Announcement

**The Kid** · 03-13-2007, 04:22 PM

From Wikipedia:

Williams was born in San Diego, California as Teddy Samuel Williams, after his father Samuel Willliams and Teddy Roosevelt. At some point, the name and date of birth on his birth certificate was changed to Theodore, but his mother and his closest friends always called him Teddy. His father Samuel was a soldier, sheriff, and photographer from New York and greatly admired the late president. His mother May was a Salvation Army worker of Basque descent whose parents came from Mexico.

Williams played high-school baseball at Herbert Hoover High School in San Diego and lived at 4121 Utah Street in the North Park area of the city. After graduation, he turned professional and had minor league stints for his hometown San Diego Padres and the Minneapolis Millers.

Early in his career, he stated that he wished to be remembered as the "greatest hitter who ever lived," an honor that he achieved in the eyes of many by the end of his career.

Ted's Relative Stats:

----Relative BA-----Rel.Slg.-------Rel.Onbase----Rel.ISO-------OPS+
----128.1 (5th)----154.9 (2nd)------134.6 (1st)----220 (5th)-----185 (2nd)

Home/Away---BA----Slg.----onbase---HR-----D----T-----RBI-------AB-------BB
Home:------.361---652-----.497------248---319---35----965-----3,887----1,032
Away:------.328---.615-----.468------273---206---36----874------3,819-------987
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leecemark; November 26, 2004, 08:08 AM
The Top 10 LF results
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1. Ted Williiams 227
2. Barry Bonds 225
3. Stan Musial 203
4. Rickey Henderson 151
5. Carl Yastrzemski 126
6. Ed Delahanty 92
7. Al Simmons 83
8. Joe Jackson 76
9. Tim Raines 40
10. Ralph Kiner 26
Others in double figures:
11. Goose Goslin 23
12. Willie Stargell 18
13. Billy Williams, Manny Ramirez, Lou Brock and Turkey Stearns all with 13. Most disappointing oversight to me - Minnie Minoso.
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538280; December 9, 2005, 09:02 AM
Poll Results
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The results are now in, and we had 15 valid ballots. Ted Williams won the poll by a healthy margin. Here is everyone who received 15 or more points (first place votes in parenthesis):

1. Ted Williams-167 (11)
2. Barry Bonds-138 (3)
3. Stan Musial-126 (1)
4. Rickey Henderson-99
5. Carl Yastrzemski-63
6. Al Simmons-45
7. Ed Delahanty-45
8. Joe Jackson-44
9. Tim Raines-29
10. Willie Stargell-21
11. Turkey Stearnes-18
-----------------------------------------------------
Bill Burgess; May 21, 2007, 08:18 PM

1) Williams 122
2) Bonds 118
3) Musial 106
4) Henderson 81
5) Yaz 61
6) Joe Jackson 55
7) Tie Raines/Ramirez 28
9) Delehanty 25
10) Simmons 21
11) Wheat 11
12) Tie Billy Williams, Stearns, Stargell 10
15) Rose 6
16) Goslin 5
17) Medwick 3
18) Tie Clarke, Kiner 1
------------------------------------------------------------------
Greatest Hitter series, conducted by Bill Burgess, ending November 4, 2007, 08:05 AM

1. Babe Ruth---------68 votes - 95.77%
1. Ted Williams------68 - 95.77%
3. Ty Cobb-----------52 - 73.24%
4. Rogers Hornsby----36 - 50.70%
5. Lou Gehrig---------32 - 45.07%
6. Barry Bonds
7. Mickey Mantle
8. Stan Musial
9. Hank Aaron
10. Willie Mays
11. Jimmy Foxx
12. Honus Wagner
13. Frank Thomas
14. Tris Speaker
15. Frank Robinson
16. Joe DiMaggio
17. Joe Jackson
18. Josh Gibson
19. Nap Lajoie
20. Mel Ott
21. Oscar Charleston
22. Alexander Rodriguez
23. Dan Brouthers
24. Mike Schmidt

-----Ted Williams, 1939------------------------------------1939---BB Reference---Ted Williams on video

------------------------------------
Found this video vault on Getty images website. Just type in "Ted Williams", and click on the video of your preference. Or any other player.

http://editorial.gettyimages.com/Search/Search.aspx#
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The Kid expresses his appreciation:
Lovely, Bill, just lovely!

November 15, 1951

Source: Baseball: 100 Years of The Modern Era: 1901-2000: From the Archives of The Sporting News, edited by Joe Hoppel, 2001, pp. 116.

