Paying for the best

Ted Williams with the catch of the day

The game’s greatest hitter, Boston’s favorite ballplayer and its most avid fisherman lands the biggest financial catch of his baseball career 68 years ago today as All-Star left fielder Ted Williams agrees to a one-year contract with the Red Sox for $150,000.

Some report the contract is valued at $135,000.

No matter.

Either figure makes the contract at that point the largest in major league history. Adjusting for inflation, today that same $150,000 contract is worth approximately $1.67 million – nearly $23.3 million less than what the Red Sox this season will pay this season for the services of oft-injured middle infielder Trevor Story, whose lifetime .265 batting average is a staggering 79 points lower than what Williams averages during his Hall of Fame career from 1939-60.

“Hitting is the most important part of the game,” Williams once says. “It is where the big money is, where much of the status is, and the fan interest.”

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