Moment 24: Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox finishes the 1941 season with a .406 batting average, the last player to do it so far.

Williams played his entire 21-year baseball career for the Boston Red Sox (1939-1942 and 1946-1960). Williams’ career was twice interrupted by military service as a Marine Corps pilot. He was a two-time American League MVP, and won the batting triple crown two times.

The left handed hitter holds the highest career batting average of anyone with 500 or more home runs.

Williams was an obsessive student of hitting. He famously used a lighter bat than most sluggers, because it generated a faster swing. His devotion allowed him to hit for power and average while maintaining extraordinary plate discipline.

The Red Sox’ pride lacked foot speed, as attested by his 19-year career total of only one inside-the-park home run, one occasion of hitting for the cycle, and just 24 stolen bases.  Although despite his heavy feet on the basepaths, he is one of only four players in history to steal a base in four different decades.

In 1941, he hit .406 with 37 HR, 120 RBI’s, and 135 runs scored. His .551 OBP set a record that stood for 61 years.

Moment 23: Jackie Robinson joins the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947. Becoming the first African American player in Major League Baseball.

As the first black man to play in the major leagues since the 1880s, he was instrumental in bringing an end to racial segregation in professional baseball, which had relegated black players to the Negro leagues for six decades.

In early 1945, the Kansas City Monarchs sent Robinson a written offer to play professional baseball in the Negro leagues. Robinson accepted a contract for $400 ($4,882 in 2010 dollars) per month, a salary boom for him at the time.

In 1946, Robinson arrived at Daytona Beach, Florida, for spring training with the Montreal Royals of the Class AAA International League (the designation of “AAA” for the highest level of minor league baseball was first used in the 1946 season). Robinson’s presence was controversial in racially charged Florida. As he was not allowed to stay with his teammates at the team hotel, he lodged instead at the home of a local black politician. Robinson made his Royals debut at Daytona Beach’s City Island Ballpark on March 17, 1946, in an exhibition game against the team’s parent club, the Dodgers. Robinson thus simultaneously became the first black player to openly play for a minor league team and against a major league team.

The following year, six days before the start of the 1947 season, the Dodgers called Robinson up to the major leagues.  Robinson played his initial major league season as a first baseman. On April 15, 1947, Robinson made his major league debut at Ebbets Field before a crowd of 26,623 spectators, including more than 14,000 black patrons. Although he failed to get a base hit, the Dodgers won 5–3. Robinson became the first player since 1880 to openly break the major league baseball color line. Black fans began flocking to see the Dodgers when they came to town, abandoning their Negro league teams.

Robinson finished the season with 12 home runs, a league-leading 29 steals, a .297 batting average, a .427 slugging percentage, and 125 runs scored. His cumulative performance earned him the inaugural MLB  Rookie of the Year Award.

Moment 22: Bobby Thomson’s hit a homer with two on and two outs in the ninth inning on Oct. 3, 1951. That homer gave the New York Giants a 5-4 win over the Brooklyn Dodgers and the NL pennant.

Thomson became a celebrity for hitting a game-winning home run in a playoff game, off Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Ralph Branca, to win the 1951 National League pennant. The home run (nicknamed the “Shot Heard ‘Round the World”) is among the most famous home runs in baseball history.

The home run was an exclamation point on a dramatic season for the Giants. Although some had considered them a pre-season favorite to win the pennant, they faltered badly in the early going. By mid-August, they were 13½ games behind the league-leading Dodgers. But the Giants went on a late-season tear, winning 37 of their final 44 games to tie Brooklyn on the final day of the regular season and force the three-game playoff.

The Dodgers and Giants split the first two games. Thomson’s two-run homer off Ralph Branca was the difference in the first game, as the Giants won 3-1. Brooklyn’s Clem Labine shut the Giants down in Game 2 by a score of 10-0. This forced the decisive contest on October 3 at the Polo Grounds. The Dodgers took a 4-1 lead into the bottom of the ninth inning, and the Giants’ cause appeared lost. But Thomson’s homer turned what looked like a certain defeat into a 5-4 victory. The moment was immortalized by the famous call of Giants play-by-play announcer Russ Hodges, who cried, “The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!.”