Who was a greater ballplayer, Joe DiMaggio or Ted Williams?
Joe D was great, But I think that Ted Williams was better. Williams was a two-time American League Most Valuable Player (MVP) winner, led the league in batting six times, and won the Triple Crown twice. He had a career batting average of .344, with 521 home runs. He is the last player in Major League Baseball to bat over .400 in a single season (.406 in 1941). Williams holds the highest career batting average of anyone with 500 or more home runs. His .551 on base percentage set a record that stood for 61 years. That is incredible. He was also a great sport fisherman, and he was inducted into the IGFA Fishing Hall of Fame.
Ted Williams was the greater hitter — his lifetime slugging average is second only to Babe Ruth’s. But for all-around play, I’d pick Joe DiMaggio. He was an incredibly good center fielder — the other players would watch to see how he was playing each batter; he was aware of everything that was going on. Williams, by contrast, was put in left field (Dom DiMaggio was in center!), where he would practice his swing between batters — not, I hope, during an at-bat.
