Editing Ted Williams (section)

====1939–1940====
[[File:1939 Ted Williams.png|thumb|upright=0.7|Williams during his rookie season]]

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.<ref name="Montville56-57">[[#Montville|Montville]], pp. 56–57.</ref> In the winter, the Red Sox traded right fielder [[Ben Chapman (baseball)|Ben Chapman]] to the [[Cleveland Indians]] to make room for Williams on the roster, even though Chapman had hit .340 in the previous season.<ref>[[#Williams|Williams & Underwood]], p. 57; [[#Montville|Montville]], p. 57.</ref> This led ''[[The Boston Globe|Boston Globe]]'' [[Sports journalism|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".<ref name="Montville56-57"/> Williams inherited Chapman's number 9 on his uniform as opposed to Williams' number 5 in the previous spring training. He made his [[Major League Baseball|major league]] debut against the New York Yankees on April 20, going 1-for-4 against Yankee pitcher [[Red Ruffing]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 20, 1939 |title=Boston Red Sox vs New York Yankees Box Score: April 20, 1939 |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYA/NYA193904200.shtml |access-date=December 26, 2024 |website=[[Baseball Reference]] |language=en}}</ref> This was the only game which featured both Williams and [[Lou Gehrig]] playing against one another.<ref>[[#Williams|Williams & Underwood]], p. 61.</ref> 

In his first series at [[Fenway Park]], Williams hit a [[double (baseball)|double]], a home run, and a [[triple (baseball)|triple]], the first two against [[Cotton Pippen]], who gave Williams his first strikeout as a professional while Williams had been in San Diego.<ref name="Williams62">[[#Williams|Williams & Underwood]], p. 62.</ref> By July, Williams was hitting just .280, but leading the league in RBI.<ref name="Williams62"/> 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.<ref>[[#Montville|Montville]], p. 61.</ref> In 149 games, Williams batted .327 with 31 home runs and 145 RBI,<ref name="baseball reference">{{cite web |title=Ted Williams Career Statistics |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/willite01.shtml |website=[[Baseball Reference]]}}</ref> leading the league in the latter category, the first rookie to lead the league in RBIs and finishing fourth in MVP voting.<ref>[[#Williams|Williams & Underwood]], p. 63; [[#Montville|Montville]], p. 62.</ref> He also led the AL in walks, with 107, a rookie record. Even though there was not a [[Major League Baseball Rookie of the Year Award|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".<ref>[[#Williams|Williams & Underwood]], p. 65.</ref>

Williams' pay doubled in 1940, going from $5,000 to $10,000.<ref>[[#Williams|Williams & Underwood]], p. 73.</ref> A new bullpen 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".<ref name="Montville63">[[#Montville|Montville]], p. 63.</ref> Williams was then switched from right field to [[left fielder|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 the great slugger [[Jimmie Foxx]], with the idea that Williams would get more pitches to hit.<ref name="Montville63"/> Pitchers, though, proved willing to [[walk (baseball)|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 (baseball)|player-manager]].<ref>[[#Montville|Montville]], p. 64.</ref> Williams also made his first of 16 [[All-Star Game]] appearances in 1940, going 0-for-2.<ref name="allstar">{{cite web |title=Ted Williams All-Star Stats |url=https://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/playerpost.php?p=willite01&ps=asg |website=[[Baseball Almanac]]}}</ref> Although Williams hit .344, his power and runs batted in were down from the previous season, with 23 home runs and 113 RBI in 144 games played.<ref name="baseball reference"/> 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.<ref>[[#Montville|Montville]], pp. 66–67.</ref> 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 a 12–1 loss to the [[Detroit Tigers]], allowing one earned run on three hits, while striking out one batter, [[Rudy York]].<ref>{{cite web |date=August 24, 1940 |title=Detroit Tigers vs Boston Red Sox Box Score: August 24, 1940 |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS194008241.shtml |website=[[Baseball Reference]]}}</ref><ref>[[#Williams|Williams & Underwood]], p. 82.</ref>