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1941 was an iconic year in baseball history, highlighted by the great individual accomplishments of Joe DiMaggio of the New York Yankees and Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox. Between the two, the Yankee Clipper’s record-setting 56-game hitting streak and the Splendid Splinter’s .406 season batting average have stood the test of time – nearly 80 years later, DiMaggio still has the longest hitting streak in baseball history and Williams remains the last man to hit .400 over a full season. These two Hall of Famers and baseball icons have been forever linked by their overlapping careers (they were arguably the two best players of their generation) and the fierce rivalry between the Yankees and the Red Sox, which leads to the inevitable question:
Who was better – Joe DiMaggio or Ted Williams?
The Beginning
Both DiMaggio and Williams were sons of California and honed their craft on the West Coast before taking their talents east to the big leagues in New York and Boston, respectively.
DiMaggio grew up in San Francisco and initially played semi-pro baseball before joining the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League, where he set a PCL record with a 61-game hitting streak (a harbinger of things to come). Despite nearly being derailed by a career-threatening knee injury, his contract was purchased by the New York Yankees for $50,000 and five players, and he would win PCL MVP in his final year with the Seals in 1935. Joining the Yankees in 1936, DiMaggio hit .323 as a rookie with 29 home runs (a Yankees rookie record for over 80 years until Aaron Judge hit 52 in 2017), 125 runs batted in, 132 runs scored, a .352 on-base percentage, and a .576 slugging percentage, good for a 128 OPS+ (which measures on-base percentage plus slugging vs. a league-wide average set at 100). While there was no Rookie of the Year award yet, DiMaggio would make the first of 13 career All-Star appearances (i.e. every year of his career).
Also a California native, Williams spent his formative years in San Diego and spurned contract offers from the St. Louis Cardinals and New York Yankees while in high school before signing with the San Diego Padres in the PCL. Following a couple of strong seasons in the PCL, the Boston Red Sox, who had been scouting Williams, purchased his contract for $35,000 and two players in 1937. In his one season with the Double-A Minneapolis Millers, Williams would win the Triple Crown and finish second for MVP (somewhat of a consistent theme throughout his career) in the American Association before being called up to the majors in 1939. His first MLB season was a memorable one – Williams hit .327 with 31 home runs, a league-high 145 runs batted in (the first rookie to lead the league in RBIs), 131 runs scored, a .436 on-base percentage (buoyed by an AL-best and rookie record 107 walks), and a .609 slugging percentage (160 OPS+), while also leading baseball in total bases; though he was not named to the All-Star team, Williams did finish fourth in the MVP race.
Career Comparison
Throughout the 1940s and to a lesser extent, the 1950s, DiMaggio and Williams were two of the best players in baseball, racking up batting titles, MVPs, and other awards, highlighted by the unforgettable 1941 season; in addition, due to the advent of World War II, both players lost some of their prime years to war service.
In an encore to his rookie season, DiMaggio produced one of his best seasons in 1937, finishing second in the MVP race to Charlie Gehringer of the Detroit Tigers on the back of a .346 batting average with 46 home runs, 167 runs batted in, 151 runs scored, a .412 on-base percentage, and a .673 slugging percentage, good for a 166 OPS+; the home runs, runs scored, and slugging percentage all led the league and were also career-bests, as was the runs batted in. Two years later, DiMaggio would win his first MVP award, hitting a career-high and league-best .381 with 30 home runs, 126 runs batted in, 108 runs scored, a .448 on-base percentage, and a .671 slugging percentage (184 OPS+).
After a second straight batting title in 1940 (.352), DiMaggio would capture the imagination of baseball fans everywhere in 1941 with his famous hitting streak – starting on May 15, he would proceed to hit safely in 56 straight games until the streak was snapped on July 17, in the process breaking both George Sisler’s modern-day AL-record 41-game hitting streak (1922) and Willie Keeler’s then-record 44-game single-season hitting streak; the record continues to stand today and may never be broken, with the closest challenger in recent history being Pete Rose in 1978 (44 games). Overall, for the season, DiMaggio hit .357 with 30 home runs, a league-leading 125 runs batted in, 122 runs scored, a .440 on-base percentage, and a .643 slugging percentage (good for a 184 OPS+) and took home his second MVP award, though many believe Ted Williams should have won it that year (more on him later).