Ted Williams, Red Sox' LF, late 50's, Yankee Stadium, Berra catching---BB Reference---Ted on video

1959---w/Mickey Mantle, Fenway Park, 1959- Ted's BB Reference--note Ted's ankle armor.

Looks like Roy Campanella behind the plate, might be an All-Star Game.

Looks likeYogi behind the plate. Both Ted/Yogi made all the All-Star teams, 1949 - 1956, except, 1952 (Ted in military).
Anyone recognize the ballpark?

Ted Williams:---Ted Williams on video

Source, Below Left: The American League, by Donald Honig, 1983, pp. 172.
3 Shots of Ted's Sweet Swing-------------------------------------1939------------------------------1939

**The Kid** · 03-14-2007, 12:32 PM

From www.historicbaseball.com:

Ted Williams, a member of baseball's Hall of Fame and one of the most famous Boston Red Sox, died on July 5, 2002 at the age of 83.

The "Splendid Splinter" had suffered through a number of ailments in recent years including a series of strokes and congestive heart failur. He was pronounced dead on July 5 at 8:49 a.m. as the result of cardiac arrest.

Williams had a lifetime batting average of .344 and hit 521 home runs. His career was put on hold twice as he served the U.S. as a Marine pilot in World War II and the Korean War. Williams took particular pride in his abilities as a hitter and revered being known as one of the greatest hitters ever in the game.

In 1941, he hit .406 after getting 6 hits in a double-header on the last day of the season. He became the last man to ever hit .400 in the major leagues. Williams won a triple crown and won the AL MVP honor twice.

Williams stories of hitting including being able to see the stitches as the ball was coming to the plate and he claimed he could see the ball the moment it made impact with the bat.

"A round ball, a round bat, curves, sliders, knuckleballs, upside down and a ball coming in at 90 to 100 miles an hour, it's a pretty lethal thing,'' he said.

Williams worked hard at his craft and put in hours of practice. However, he is described as always being obliging to players who wanted to talk about hitting -- no matter what team colors they wore.

One of the more emotional memories of Ted Williams came during the 1999 All-Star Game at Fenway Park in Boston. As the living Hall of Fame members were introduced, Williams rode a golf cart out to the pitcher's mound to throw out the first pitch. Before he had a chance to throw, a throng of current and past players surrounded him -- many with tears in their eyes.

San Diego's Tony Gwynn helped Williams to stand and held him up as Williams threw the first pitch to Hall of Famer Carlton Fisk.

"Wasn't it great!'' Williams said, as reported in wire reports. "`I can only describe it as great. It didn't surprise me all that much because I know how these fans are here in Boston. They love this game as much as any players and Boston's lucky to have the faithful Red Sox fans. They're the best."

As a player, Williams had a battle with the Boston fans. He refused to tip his hat after hitting home runs. That tradition carried over to his final at-bat at the age of 42 when he hit a home run.

Going into the final day of the 1941 season, Ted Williams had a .3996 average. Rounded off to 3-digits, Williams would have been credited with a .400 average. Joe Cronin, Red Sox manager, asked Williams if he wanted to sit out the double-header to clinch the .400 mark. Williams refused, played both games and went 6-for-8 to raise his average to .406.

He led the league with 37 home runs that year and posted a .735 slugging percentage. Joe DiMaggio, who had a record 56-game hitting streak, won the MVP, however.

In 1942, Williams won the Triple Crown with 36 home runs, 137 RBIs and a .356 average. Joe Gordon of the Yankees, who hit .322 with 18 HRs and 103 RBIs, was named AL MVP.

In 1947, Williams won the Triple Crown again -- with 32 HRs, 114 RBIs and a .343 average. Once again, he lost out on the MVP to DiMaggio (.315, 20 HR, 97 RBI).

At one point, Williams and DiMaggio were apparently close to being traded for each other, but the deal was called off.

"He was the best pure hitter I ever saw. He was feared," DiMaggio said in 1991, 50 years after their 1941 feats.

In 1958, at the age of 40, Williams won the AL batting title and became the oldest player to ever do so. In 1966, he was elected to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.

After retiring from the game, he managed the Washington Senators and Texas Rangers in 1969 to 1972. His number 9 was retired by the Red Sox in 1984.

With a dependent mother, Williams received a military deferment from his draft board in 1942. When that season ended, though, he enlisted, becoming a Marine flier. In 1946, he returned to lead the Red Sox to the pennant and his first MVP award. As a member of the Marine Reserves, was called up as a jet pilot in 1952. After combat service as a fighter pilot in Korea, he rejoined the Red Sox late in the 1953 season.

In 1995, Boston dedicated a $2.3 billion harbor tunnel bearing Williams' name.

