Before he was "Teddy Ballgame" ... before he was "The Splendid Splinter" ... before he was "The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived," Theodore Samuel Williams was just a kid from San Diego excited to get a shot to play outfield for the Padres, then in the Pacific Coast League as Major League Baseball had yet to expand west.

But Hall of Fame second baseman and then-Red Sox general manager Eddie Collins had more in mind for Ted Williams. Collins first caught a glimpse of Williams while on a scouting trip to evaluate another future Hall of Famer, Bobby Doerr. Over the next year and change, Collins kept in touch with the Padres brass and on Dec. 7, 1937, he struck a deal to bring Williams from the Pacific Coast League to the Red Sox for $35,000 along with bit players Dom Dallessandro and Al Niemiec.

Sixteen months later, Williams made his debut for the Sox and got his first career knock in a game against the Yankees. He'd go on to hit 521 career home runs, bat .406 in 1941, win the 1942 Triple Crown and the 1946 and 1949 AL MVP Awards and post the highest career on-base percentage in MLB history.