1942 would be DiMaggio’s last season in MLB before enlisting in the Air Force during World War II, which caused him to miss the 1943-1945 seasons (though he did spend most of his service time playing baseball); pre-World War II, he had seven straight seasons of hitting above .300 with 20+ home runs, 100+ runs batted in, and 90+ runs scored. He returned to MLB in 1946, though had a relatively down season by his very high standards. In 1947, the Yankees and Red Sox reached a verbal agreement to swap DiMaggio and Williams, but the deal fell through when New York would not include Yogi Berra in the deal. That season, DiMaggio hit .315 with 20 home runs, 97 runs batted in, 97 runs scored, a .391 on-base percentage, and a .598 slugging percentage (154 OPS+) to win his third and final MVP award, though again, many believe Williams should have been crowned MVP that season on the strength of his Triple Crown (again, more on that shortly). Though he nearly repeated as MVP the following season (.320 batting average, league-leading 39 home runs and 155 runs batted in, 110 runs scored, .396 on-base percentage, .598 slugging percentage, league-high 355 total bases, 163 OPS+), DiMaggio was nearing the end of his career; after one last truly great season in 1950 (in which he led the league with a .585 slugging percentage), he was dogged by injury and underwhelmed in 1951 before retiring at age 36.
As for Williams, he would follow up on his rookie season with his first All-Star appearance in 1940, leading the league in both runs scored and on-base percentage that year. His iconic 1941 season was next – that season, Williams batted .406 with a league-high 37 home runs and 120 runs batted in, and led the league with 135 runs scored, a career-best .553 on-base percentage and a career-high .735 slugging percentage (career-best 235+ OPS); on the last day of the season, he was batting .39955 (which would have rounded up to .400) and Boston manager Joe Cronin offered to sit him for both games of the doubleheader, but Williams insisted on playing and had six hits in eight at-bats, thus bringing his final batting average to .406. This was the first .400 season in baseball since Bill Terry’s .401 in 1930 and the first in the AL since Harry Heilmann’s .403 since 1923, and the mystical mark has not been reached since Williams accomplished the feat (the closest being Tony Gwynn’s .394 in the strike-shortened 1994 season). Despite putting together one of the greatest offensive seasons in baseball history, Williams only finished second in the AL MVP race to aforementioned DiMaggio and his 56-game hitting streak.
Incredibly, Williams not only repeated as batting champion in 1942 (overall, he would win six batting titles), but also took home the rare and coveted Triple Crown that year, hitting .356 with 36 home runs, 137 runs batted in, 141 runs scored, a .499 on-base percentage, and a .648 slugging percentage, good for a 216 OPS+; yet again, he would only finish second in the AL MVP race, this time to DiMaggio’s Yankees teammate Joe Gordon. After serving in the Navy during World War II from 1943 to 1945 (like DiMaggio, Williams spent most of his service playing baseball), Williams returned to MLB in 1946 and broke through with his first MVP: .342 batting average, 38 home runs, 123 runs batted in, a league-high 142 runs scored, a .497 on-base percentage, and a .667 slugging percentage (215 OPS+). This was followed by two more standout seasons in 1947 and 1949:
- 1947: a second Triple Crown with a .343 batting average, 32 home runs, 114 runs batted in, 125 runs scored, a .499 on-base percentage, and a .634 slugging percentage (205 OPS+); despite leading the AL in nearly every offensive category, Williams again finished second to DiMaggio for MVP (whose Yankees would win the World Series again that season)
- 1949: a second MVP with a .343 batting average, a league-best and career-high 43 home runs and 159 runs batted in, 150 runs scored, a .490 on-base percentage, and a .650 slugging percentage (191 OPS+)
Overall, Williams was an incredibly consistent offensive force throughout the 1940s – in every full season he played from 1940 to 1949, he led the league in on-base percentage (7x in the 1940s, and 12x overall on the strength of having the most walks 8x), including 5x above .500, and is baseball’s all-time career leader with a .482 mark. Moreover, he also led the league in slugging 6x from 1941 to 1949, and 9x overall.
