A New Statistic: TED WAR

By Paul Semendinger

December 2025

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Note - This article appeared in the IBWAA's newsletter, Here's The Pitch, on December 6, 2025.

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This article is my follow up to the article on November 22 comparing Phil Rizzuto and Pee Wee Reese.

As I noted in the article, and numerous people made reference to, Ted Williams made a now-famous quote that was used to help Phil Rizzuto gain entry into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

According to the National Baseball Hall of Fame web site, the story goes as follows:

“Phil Rizzuto was such an integral part of the New York Yankees’ success in the 1940s and 1950s – when the team won 10 American League pennants and eight World Series titles during his 13 seasons with the club – that fellow Hall of Famer Ted Williams once remarked: “If the Red Sox would have had Phil, we would have won all those pennants.”

It’s a great story.

It’s also not accurate. Not nearly. At all.

In order to make this point, I created a brand new statistic called TED WAR.

TED WAR (a tongue-in-cheek statistic) measures the total games ahead of the Red Sox that the Yankees finished and awards that total to Phil Rizzuto as the difference maker between the two teams.

Let’s take a look:

1941 -

The Yankees finished in first place. The Red Sox finished in second. Was Phil Rizzuto the difference in the two teams?

Rizzuto was very good in 1941 playing in 133 games and batting .307. He finished 20th in MVP voting. It was a great start for the Scooter. Maybe he was the difference.

But the Red Sox in 1941 has a quality shortstop of their own in Joe Cronin (also a Hall of Famer). Cronin hit .311 and was 11th in the MVP voting. Cronin also edged out Rizzuto in bWAR 4.8 to 4.6.

Also, while the Red Sox were the second place team, they finished 17 games out of first place. It seems unlikely that Phil Rizzuto was the difference between the Yankees and the Red Sox winning the pennant, especially when one considers that Joe Cronin has such a good year himself.

Still, for the sake of this exercise, if Ted Williams is correct, Phil Rizzuto earned 17 TED WAR (the difference in games between the Yankees and the Red Sox) in 1941 alone.

1942 -

The Yankees finished in first place. The Red Sox finished second, nine games out.

In 1942, Rizzuto had a nice year, batting .284, earning an All-Star nod, and finishing 19th in MVP voting. Joe Cronin was a part-time player at this point. His best years were behind him. Rizzuto was clearly the better player, but...

Joe Cronin was a part-time player because the Red Sox had a new great shortstop of their own in 1942 who hit .331 and led the A.L. in hits with 205. This player was Johnny Pesky who was worth 6.2 bWAR, bettering Rizzuto’s 5.8. To boot, Pesky finished 3rd in the MVP voting. The Red Sox shortstop had the better season again.

But, if he was the difference, we will grant Phil Rizzuto 9 more TED WAR points. (He has now accumulated 26 in total.)

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Phil Rizzuto then missed the 1943, 1944, and 1945 seasons serving in World War II.

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1946 -

We can cover this season quickly. Phil Rizzuto was not the difference between the Yankees and the Red Sox because the Red Sox won the pennant. The Yankees finished in third place, 17 games out. Rizzuto could not have earned any TED WAR since the Red Sox finished ahead of the Yankees.

1947 -

The Yankees finished in first place. The Red Sox finished in third place, 14 games out.

Rizzuto earns another 14 TED WAR.

Of note, both Johnny Pesky and Phil Rizzuto were worth 4.6 bWAR in 1947. Pesky again led the league in hits. He finished 18th in MVP voting. Rizzuto did not earn any MVP votes.

Quick Aside - Did Johnny Pesky ever react to Ted Williams’ assertion that Rizzuto was the difference in the two teams? Pesky was a pretty good player himself. He matches up well to Phil Rizzuto.

1948 -

The Red Sox finished in second place, the Yankees in third. Phil Rizzuto could not have been the difference in the Yankees winning because they didn’t win.

1949 -

This was the year of the great pennant race between the Yankees and the Red Sox. The Yankees finished in first place, the Red Sox in second, just one game out. This is the first season where Phil Rizzuto could have been the difference maker.

In 1949, Johnny Pesky was worth 4.1 bWAR, Rizzuto 3.0, but Pesky was now a third baseman. Rizzuto had to compete against a different shortstop - Vern Stephens. In 1949, Stevens hit 39 homers and led the league in runs batted in with 159. Stevens was worth 6.9 bWAR, more than doubling Rizzuto’s total.

At the time though, Rizzuto was considered more of a difference maker. He was the runner-up in the MVP voting. Stevens only finished in 7th place.

Phil Rizzuto earned only 1.0 TED WAR for the 1949 season.

1950 -

The Yankees won the pennant, the Red Sox finished in third place four games out.

In 1950, Phil Rizzuto had his greatest season batting .324. He led the league with 6.8 bWAR and earned the MVP.

Vern Stephens, though, was no slouch. He earned 3.7 bWAR while again leading the league with 144 runs batted in.

We will award Phil Rizzuto four more points of TED WAR.

1951 -

The Red Sox finished in third place, 11 games behind the Yankees.

It seems a stretch to state that Rizzuto was the difference. Of note, Johnny Pesky was back at shortstop for the Sox and he did quite well. Pesky bettered Rizzuto in bWAR 4.4 to 3.6.

Again, it seems that while Rizzuto was a very good player, one deserving of many accolades, he wasn’t appreciably better than the players the Red Sox had at shortstop in any season.

Rizzuto though earns 11 more TED WAR increasing his career total to 56.

1952 -

The Red Sox finished in 6th place, 19 games out.

There is no way Rizzuto was the difference between the two teams, although he was vastly superior to the Red Sox shortstop Johnny Lipon who batted only .205. In 1952, Rizzuto was again an All-Star.

For this season, Rizzuto earns 19 more TED WAR increasing his career total to 75.

1953 -

The Red Sox finished in fourth place, 16 games out.

Rizzuto earns 16 more TED WAR raising his total to 91.

1954 -

The Yankees did not win the pennant in 1954. Neither did the Red Sox. 1954 was the Cleveland Indians’ year.

1955 -

By 1955, Phil Rizzuto was a part-time player. His final season was 1956.

Conclusion - A few facts seem very clear:

• Phil Rizzuto was a great shortstop in his era. He contributed greatly to the Yankees’ success.

• The Red Sox also had fine shortstops in that era and in many seasons the Red Sox shortstop had better numbers statistically than Rizzuto.

• Ted Williams seems to have discounted the great work of his teammates while inflating Rizzuto’s impact.

• Ted Williams wasn’t stating facts. He was exaggerating, but his exaggeration helped Phil Rizzuto get into the Hall, so, the quote, in the end, did what it was supposed to do.

The following are the career numbers of Phil Rizzuto, Johnny Pesky, and Vern Stevens:

Phil Rizzuto: 13 seasons, 1,588 hits .273/38/563 42.1 WAR

Johnny Pesky: 10 seasons, 1,277 hits .307/17/404 34.1 WAR

Vern Stevens: 15 seasons, 1,859 hits .286/247/1,174 46.4 WAR

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Paul Semendinger has written numerous award-winning books. West Point at Gettysburg, which will be released by Sunbury Press shortly, is receiving a great deal of early praise. Paul is a retired principal, a college professor, an author, a dad, and a grandpa. His best title is grandpa.