‘Corey Seager’ was not Ted Williams.
A story that has become legendary in the competition for the Major League batting title is Ted Williams’ last attempt to hit .400 in 1941. MLB has not produced a .400 hitter in 82 years since Williams.스포츠토토
Boston Red Sox slugger Williams had a batting average of 0.3995 before the final game of the 1941 regular season against the Philadelphia Athletics. He didn’t know that if you rounded it up he would have 40%. However, Williams pressed ahead with his participation. Even if he gets no hits in 3 at-bats, his batting average drops to 0.397.
Williams raised his batting average to 0.404 with 4 hits in 5 at-bats in the first game of the doubleheader. Coach Joe Cronin urged him to rest on the bench for the second game, but Williams insisted on playing in this game as well. He finished the season with a batting average of 0.406, going 2-for-3.
1941 remains a turning point in MLB history. This is the season in which Williams’ batting average was .400 and New York Yankees’ Joe DiMaggio hit in 56 consecutive games. These two records are immortal records that will never be broken. This year’s American League MVP went to DiMaggio.
As to why Williams’ .400 batting average was suddenly brought up, the final game’s AL batting average leader, Andy Diaz of the Tampa Bay Rays and Corey Seager of the Texas Rangers, were tied for the lead with 0.330.
However, Diaz maintained a batting average of 0.330 in the final game of the regular season against the Toronto Blue Jays on the 2nd (Korean time), while Seager recorded no hits in 4 at-bats against the Seattle Mariners and was satisfied with second place with 0.327. Seattle, whose postseason was frustrated the day before, on the 2nd, starting Wayne Kirby and three bullpen pitchers put Texas to sleep with 4 hits and shut out the team 1-0, handing over the AL West division spot to Houston.
Seattle took revenge for its postseason frustration by preventing Seager from winning the AL batting title and winning the district championship. Seattle, the only team out of 30 MLB teams that did not even advance to the World Series, advanced to the postseason for the first time in 22 years last year, but this year it suffered 88 wins and 74 losses, reflecting on the pain of fall baseball frustration. Last year it was 90 wins and 72 losses.
The positions of Tampa Bay Diaz and Texas Seager in the final game were quite different. Tampa Bay had already secured first place in the AL Wild Card, so winning or losing against Toronto was not important. However, the game was won 12-8. Texas needed to win against Seattle to advance to the Division Series without the Wild Card Series, so Seager, the core of the offense and defense, was desperately needed.
In fact, the MLB batting average competition is not just a great competition that remains in baseball history like Williams. There are quite a few cases where he misses the final game of the regular season in order to maintain his batting average. In the KBO League, last-minute behavior is more often mentioned than great competition.
In 2011, New York Mets shortstop Jose Reyes won his first batting title with a batting average of 0.3371. Ryan Braun of the Milwaukee Brewers, in second place, had 0.3321. Rayes appeared at bat in the final game against the Cincinnati Reds, added a hit, and did not stand at bat again. Before he played in his final game, his batting average was .336.
The National League was dominated by Miami Marlins second baseman Luis Arraez, who missed the last two games due to a poor ankle condition. He won the batting title for two consecutive years with a batting average of 0.354. In particular, he won the batting title last year with the Minnesota Twins’ AL and this year with the Marlins’ NL. The batting leaders in both leagues since 1900 are current New York Yankees DJs LeMahieu and Araez. LeMahieu had a batting average of 0.348 for the Colorado Rockies in 2016 and 0.364 during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.