Ted Williams 'doing all right'

Red Sox legend suffering from flu-like symptoms

Ted Williams is the last player to hit .400 in a season. Allsport

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) -- Ted Williams, slowed by a series of strokes and congestive heart failure in recent years, was back in the hospital Thursday with a high temperature and low blood pressure.

The 83-year-old baseball Hall of Famer was taken from his home by ambulance to Shands Hospital at the University of Florida, about 50 miles away. He had open-heart surgery last January.

Williams was given fluids and antibiotics in the intensive care unit, and his vital signs improved, the Boston Globe reported Thursday night. His temperature was 100 degrees before he arrived, it said.

"Dad's doing all right," son John Henry Williams told the newspaper. "He's got some sort of cold or flu or something. But he's far from dead."

The family at first didn't think it was serious enough for the hospital but decided not to take a chance. Williams said his father might return home on Friday.

"There's no time limit," he said. "We want to make sure we know what he's got. ... He was probably fighting it for a few days. But this isn't a big deal."

Williams, who requires daily kidney dialysis, had a series of strokes in the 1990s, including an especially severe one in 1994 that limited his vision and mobility. He also has had an increased heart rate and high blood pressure in recent years.

In November 2000, doctors placed a pacemaker in Williams' chest and two months later he had the open-heart surgery because of congestive heart failure. He spent part of his time recovering in San Diego, his hometown, and has been at his Florida home since Aug. 30, his 83rd birthday.

In a rare interview in September, the former Red Sox star told The Boston Sunday Globe, "I'm feeling pretty good."

"But my whole life has been knocked out of joint," he said. "Oh, boy. I've never been through years like I've been through in the last four years. There's nothing I can compare it to in my life. I really have been through hell."

Known during his playing days as "The Splendid Splinter," Williams has lived in Florida since retiring from the Red Sox in 1960.

The Hall of Famer played his entire 19-year career with Boston and was the last man to bat .400 for a season, hitting .406 in 1941.

 

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