Throughout the 1950s, Williams remained an All-Star player, but was no longer the perennial MVP candidate of his 20s. After another .300-30-100-100 season in 1951, he missed most of the 1952 and 1953 seasons serving in the US Marine Corps during the Korean War; upon his return, he resumed being a .300 hitter and would take home his last two batting titles in 1957 (.388) and 1958 (.328). After a playing career that spanned four decades (1930s, 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s), Williams retired after the 1960 season at age 41, fittingly hitting a home run in the final at-bat of his final career game.
Due to the longevity of his career (19 season to DiMaggio’s 13), Williams has a distinctive edge in almost every major counting offensive category; in terms of ratios and averages, he also outpaces DiMaggio in terms of batting average, on-base percentage (due in large part to his superior eye for drawing walks; as mentioned, no player in baseball history got on base at a higher rate than Williams), slugging, and OPS+. Looking at “great” seasons, things are a little closer – while Williams again leads by a healthy margin in .300+ seasons (16 to 11), he only has smaller leads in 30+ home run seasons (8 to 7), 100+ runs scored seasons (9 to 8), and the two men are tied for seasons with 100+ runs batted in (9 each). Both men have very full award cases – Williams has more All-Star selections (19 vs. 13), batting titles (6 vs. 2), and Triple Crowns (2 vs. 0), but DiMaggio won more MVPs during his career (3 vs. 2; as mentioned, there is strong argument that Williams was more deserving in 1941 and 1947). Based on all of these factors, it should come as no surprise that Williams has a significantly higher career Wins Above Replacement (WAR) of 123.1 to DiMaggio’s 78.1; however, it must be noted that despite Williams’ hitting prowess, DiMaggio was the far superior baserunner and defensive outfielder – though baseball did not yet award Gold Gloves, DiMaggio was considered one of the finest center fielders in the game during his time. Both men were quickly inducted into Cooperstown post-retirement, DiMaggio in 1955 and Williams in 1966.
Regular Season Statistics
| Joe DiMaggio | Player | Ted Williams |
| 13 (1936-1942, 1946-1951) | Seasons | 19 (1939-1942, 1946-1960) |
| 1,736 | Games Played | 2,292 |
| 6,821 | At-Bats | 7,706 |
| 2,214 | Hits | 2,654 |
| 1,390 | Runs | 1,798 |
| 361 | Home Runs | 521 |
| 1,537 | Runs Batted In | 1,839 |
| 790 | Walks | 2,021 |
| 30 | Stolen Bases | 24 |
| .325 | Batting Average | .344 |
| .398 | On-Base Percentage | .482 |
| .579 | Slugging Percentage | .634 |
| 155 | OPS+ | 190 |
| 78.1 | Wins Above Replacement | 123.1 |
| 13x | All-Star Games | 19x |
| 3x | MVP | 2x |
| 9x | World Series Titles | – |
| 2x Batting Title, 1x ML POY | Other Awards | 2x Triple Crown, 6x Batting Title, 5x ML POY |
| 1955 | Hall of Fame Induction | 1966 |
Source: Baseball-Reference.com
Given the Yankees team dynasty of the 1940s and 1950s, there is a clear dichotomy in playoff appearances and numbers between DiMaggio and Williams – remember, in those days, the winners of the AL and NL pennants met directly in the World Series.
During his 13-year career, DiMaggio played with plethora of Hall of Fame teammates (among them Lou Gehrig, Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, Bill Dickey, Lefty Gomez, Phil Rizzuto, Joe Gordon, Whitey Ford, Tony Lazzeri, Red Ruffing, and Johnny Mize) and appeared in the World Series 10x, coming away with nine titles. This makes him the second-winningest player in baseball history behind only Berra; in terms of his individual play, though, he had a career postseason average well below .300 and generally produced at a level below his regular season performance.
