That’s what Ted Williams said, presumably referring primarily to the 1949 and 1950 seasons. Unfortunately, Williams was not more specific and otherwise may not have known what the heck he was talking about.
Written March 4, 2003 in a SABR Researcher's Notebook is a reference to what Williams said:
When Ted Williams was holding court at Fenway Park several years ago he was asked why the Red Sox won only one pennant during his tenure in Boston. Ted replied that if the Sox had had a shortstop like Rizzuto they would have won many pennants.
Both Williams and Rizzuto missed the 1943, 1944, 1945 seasons due to military service during WWII. Here is Boston’s record after Rizzuto became the starting SS of the Yankees:
year wins fin GB SS
1941 84 2 17 behind Yankees Cronin (final season as regular; .311)
1942 93 2 9 behind Yankees Pesky
1946 104 1 0 Pesky
1947 83 3 16 behind Yankees Pesky
1948 96 2 1 behind Cleveland Stephens
1949 96 2 1 behind Yankees Stephens
1950 94 3 4 behind Yankees Stephens
1951 87 3 11 behind Yankees Pesky
Why didn't Williams mention Lou Boudreau, 1948 AL MVP? Boudreau led AL with 10.4 WAR; Rizzuto had 1.2. Boudreau was player/manager and SS of Cleveland 1942 - 1950. Williams and Boudreau were teammates in 1951. Boudreau was Boston manager 1952 - 1954 when Williams played 6, 37, 117 games. In 1952 Boudreau also played four games.
In 1950 Williams played only 89 games, 416 plate appearances (PA). Due to military service in Korea Williams hardly played the next two seasons:
1952 - 6 games
1953 - 37 games.
Boston finished 6,4,4,4 1952 through 1955. 1955 was Rizzuto's last season with significant time as SS of the Yankees - only 81 games, 181 PA; Billy Hunter was considered the starter - 98 games, 279 PA.
Whether he knew it or not Teddy Ballgame was referring to just three seasons when Boston finished closer than 9 games behind: 1948 (1) Cleveland, 1949 (1), 1950 (4), the only three seasons when Vern Stephens was Boston’s starting SS. Stephens was basically replaced by Johnny Pesky in 1951 and Johnny Lipon in 1952. In 1953 1954 and 1955 Vern Stephens played for the White Sox, Browns/Orioles and White Sox again before retiring.
I was all set to try to analyze this when it occurred to me that there are multiple interpretations to what Williams may have meant.
1. Replace Stephens with Rizzuto. Who plays SS for Yanks? Stephens?
2. Move Stephens to third and put Rizzuto at SS. Big difference than simply replacing Stephens with Rizzuto.
3. Have Rizzuto play SS for both teams. But what happens to Stephens?
4. Trade Stephens for Rizzuto even up.
Let’s look at batting first and include Pesky just for fun.
OPS+ (On base plus slugging adjusted for parks and league)
year Pesky Stephens (RBI) Rizzuto
1948 98 113 (137) 79
1949 104 137 (159) 88
1950 104 113 (144) 122
Stephens led AL in RBI in 1949 and 1950. Obviously, the only season in which Rizzuto is even a factor is 1950 when Boston finished third, four games back.
Let’s try something more esoteric: wins above replacement (WAR) broken into its components: offense and defense.
1948 Pesky Stephens Rizzuto
oWAR 3.0 3.7 1.5
dWAR .5 1.9 .9
WAR 3.6 4.6 1.6
1949 Pesky Stephens Rizzuto
oWAR 3.6 5.9 2.1
dWAR .5 2.0 1.9
WAR 4.1 6.9 3.0
1950 Pesky Stephens Rizzuto
oWAR 3.0 3.6 5.7
dWAR .3 1.0 2.1
WAR 3.3 3.7 6.8
Maybe Rizzuto makes the difference in 1950 as he sweeps all three but it depends a lot on which scenario is used. Obviously, it’s not a no brainer as Williams may have convinced himself. Common sense would tell us that Rizzuto would need to make a lot more plays in the field to make up for all the RBI by Stephens.
Let’s look just at defense; remember Pesky was playing third base.
RF/G (range factor per game: (putouts + assists)/games played):
year Pesky Stephens Rizzuto
1948 3.01 5.22 4.74
1949 3.49 4.94 5.06
1950 3.59 4.72 4.86
Rizzuto has a slight edge in two seasons but Stephens has a larger edge in the other.
What about 1947, the season before Stephens joined Boston? Here are AL SS leaders:
Range Factor/Game as SS
1. Joost (PHA) 5.44
2. Boudreau (CLE) 5.27
3. Rizzuto (NYY) 5.23
4. Stephens (SLB) 5.21
5. Appling (CHW) 5.07
Fielding % as SS
1. Boudreau (CLE) .982
2. Christman (WSH) .978
3. Pesky (BOS) .976
4. Stephens (SLB) .970
5. Rizzuto (NYY) .969
Pesky’s RF/G in 1946 was 5.07 and 1947 was 4.83; in 1947 Pesky also played 22 games at third. Boudreau may have been the best fielding SS. Stephens held his own. Pesky’s decreacing range may have been why he was moved to third by new manager Joe McCarthy.
What about Rizzuto’s prowess turning the double play?
AL Team DP:
1948:
1. SBL 190
5. BOS 174
6. NYY 161
1949:
1. PHA 217
2. BOS 207
3. NYY 195
1950:
1. PHA 208
3. NYY 188
4. BOS 181
Williams probably thought of Stephens as a good hit, no field SS and Rizzuto as a wiz on defense. The numbers suggest that both views are incorrect.
