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Your memories of Teddy Ballgame Posted: Friday July 05, 2002 6:14 PMUpdated: Friday July 05, 2002 6:48 PM
My favorite memory of Teddy Ballgame was the interview he gave to Bob Costas with Tony Gwynn. Seeing the two greatest pure hitters of all time trading secrets was unreal. It was crazy how two completely different generations of ballplayers thought so alike when it came to hitting. That interview made it seem like Tony Gwynn was the only other hitter in baseball history that Ted Williams held in his same light.
In l940 our ship was called to active duty. We spent the entire year of l94l in dry dock in Charleston Navy Yard in Boston. Every Saturday and Sunday we would go to Fenway Park and pull for Ted to hit .400. His wrists were so fast he could hit the ball right out of the catchers mitt, almost, that is. One thing about Ted, he was a Marine Flyer first and a ballplayer second, who never regretted the time he served on active duty.
I'm 63 years old and a die-hard Yankee fan from the age of 2 days old. I recall my first Yankee-Red Sox game on a Sunday afternoon, I got there early to see Ted Williams do batting practice, all I remember is seven to 10 laser shots off his bat into the right field stands, the sound is still imbedded in my memory, quite a man.
Ted Williams went to high school blocks from my house. I have even played on "Ted Williams Field," but I will never forget the way so many grown adult "Millionaires" de-evolved back into giddy little school children at the '99 All-Star game, in which Ted finnaly tipped his cap to all those who have and will forever love him.
As a sports fan, I remember Ted Williams as having the most natural batting swing of all time. He was perhaps the most natural hitter in all of baseball's history. From a personal standpoint, I met Ted when I was in the Navy during the Korean War and was stationed in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Ted was returning from an area near Puerto Rico where Navy and Marine pilots trained before going to Korea. I worked in the weather office and, as a petty officer and shift supervisor, was responsible for clearing pilots on the weather back to the states. Also, being from Waterbury, CT, the home town of Jimmy Piersall, I will never forget meeting and speaking with Ted, not only about weather clearances, but about baseball and what he thought of Piersall, who was just breaking in with the Red Sox at that time. Ted Williams was not only a baseball legend, he was a bona fide American hero who lost many years from the game in defense of his country.
More than anyone else, Williams is responsible for opening the Hall of Fame to both the famous and the forgotten Negro Leaguers of the 20s and 30s -- not only Satch and Josh Gibson, whom Williams, at his own induction, singled out as worthy of membership -- but Cool Papa Bell, Buck Leonard and pioneering pitcher Rube Foster, who was already a star when Paige was still in reform school in Mobile, and many others. He deserves as much recognition for this as for his hitting .406 in one season, or .388 at age 40 or his last-at-bat home run. Williams helped, in part, to right an historic wrong and to bring to the attention to latter-day generations the Black contemporaries of Babe Ruth, Dizzy Dean, Carl Hubbell, Rube Waddell, Al Simmons, Chief Bender and other Hall members -- Black players who were at least equal, perhaps even superior, to these undisputably great players. Thank you, Ted Williams.
In 1957, as a 10 year old, I saw my first game at Fenway Park. I can still remember seeing the green of the grass as I looked out the runway leading to our seats. I was a big Red Sox fan and a bigger Ted Williams fan ... The Sox won that day and Ted hit two home runs. It couldn't have been a better day for a 10 year old. And even now 44 years later it is still vivid in my mind. Thanks Ted for all the memories.
I remember Ted as the only athlete so consummate in his craft that I would interrupt whatever I was doing to listen to, or watch HIS at-bats. This long-suffering Red Sox fan would even sneak a radio under my pillow at night so I could listen.
When asked how he would have done against today's pitchers, Williams responded with numbers like a .255 BA, 25 home runs, and about 80 RBIs (or something like that). The interviewer supposedly responded by asking Williams if that meant that he truly believed today's pitchers were that much better that what he had faced. Williams' response: Heck no, but I'm 75 years old...
In 1960, Ted's last year, I saw him hit a line drive off the very top of the center field wall in Fenway Park (yes, a line drive, not a fly ball!). Since I'm an engineer and not unfamiliar with the realities of ballistic trajectories, my common sense tells me that the ball was descending when it struck the wall, but my eyes saw it rising at impact. It was unquestionably the hardest hit ball I've ever seen. As Ted rounded second base on his way to a triple, his face and arms turned bright red and he seemed almost running in place. His legs were gone, the eventual fate of all ballplayers, even the immortals like Ted. The reality that Ted Williams would not play next year, or ever again, struck me, really struck me, for the first time. Yes, I knew he had said 1960 would be his last year, but somehow it did not seem possible. I started to cry. I was 20 years old, just starting my life, but something wonderful was vanishing, and would no longer be a part of my world. Farewell, Ted ... and thank you.
I will remember Ted Williams as a first rate fly fisherman up here in New Brunswick, Canada! Ted would make an annual trek up here to the Miramichi River, to fish for Atlantic Salmon. He loved fly fishing almost as much as baseball and Canadians were proud to have him as our guest each summer!
Just simply put, Ted Wiliams was one of baseball's greatest legends. I had the honor of meeting him when I was a boy and he autographed my baseball glove. He seemed to be a genuine and caring person ... a true hero. Not only in terms of his baseball career, but in the way he served his country. I know I speak for many when I say he will be missed.
This man put his country before baseball. He fought to keep America free and will always be remembered as the best hitter of all time.
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