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Ted Williams with the Boston Red Sox in 1958

Ted Williams learned to hit on the playgrounds of North Park

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Photo: Unknown author, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Theodore Samuel Williams was born in San Diego in 1918 and grew up in a small house on Utah Street in North Park. He spent long hours at the North Park playground, hitting balls with anyone who would pitch to him.

He played at Herbert Hoover High School and signed with the San Diego Padres of the Pacific Coast League in 1936, when he was 17. He played at Lane Field on the waterfront for two seasons before the Boston Red Sox bought his contract.

The career

Williams played his entire major league career with the Red Sox, from 1939 to 1960. In 1941 he hit .406, the last time a major league player hit over .400 for a season. He won six batting titles and two Triple Crowns, and finished with 521 home runs and a career on-base percentage that remains the highest ever.

He lost nearly five seasons to military service as a Marine pilot in World War II and Korea, where he flew combat missions.

San Diego memory

Williams was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1966. Late in life he supported the Jimmy Fund, the cancer charity in Boston. He died in 2002.

San Diego remembers him with the Ted Williams Parkway, part of State Route 56, and Hoover High keeps his name on its baseball field. His story is a part of San Diego’s baseball history, along with Tony Gwynn and the Padres who came after him.

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