Every time DiMaggio and the Yankees made the World Series was a season in which Williams and the Red Sox missed the playoffs – as such, Williams only appeared in the postseason once in his long career. In the 1946 World Series, after being hit on the elbow by a curveball late in the regular season, Williams only batted .200 (5 hits in 25 at-bats) and the Red Sox fell to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games.
Playoff Statistics
| Joe DiMaggio | Player | Ted Williams |
| 51 | Games Played | 7 |
| 199 | At-Bats | 25 |
| 54 | Hits | 5 |
| 27 | Runs | 2 |
| 8 | Home Runs | – |
| 30 | Runs Batted In | 1 |
| 19 | Walks | 5 |
| – | Stolen Bases | – |
| .271 | Batting Average | .200 |
| .338 | On-Base Percentage | .333 |
| .422 | Slugging Percentage | .200 |
Source: Baseball-Reference.com
Every athlete goes through a natural career lifecycle, from starting off as a rookie to reaching peak years of performance and finally, declining into the inevitable retirement due to a combination of age and/or injury; though both DiMaggio and Williams managed to sustain a very high level of play nearly until retirement, each was slowed by injuries at various points and lost roughly three prime years due to World War II. For Hall of Fame caliber players across sports, I like to look at a concept I call a “decade of dominance.” The thinking behind this is that for most Hall of Fame type careers, there are roughly 10 great seasons that define an athlete (this idea is embodied in a sense by the NFL’s All-Decade teams), though due to injury or other factors, they might not be 10 consecutive years.
Decade of Dominance
| Joe DiMaggio | Player | Ted Williams |
| 1936-1942, 1947-1948, 1950 | Decade of Dominance | 1939-1942, 1946-1949, 1951, 1957 |
| 1,412 | Games Played | 1,464 |
| 5,631 | At-Bats | 5,172 |
| 1,865 | Hits | 1,820 |
| 1,179 | Runs | 1,287 |
| 310 | Home Runs | 333 |
| 1,304 | Runs Batted In | 1,251 |
| 615 | Walks | 1,364 |
| 29 | Stolen Bases | 17 |
| .331 | Batting Average | .352 |
| .401 | On-Base Percentage | .489 |
| .596 | Slugging Percentage | .640 |
| 65.9 | Wins Above Replacement | 89.5 |
Source: Baseball-Reference.com
Given the large disparity in overall career lengths, decades of dominance are probably the most apples-to-apples comparison between DiMaggio and Williams – here, their respective counting stats are relatively similar, though Williams still had a much higher batting average and was far superior at getting on-base, which largely accounts for the nearly 25 point difference in WAR over 10 years.
My Thoughts
From a historical perspective, Joe DiMaggio is arguably one of the most popular players in baseball history – in a poll taken in 1969 during baseball’s centennial, he was voted greatest living player. As one of the cornerstones of the Yankees dynasty, he is also one of the greatest winners in MLB history. Throughout both his career and in his post-playing days, DiMaggio in many ways overshadowed his Red Sox counterpart Williams, but does that make him the better player? First of all, with both players, there is a bit of what could have been – had it not been for World War II (which took DiMaggio’s age 28-30 seasons and Williams’ age 24-26 years), what would each player’s career numbers look like? Nevertheless, based on their career accomplishments, I think Williams was actually the better player – he was the far better overall hitter (the argument could be made that between his high batting average and propensity for drawing walks, Williams is the greatest hitter of all-time – greatest hitter, not greatest player), which compensates for his average baserunning and defense. Moreover, he was a 2x Triple Crown winner and were it not for some potential media bias towards World Series winning-teams, Williams should probably have four or five MVP trophies. Yes, DiMaggio has the championship rings, but baseball is more of a team sport than perhaps any other and so, I do not think you can hold that all against Williams; were the tables reversed, I think it is very likely Williams would have many World Series titles and DiMaggio none or maybe one (imagine if that 1947 trade had come to fruition!).
Thus, after weighing their careers against each other in terms of statistics, achievements, and impact, the winner of this faceoff is:
Ted Williams
As always, vote for your choice and leave your thoughts and comments below.
Further Reading
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