There has always been a saying in baseball that you can’t make a hitter, but I think you can improve a hitter. More than you can improve a fielder. More mistakes are made hitting than in any other part of the game.
Meaning of the quote
Baseball experts often say that you cannot teach someone to be a natural hitter. However, Ted Williams believed that you can actually improve a hitter's skills more than you can improve a fielder's skills. He thought this was because there are more mistakes made in hitting than in any other part of the game.
About Ted Williams
Ted Williams was an American baseball legend, known as one of the greatest hitters in MLB history. He played his entire 19-year career with the Boston Red Sox, winning two Triple Crowns and two AL MVP awards. Despite his career being interrupted by military service, Williams remained one of the last players to hit over .400 in a season and held numerous batting records.
More quotes from Ted Williams
If there was ever a man born to be a hitter it was me.
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Hitting is fifty percent above the shoulders.
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I hope somebody hits .400 soon. Then people can start pestering that guy with questions about the last guy to hit .400.
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If you don’t think too good, don’t think too much.
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Hitting is the most important part of the game. It is where the big money is, where much of the status is, and the fan interest.
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You have to hit the fastball to play in the big leagues.
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Baseball gives every American boy a chance to excel, not just to be as good as someone else but to be better than someone else. This is the nature of man and the name of the game.
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A man has to have goals – for a day, for a lifetime – and that was mine, to have people say, ‘There goes Ted Williams, the greatest hitter who ever lived.’
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I’ve found that you don’t need to wear a necktie if you can hit.
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There has always been a saying in baseball that you can’t make a hitter, but I think you can improve a hitter. More than you can improve a fielder. More mistakes are made hitting than in any other part of the game.
American baseball player and fighter pilot
If I was being paid thirty-thousand dollars a year, the very least I could do was hit .400.
American baseball player and fighter pilot
By the time you know what to do, you’re too old to do it.
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Baseball’s future? Bigger and bigger, better and better! No question about it, it’s the greatest game there is!
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They invented the All-Star game for Willie Mays.
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There’s only one way to become a hitter. Go up to the plate and get mad. Get mad at yourself and mad at the pitcher.
American baseball player and fighter pilot
Baseball is the only field of endeavor where a man can succeed three times out of ten and be considered a good performer.
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God gets you to the plate, but once your there your on your own.
American baseball player and fighter pilot
All managers are losers, they are the most expendable pieces of furniture on the face of the Earth.
American baseball player and fighter pilot