consider that Joe D hit .409 during his hitting streak, just three points higher than Ted's season mark. Except for a stretch from July 11–24th, when his batting average dipped as low as .393, Ted had  been hitting above .400 since May 25th.

In the modern era, between 1900 and 1941, seven players had batted over .400 twelve times. In the 1800s, nineteen players had done it twenty-two times. But the rules were different back then. Hitters could use a bat that had a flat side and the strike zone was not defined until 1887. Walks were also counted as hits, a rule that helped ten players reach the .400 mark. And until 1903, foul balls that were not caught were not counted as strikes.  In 1941, the sacrifice fly rule was not in effect. It is estimated that Ted had 12 fly balls that drove in runs that year. Subtract those 12 at-bats and he would have hit .417

Between those last two games of the season in Philadelphia, the A's honored Lefty Grove with a ceremony. Lefty started the second game and only lasted an inning. He gave up four hits, three runs and took the loss. It was his last appearance. He finished the season at 7-7 with a 4.37 ERA, and his career with a record of 300-141. He had 298 complete games and 2266 strikeouts. His .680 winning percentage remains the best of the 24 pitchers who have earned 300 victories.

Even with the addition of Dom DiMaggio, Bobby Doerr, Jim Tabor and other young players, Tom Yawkey had spent money and not gotten a return. Without consulting his general manager Eddie Collins or Cronin, Yawkey hired Bill Evans to run the minor league system in September. A few days later Joe Cronin heard about the plan and met with Yawkey in New York. Then, on September 4th, as the Yankees clinched the pennant, Yawkey changed his mind and fired Evans in favor Cronin. As Ted chased history, the front office was in turmoil. The administration change had gone unnoticed for the most part because all eyes in Boston were on Ted Williams.

The Red Sox finished in second place, 17 games behind the Yankees, with a record of 84-70, but closer to seventh place then to first, as New York won 101 games. But Ted's run at .400 had boosted the Red Sox attendance to more than 700,000, the fourth best in baseball. Regardless of where they finished, the Red Sox had made money and kept their fans entertained.

FOXX AND CRONIN

Jimmie Foxx had been eclipsed by Ted Williams as the team’s star and was showing signs of slowing at the plate and in the field. Foxx hit only 19 home runs, but still batted .300 and drove in 103 runs. Red Sox management hoped the lack of power was an anomoly. But obviously, something did happen to him, which caused him to diminish rapidly as an athlete.

There is no definitive medical proof that him getting hit in the head seven years earlier caused his subsequent problems. It seems likely that 26-year-old Foxx had his nasal passages knocked violently out of alignment by the errant pitch. But his sinus problem became more acute and he began to wear eyeglasses off the field to combat a decline in his vision. The combination of physical pain along with family and financial pressure eventually became too much for Foxx to endure and led to his drinking.

Ted Williams recalled a cross-country airplane flight at the conclusion of the season when the altitude exacerbated Jimmie’s condition. As a remedy for the pain, Foxx gulped down “about a dozen” miniature bottles of scotch. Adding to his already toxic situation, Jimmie’s wife had refused to move to Boston when he was traded there, staying in Philadelphia with their young son.

Joe Cronin hit .311 with 16 home runs and 95 runs batted in. When Jim Tabor got hurt in August, Cronin shifted to third base for 22 games. The team made good use of infielder Skeeter Newsome. He played in 93 games (69 at shortstop and 23 at second base), and hit for a .225 average. At the end of the year, Cronin decided it was time to hang it up and concentrate on managing.

Dom DiMaggio finished the year with a .283 batting average. But he was even more valuable to the Red Sox because he scored 117 runs. That was third in the American League only behind his brother and Ted. He could be counted on to set the table for Ted and Bobby Doerr.

Jim Tabor did not let the spring training problems faze him, however (or maybe the suspension got his attention), because he had a great first half of the season. By July, he was hitting 30 points higher than any other AL third baseman. By year’s end, his average had dropped off to .279, but he had a career high in RBIs with 101 in just 125 games (injuries curtailed his playing time). He also had a career-high 17 stolen bases, fifth best in the league. Tabor had 16 homers, 29 doubles, and 3 triples for the year. 

Though never again an All-Star, as he was in 1940, Lou Finney continued to provide valuable depth for the Red Sox. Finney banged out 24 more doubles and 4 home runs, and batted .288. Pete Fox played in 73 games for the Red Sox, hitting a very respectable .302

Johnny Peacock’s catching had improved to the point where he was considered a very acceptable receiver. But he wasn’t hitting as well early in the season and was a back-up to Pytlak. Then Peacock reeled off a string of eight consecutive hits in mid-July and finished the year batting .284.

DICK NEWSOME

Pitcher Dick Newsome was a 31-year-old rookie and had a great first season, beating every American League team at least once, and beating the White Sox seven times. He won 19 games, seven more wins than anyone else on the second-place Red Sox and was 13-5 at Fenway. His earned run average was 4.13, almost the same as the 4.19 team average and was the league’s best rookie pitcher. The Boston baseball writers voted him the rookie of the year of the two Boston teams, the Braves and Red Sox.

It had taken pitcher Joe Dobson a while to get established, but he became a regular in the rotation and at one point reeled off a string of seven straight victories — something always sure to impress. He could look back at a 12-5 season, with an improved 4.49 ERA, and know that he’d helped the Red Sox. Important also may have been Ted Williams, who had hurt his foot and wanted to take some extra batting practice to help him come back. Ted asked Joe to throw to him and as a result, Joe may have become better able to harness his pitches and develop his control. They would pretend it was a real game, and Dobson would throw his best to Ted. 

Mickey Harris had matured enough to finish the year with a mark of 8-14 (3.25 ERA), and even managed to be selected for the 1941 All-Star team.

Tex Hughson compiled a 5-3, 4.13 record in 12 appearances and 61 innings in his first season. His eight starts included four complete games. The biggest obstacle he would face in his career was not the opposition’s bats but the health of his pitching wing. In mid-August, he pulled his deltoid muscle, putting him on the shelf for the rest of the season.

When May rolled around, Earl Johnson began to hit his stride once more and was pitching well when he came down with a sore arm. He only started once In late August, the soreness in his arm had gone away, and he’d been unable to regain his control. Johnson’s totals at the end of his first full year in the majors were just 4-5, with a 4.52 ERA. 

Charlie Wagner spent the full year with the Red Sox. He pitched in 29 games with a record of 14-11 and a 3.29 ERA. Wagner was a solid part of the starting rotation. 

While recovering from surgery during the season, Nels Potter was sold to the Red Sox by the A's on June 30th. Appearing in just 10 games he compiled a 2-0 record and an encouraging 4.50 ERA.

Mike Ryba's first game was a start, in Washington on April 20th. It wasn’t his best performance, yielding four runs in six innings, but he won the game. By the end of June, he was 5-1 and by the end of the year he was 7-3 (4.46 ERA), working mostly in relief.

After the season the Sox put Jimmie Foxx on waivers. Foxx had seen his hard living take its toll, Grove was finished, and Cronin had retired as a player. By losing three of the best players ever to play their position, the Red Sox were entering a new era on the field. But Ted Williams, Bobby Doerr and Dom DiMaggio were entering their prime and seemed to be improving each year. Red Sox fans hopefully anticipated the next season as fall turned into winter.

Then on December 7th, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and that changed everything ..........