Fifty years ago Friday, Ted Williams announced he was resigning as manager of the Texas Rangers, wrapping up a chapter that began with high hopes in Washington in 1969 but ended with the worst team in baseball in 1972.
The Washington Senators had hired Williams to bring excitement to their moribund franchise, and he had instant success.
The rookie manager won the American League Manager of the Year Award in 1969 while leading the team to its only winning season in D.C.
On the eve of the All-Star Game in Washington that year, the New York Times praised Williams as the “focus of a tremendous revival in baseball interest in the nation’s capital, and of a remarkable improvement in the weak team’s fortunes on the field.