He was married three times and had three children.

Ted and his new car, 1941---BB Reference

Source: Right: The History of Baseball, by Alison Danzig/Joe Reichler, 1959, pp. 275.
--------June 8, 1948--------------------------------------------------------------------Ted Swinging.

---------------------March, 1956-----------------------------1946: Wally Moses, Ted Williams, Dom DiMaggio

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---------------------March 2, 1940, ---------------------
Original caption: Ted Williams, former sensational star
of the Boston Red Sox, has signed a new contract--this
one with former Lee Howard. Ted and his bride stopped
briefly in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, on their
way to the Miramichi River for Atlantic salmon angling.--------October 13, 1966, Original caption: Ted Williams' wife
----------------------------------------------------------------Lee, leaves the chambers of circuit judge Harvey Duval
--------------------------------------------------------------- after she was granted a divorce from the Hall of Fame
--------------------------------------------------------------- baseball player. The judge, standing in the background,
---------------------------------------------------------------- awarded her $50,000 on grounds of mental cruelty.

Sports Illustrated: The Baseball Book, Edited by Rob Fleder, 2006, pp. 139.
----------------------------------1939

Ted's classic swing.

Source: Detroit News newspaper photo collection.------------------------------------------------------------------------June 6, 1948---Source: Detroit News newspaper photo collection.

------1946

Minneapolis Millers: 1938

Attached Files

Flajole sports car.jpg (66.5 KB, 2288 views)

**The Kid** · 03-15-2007, 03:18 PM

Williams's quotes on Red Sox players:

"He wasn't as smart as he should have been and never knew when he was doing it right ... but Bobby [Doerr] said he had the best single season he'd ever seen, and Bobby played with me for 10 years! - Ted on Carl Yastrzemski

"He hit as if he had two strikes on him all the time. He was as strong as a bull, but he was swinging when he left the bench - Ted on Jim Rice

"If production is the yardstick of a great hitter, and I scincerely believe it is, then Jimmie Foxx must be the Henry Ford of hitters. He hit balls out of sight." - Ted on Jimmie Foxx

"I personally think Babe Ruth had to be the greatest player of all time. He was not only a great slugger - the greatest slugger the game has or will ever see - but he was also a great pitcher ... one of the greatest of all time" - Ted on Babe Ruth

"When I watch Dwight at the plate, it makes me want to vomit" - Ted on Dwight Evans and his fidgeting at the plate

"He's as good a young player as anyone I've ever seen come into the big leagues. He went to Georgia Tech where he was on the Dean's list and when I finished talking with him, I felt I was on the Dean's list of hitting. I asked him my usual questions about all the aspects of hitting ... and he knew everything. He's really a brilliant kid." - Ted on Nomar Garciaparra

"If he's selective, he can hit down the left-field line and he can hit down the right-field line; but if he's fooled, the Babe himself can't hit the ball ... He seems to have a plan when he comes to the plate, unlike many of today's young hitters" - Ted on Mo Vaughn

"Boggs is a very smart hitter. He makes the pitchers pitch. If he's fooled, he doesn't fool with the pitch. When he's got two strikes on him, he'll go inside out, inside out. He has that much facility hitting with two strikes .... In batting practice, Boggs will put a hell of a long ball show on for you in the bleachers, but in a game, - phip! phip! phip! - he tries to spray the ball." - Ted on Wade Boggs

"Tris Speaker was capable of doing a little bit more as a hitter than he did, because he played almost ten years in the lively ball era and still didn't hit as many homers as he should of ... Homers where not his priority, I guess. He was considered to be in the aristocracy of baseball, and in my mind he belongs in the aristocracy of hitters' - Ted on Tris Speaker

"C'mon, you blond bum! I don't want to stand here in the sun all day." - Ted, on first base, to Jackie Jensen at the plate (Jensen homered on the next pitch)

Ted Williams, Red Sox LF,---BB Reference
Looks like Ted is taking batting practice near the end of the line. Notice his shin protector. Ted retired in 1960.

1938 with the Minneapolis Millers.

**The Kid** · 03-16-2007, 01:00 PM

Some questions asked on Ted Williams:

1. How good was Williams's seeing?

According to numerous records, Williams seeing was one of the best, if not the best, seeing any ball player has ever had.

