To Korea and back

In his final at-bat in 1952 for the Red Sox, Ted Williams drills a two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh inning off Detroit’s Dizzy Trout to lift Boston over the Tigers 5-3 at Fenway Park.

That takes places on April 30, 1952.

Williams then leaves for Korea, puts on a different uniform and flies jets for most of the next 15 months before returning to Boston, where 71 years ago today he rejoins the Red Sox – just in time to pop out as a pinch hitter in the bottom of the ninth inning of an eventual 8-7 loss to the St. Louis Browns in 10 innings at Fenway.

Williams sits out the next two games before again being dusted off as a pinch hitter, this time against Cleveland.

Williams does a tad better in this at-bat, homering off Mike Garcia in the seventh inning of another loss at home, this time 9-3.

Williams is used five more times as a pinch-hitter – and going an unWilliams-like 0-for-5 along the way – before finally returning to the Red Sox’s starting lineup on Aug. 30.

From there, the 35-year-old Williams collects 36 hits in his final 84 at-bats to finish the season with a .407 batting average.

Alas, he does not have nearly enough at-bats to qualify for the batting title, but he displays more than enough talent to keep his job as Boston’s left fielder for another seven seasons before retiring after the 1960 season at the age of 41.