Ted Williams Milestone

Just one look at that classic swing and you know the hitter is Ted Williams. The occasion is a milestone. Williams obtaining his 2,000th career hit, a pop-fly single, in the first inning against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium, Aug. 11, 1955.

The 2,000th hit by the Boston Red Sox legend came off pitcher Bob Turley. In this photo, Jim Honochick is the umpire and Yogi Berra is the catcher who can only watch as Williams launches a blooper that would drop among Mickey Mantle, Phil Rizzuto and Elston Howard for a hit.

Williams was the last man to bat .400 or better over a season and was perhaps the greatest hitter in baseball history. The Times wrote in 2002 when the Boston Red Sox slugger died, “He belonged in a circle of but a few figures who were on a trajectory toward the Hall of Fame from their earliest playing days. He was the ultimate perfectionist at the plate and was gifted with extraordinary eyesight and possessed of supreme devotion to his craft. He was ranked with Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth and Joe DiMaggio as pre-eminent figures in the history of the game.”