Ted Williams Quotes

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Mon, 9 May 2005 23:00:17 -0400, Benjamin Zimmer
<bgzimmer at RCI.RUTGERS.EDU> wrote:

>On Mon, 9 May 2005 17:16:05 -0400, Fred Shapiro <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
>wrote:
>
>>Here's two for the ProQuest and Newspaperarchive experts, particularly
>>the baseball-oriented ones:
>>
>>a) Can anyone help me trace how far back Ted Williams' line to the
>>effect that "Baseball is the only field of endeavor where a man can
>>succeed three times out of ten and be considered a good performer" goes?
>
>I haven't found any attributions to Williams before 1977.

Here's the closest I could find in _My Turn at Bat_ (1969):

-----
I think without question the hardest single thing to do in sport is to hit
a baseball. A .300 hitter, that rarest of breeds these days, goes through
life with the certainty that he will fail at his job seven out of ten
times. If Dan Marino completed three of every ten passes he threw he would
be the ex-quarterback of the Miami Dolphins.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0671634232/?v=search-inside&keywords=marino
-----

Williams (with coauthor John Underwood) expanded on this point in _The
Science of Hitting_ (1970):

-----
Hitting a baseball -- I've said it a thousand times -- is the single most
difficult thing to do in sport.
I get raised eyebrows and occasional arguments when I say that, but what
is there that is harder to do? What is there that requires more natural
ability, more physical dexterity, more mental alertness? That requires a
greater finesse to go with physical strength, that has as many variables
and as few constants, and that carries with it the continuing frustration
of knowing that even if you are a .300 hitter -- which is a rare item
these days -- you are going to fail at your job seven out of ten times?
If Joe Montana or Dan Marino completed three of every ten passes they
attempted, they would be ex-professional quarterbacks. If Larry Bird or
Magic Johnson made three of every ten shots they took, their coaches would
take the basketball away from them.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0671621033/?v=search-inside&keywords=marino
http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/excerpts/science_of_hitting.stm
-----


--Ben Zimmer