How many years did Ted Williams fight in WWII? In effect, how many HR's might he have hit?

Answer 1

Williams missed all of the 43,44 and 45 seasons. In the 2 years before and after, he averaged about 35 homers a year.However, if he had been unable to fight in the war, he probably would have been facing inferior pitching, as a good number of the front line pitchers of his time were also in the service at this time. I think it would be safe to assume he would have hit about 40 each of those seasons for a total of 120.
He also missed about the equivalent of a season and a half during the Korean War, playing only 63 games between the 52 and 53 seasons. I think he very easily lost another 40-50 HR's in that period. I think it would be safe to assume he would have been around 680 for his career, but if he had been near 700 or so, taking in to account the fact that he had, like most of the great athletes, a tremendous ego, he may have tried to hang on for one or two more seasons to try to break Ruth's record of 714.

Answer 2

Ted Williams fought in WWII for 3 years. He might have hit about 85 more home runs in that 3-year span. So his career total could have went from 521 to 606.

Answer 3

Ted lost the entirety of the 1943, 1944, and 1945 seasons to World War II; he also lost most of the 1952 and 1953 seasons to the Korean War. Through his career, he averaged just under 30 HR per year, so not losing those years would have added around another 140 to his total, which would have put him around 660 for his career.

Answer 4

If you estimate the number of homers he would have hit in the years he spent in the service, you'll get a wide variety of answers. The most likely scenario is that based on the 30 plus homers he was hitting in the years just before he left for the military, he may have had another 120 plus home runs, for a career total of around 640-650 round trippers.

Answer 5

He lost 3 years to WWII and 1 to the Korean war and ended with 521 hr's. So 600 hundred total probably would have been achieved.

Answer 6

Williams was in the service during WWII but never saw combat. He did fly a number of missions during Korea.

Given back his nearly five full seasons missed for military service -- thanks, Ted -- he'd probably have finished near 700 homers, 3200 hits, and well over 2500 walks (Bonds might still be chasing that record).

Answer 7

I think Ted spent 5 of his "playing" years in the service. I guess he would have hit 800 plus if not for his time in service. He missed some prime ball playing years.