Bill Terry, Last Player to Hit .400 in NL, Dead at 90

Hall of Famer Bill Terry, the last player to bat .400 in the National League, died Monday at 90 of natural causes.

Terry died in Jacksonville, where he has lived since 1949, after several months of failing health.

Terry spent all of his major league playing career, from 1923-36, with the New York Giants. He batted .401 in 1930.

The first baseman had a lifetime average of .341 and drove in 100 or more runs for 6 consecutive seasons, starting in 1927. He finished his career with 1,078 runs batted in.

He was a player-manager for the Giants, beginning in 1932. He retired as manager in 1941.

Terry succeeded an ailing John McGraw as the team’s manager and led the Giants to the World Series championship in 1933. New York also reached the Series under Terry in 1936 and 1937.

After joining the Giants in 1923, Terry had to wait 2 seasons while the Giants used George Kelly at first base. Terry, not lacking in confidence, kept pecking away at McGraw, causing the first of their many disputes.

“Why this fellow isn’t even half a first baseman,” McGraw said of Terry, “and wants twice as much money as a real player.”

Terry finally took over as the starting first baseman in 1925 and batted .319 that year.

Asked what his formula for hitting was, he said: “Confidence, my boy, confidence.”

Terry was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1954, though many said he would have received the honor years earlier if he had enjoyed better rapport with sportswriters, who elect Hall of Famers.

Terry left baseball entirely in 1941 and said he would not return to the game. But in 1954, he was elected president of the Class-A South Atlantic League. Later, Terry became president of the minor league Jacksonville (Fla.) Braves.

Terry’s wife, Vena, died in 1983. He is survived by three sons and a daughter.