Editing Ted Williams (section)

====1950–1955====
[[File:Ted Williams 1954 Bowman.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.7|1954 baseball card]]

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.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Rogers III |first1=C. Paul |title=July 11, 1950: Red Schoendienst's 14th-inning homer gives NL a dramatic All-Star win |url=https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/july-11-1950-red-schoendiensts-extra-inning-homer-gives-national-league-dramatic-win/ |website=[[Society for American Baseball Research]]}}</ref> Williams played the rest of the game, and he even singled in a run to give the American League the lead in the fifth inning,<ref name=allstar/> but by that time Williams' arm was a "balloon" and he was in great pain, so he left the game.<ref>[[#Williams|Williams & Underwood]], p. 167.</ref> Both of the doctors who X-rayed Williams held little hope for a full recovery. The doctors operated on Williams for two hours.<ref>[[#Williams|Williams & Underwood]], p. 168.</ref> When Williams took his cast off, he could only extend the arm to within four inches of his right arm.<ref name="Williams169">[[#Williams|Williams & Underwood]], p. 169.</ref> Williams only played 89 games in 1950, but managed to hit .317 with 28 home runs and 97 RBI.<ref name="baseball reference"/> After 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.<ref>[[#Linn|Linn]], p. 241.</ref>

In 1951, Williams "struggled", hiting .318, with his elbow still hurting.<ref name="Williams172">[[#Williams|Williams & Underwood]], p. 172.</ref> Despite this, he played in 148 games, 60 more than in the previous season, while hitting 30 home runs, two more than in 1950, and 126 RBI, 29 more than 1950.<ref name="baseball reference" /> Despite his lower-than-usual production at bat, Williams made the All-Star team.<ref name=allstar/> 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 [[List of lifetime home run leaders in Major League Baseball|all-time in career home runs]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Ted Williams 1951 Batting Game Logs |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/gl.fcgi?id=willite01&t=b&year=1951 |website=[[Baseball Reference]]}}</ref> After 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.<ref name="Williams172"/>