Splendid Splinter Ii?

The prospect of seeing the son of a living legend was enough to draw only 15 fans (about five more than usual) to a remote diamond in a deep corner of the Lee County Sports Complex in Fort Myers, Fla. The occasion, last Saturday, was a Gulf Coast League game between the Twins and the Red Sox, but the center of attention was John Henry Williams, the 33-year-old son of Ted Williams, who is taking time off from his career as the principal caretaker of his 83-year-old father to attempt to break into rookie ball. Alas, John Henry sat this game out, nursing a chest bruise he suffered when he ran into a fence while fielding a pop-up in practice the day before. "He's pretty old," said John Cott, 59, a retired schoolteacher who was attending his first GCL game, "but it makes for an interesting story."

Cott's reaction was a bit more even-handed than those put forth in the Boston papers last week: Boston Herald columnist Steve Buckley called Williams's belated foray into baseball "an embarrassment" and a "huge mistake." Boston Globe baseball writer Gordon Edes labeled it a "ridiculous publicity grab." Skepticism about his June 20 signing isn't completely unfounded. There's certainly nothing about the younger Williams's baseball skills that merits such a move, and the average age of his teammates is 19, a little younger than John Henry was when he had his only other brush with professional baseball, a couple of spring training workouts with the Blue Jays in 1989. Says Ben Cherrington, Boston's assistant director of player development, "Out of respect to Ted and what he meant to the Red Sox, our ownership decided to grant John Henry this opportunity."

So far, the Kid's kid has struggled. John Henry is 0 for 6 in two games, reaching base only when he was hit by a pitch in his final at bat against the Gulf Coast Reds last Thursday. He is paying for the services of an independent hitting coach, Steve Ferroli, as well as speaking by phone to his father, whose health has lately been improving after a series of strokes. "I'm lacking seasons of hitting, seasons of real at bats," says John Henry, who is single. "I'm taking this extremely seriously. My goal is to lead the Gulf Coast League in hitting."

His team seems ready to accept him. While he posed for a photographer before Saturday's game, several players teased him by counting off the number of clicks made by the camera shutter. Throughout the game Williams sat in the middle of the bench, chatting quietly with trainers and teammates and cheering the Sox to a 5-1 victory. "When John Henry arrived, we accepted him as we would any other player who's being evaluated," says John Sanders, Williams's manager. "We respect his desire to do this."