Plus, when Williams was dieing he was visited by three former teammates: Dom DiMaggio, Bobby Doerr and Johnny Pesky. This is described in the 2003 book The Teammates: A Portrait of Friendship by David Halberstam. It suggests that Williams was friendly with Pesky. Unknown is the relationship between Williams and Stephens.
Stephens was acquired by Boston on November 17, 1947 from the St. Louis Browns.
Joe McCarthy managed Boston in 1948, 1949 and 59 games in 1950. McCarthy made the decision to move Pesky from SS to third replacing Sam Dente who batted .232 with no home runs in his 1947 rookie season. The day after acquiring Stephens from the Browns Boston traded Dente to the Browns in a deal that brought pitcher Ellis Kinder to Boston. Kinder pitched for Boston from 1948 through 1955 and was a starter in 1948, 1949, 1950, leading AL in 1949 in winning percentage with .793 (23-6) and shutouts with 6.
McCarthy replaced Pesky at SS with Stephens. McCarthy had managed the Yankees from 1931 through 1945, managing Rizzuto in 1941 and 1942. McCarthy must have considered Stephens a better defensive SS than Pesky or he would left Pesky at SS and put the home run hitting Stephens at third. Stephens had already lead AL in RBI in 1944 (109) and home runs in 1945 (24). Stephens RBI in his first three seasons with Boston: 137, 159, 144.
Would the Boston Red Sox have won more AL pennants with Phil Rizzuto at SS instead of Vern Stephens? Maybe in 1950, Rizzuto’s AL MVP season, but even that is not sure. Williams does not seem to have analysed this very carefully and may have been influenced by his feelings about both Pesky and Stephens.
Boston’s problem was not Stephens playing SS. Boston’s problem was that the roster was loaded up for Fenway Park.
In the 1948,1949,1950 seasons Boston scored more runs at home than on the road by these margins: 55, 132, 223! Per game the difference was: .63, 1.7, 2.9! In 1948 and 1949 Boston per game allowed FEWER runs at home: -.68, -.61. In 1950 Boston per game allowed more runs at home: .65.
Here are the numbers for the two recent 162 game seasons (2004,2007) when Boston won the MLB championship, aka, World Series: more runs at home: 85,77. Per game the difference: 1.05, .95. RA home > RA road per game: .15,.58.
It wasn't even Boston's pitching that did them in. It was their lopsided offense.
1948: RS RA Rdiff Wins
Cleveland 5.4 3.6 1.7 97
New York 5.6 4.1 1.5 96
Boston 5.9 4.6 1.2 94
1949: RS RA Rdiff Wins
New York 5.3 4.1 1.2 97
Boston 5.8 4.3 1.5 96
Cleveland finished 8 games back but had the lowest RA: 3.7.
1950: RS RA Rdiff Wins
New York 5.9 4.5 1.4 98
Detroit 5.3 4.5 .8 95
Boston 6.7 5.2 1.4 94
Cleveland finished 6 games back but had the lowest RA: 4.2.
For those three seasons the difference between Boston's home and road wins: 14, 26, 16. In 1949 when Boston lost the last two games of the regular season at Yankee Stadium to lose the pennant by one game its road record was 35-42 (.455); at home: 61-16 (.792). That's ridiculous and Ted Williams should have known that.
1949 Stephens:
home 354 PA, 96 RBI, 1.007 OPS
road 358 PA, 63 RBI, .858 OPS
W - wins
L- losses
RS - runs scored
RA - runs allowed
WP - winning percentage
G - games
W L RS RA WP G RS/G
1948 Yanks Home 50 27 413 315 0.649 77 5.4
1948 Boston Home 55 23 481 336 0.705 78 6.2
1948 Yanks Road 44 33 444 318 0.571 77 5.8
1948 Boston Road 41 36 426 384 0.532 77 5.5
1949 Yanks Home 54 23 419 304 0.701 77 5.4
1949 Boston Home 61 16 514 310 0.792 77 6.7
1949 Yanks Road 43 34 410 333 0.558 77 5.3
1949 Boston Road 35 42 382 357 0.455 77 5.0
1950 Yanks Home 53 24 440 333 0.688 77 5.7
1950 Boston Home 55 22 625 427 0.714 77 8.1
1950 Yanks Road 45 32 474 358 0.584 77 6.2
1950 Boston Road 39 38 402 377 0.506 77 5.2
W L RS RA WP G RS/G
- each season Boston scored more runs at home than Yanks
- each season Yanks scored more runs on road than Boston
- each season Yanks allowed fewer runs than Boston both home and road!
- each season Boston had higher winning percentage at home than Yanks
- each season Yanks had higher winning percentage on road than Boston
1948,1949,1950 home-road:
team W L RS RA WP
Yanks 25 -25 -56 -57 .1082 (.680 - .571)
Boston 56 -55 410 -45 .2392 (.730 - .498)
In the 162 game 2004 and 2007 seasons: the difference between Boston's home and road wins: 12, 6. Winning percentage home/road: .679/.531; .630/.556.
For many years it appeared that Boston stacked its club with players who could bang balls off and over that ridiculous 37 foot wall, the green monster, in left field at Fenway Park. When they finally went to a more balanced offense including some speed they eventually won.
You live by the wall, you die by the wall.
*** The End ***
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