On September 28th, 1941, At Shibe Park, Batting .399955, Ted Williams elected to play in a doubleheader against the A’s on the final day of the season rather than to back into the a .400 average because the number would be rounded up. In game one, Williams went 4-5 against a trio of Philadelphia A’s pitchers. In game 2, Williams went 2-3.  For the day, Williams went 6-for-8 to raise his final average to .406. Williams remains the last major leaguer to .400+ for a season.

This season there are less than 10 players who will end the season hitting .300+. Modern baseball geeks do no place the same importance on batting average as baseball fans once did. They prefer other stats like WAR and OPS+.

I have spent a number of years trying to allow myself to be “converted” to thinking about baseball with Modern Advanced Stats rather than with Traditional ones. I have read all the seminal books on Advanced Metrics, am a regular listener to Advanced Metrics podcasts, and regularly read a number of Advanced Metrics websites. Yet, I remain unconverted.

The story of Ted Williams on the last day of the 1941 season going 6-for-8 is one of the most important stories in the game. And the traditional numbers of that story– 1941, .406, 6-for-8– tell the story in a way that OPS+ and WAR numbers never could. And never will.

Sometimes when I hear modern stat geeks talk, the following goes through my head: “They know the number of everything and the meaning of nothing.”

Batting Average matters. The fact that only a handful of players will hit .300+ this year is a combination of a lot of different factors including: increased role of relief specialists, increased pitch velocity, better science behind pitching, and Advanced Stats weighing homers over singles.

Ted Williams is the Greatest Hitter who ever lived. He hit for power and for average. If I had to give up one of those though, I would give up power. I would much rather watch a Wade Boggs or a Rod Carew or a Luis Arraez hit than a Kyle Schwarber any day of the week.