Everyone knows that Williams had an amazing eye at the plate. The Navy doctor that checked his sight before his enlistment in 1942 said he had "20 -10" vision. Stories have circulated that Ted could have read a phonograph record label while it was still spinning and he could see ducks approaching before his fellow hunters. His ability to tell a ball from a strike is legendary, and he almost never needed a strike to be called a ball in his career. "They always claim that most great hitters get a fourth strike," said Hank Aaron. "Ted didn't get no fourth strike, it was just that he knew where the strike zone was, and he didn't swing at anything outside the strike zone." Opposing pitchers where almost convinced that Ted could see the stitches on approaching pitches and instantly computed what the ball was going to do. Williams claimed he saw things so well because of his "intensity". "It takes a hell of a lot more than just a good eye to hit .400 in the big leagues. There were plenty of occasions when I couldn't see well and I still got four hits." But he also admitted that sight has a lot to do with good hitting. Ted once claimed that the plate at Fenway was out of line. The grounds crew checked the plate and, sure enough, Ted was right. Williams had absolutuly amazing eye sight.

Ted at Holy Cross school----------------------------Ted is tagged out by Yogi Berra

Attached Files

**The Kid** · 03-16-2007, 01:55 PM

2. How good were Williams other senses?

Williams other senses were almost as good as his legendary seeing.

As for his ears, many have claimed Ted could pick out one boo out of a croud of cheers from one "leather-lunged fan". Hank Aaron was amazed at Ted's hearing. "The first time I saw Ted was when I played an exhibition against the Red Sox, when I hit a homer off of Ike Delock. Ted said 'Boy, I was in the clubhouse when I heard the crack of the bat and I said - Lord, I've gotta go look! - and I knew immeadiately it was one of the longest homers ever hit at the Sox training sight at Sarasota'. I'd always heard about Williams' baseball savvy, and right then and there, I could appreciate exactly what he meant." Ted could tell a Foxx homer from a Mantle homer from an Aaron homer the way a wine connoissuer can pick out a particular fine wine.

Williams' sense of touch is also legendary. A bat had to have the right feel, the right wieght. If a bat nob was a thousandth of an inch off, Ted would send it right back to the factory. He used to have occasional pilgremages to the Louisville Slugger factory to pick out the right wood for his bats. He would use a bone to harden the grain in his bats. "I treated them like babies", he said in his biography My Turn at Bat.

As a part of of a cover for Sports Illustrated in 1986, Ted was shown with two of the greatest hitters of the day: Don Mattingly and Wade Boggs. During there discussion, Williams said that a few times in his career he could actually smell burning wood when he just barely tipped a good fastball. While Mattingly and Boggs thought Ted was fooling, he was actually serious. According to some calculations, the bat speed that would have generated for such an act of spontaneous combustion is just plain mind-boggling.

Williams taste, although not having to do with baseball, has also been reported as moderatly insane. In 1946 Mel Webb of the Boston Globe reported that one night Williams consumed the following: three shrimp cocktails, three cups of fish powder, one 1 1/2-thick inch steak, ten rolls, one pound of butter, two orders of string beans, two 2 1/2-pound broiled lobsters, one chef's salad, three ice creams with chocolate sauce, and an "indeterminate amount" of iced tea.

**The Kid** · 03-17-2007, 01:39 PM

How much did Ted and the media hate each other?

Ted and the media are, in my opinion, the Yankees and Red Sox of the newspaper. The media, during Williams career, would constantly write that Williams was always trying to steal someone else's job - the manager's, the owner's, the radio booth announcer's, anyone's. Williams of course was not trying to steal any jobs, but the media seemed to hate him enough to say some of those nasty things. The media also wrote that Williams didn't hit in the clutch, yet Williams drove in more runs per at bat than anyone else in history but Babe Ruth and got on base more times than anyone including Babe Ruth. After Williams returned from his career-threatning elbow injury in 1950, the Red Sox, who had been doing very well in the time that Williams was recovering, started to decline just a bit and eventually lost pennant on the last day. Sure enough, the media wrote "The Red Sox do better without Williams". They wrote he wasn't he wasn't a "team man". They wrote he was "jealous". They wrote he was "alienated". He was this, he was that. So on. And so unfair.

Williams with Babe Ruth------------------------------------------------Williams with Joe Cronin---BB Reference

**The Kid** · 03-17-2007, 08:14 PM

Did Williams really hate the fans?

Most would say: Oh, that Teddy Ballgame sure loved those fans, alright. He spit and screamed and even threw a bat at them. This is what I like to call ignorance. If you really look at Williams' career in depth, you can see the real reason he did some of those things to the fans. First, most fans treated Williams like dirt, on account of that old, evil Boston media. Would you really like someone who calls you a selfish, son a b*tch that doesn't care about the team after you've just hit a homer that put your club ahead? Second, we find that Williams was a very tempramental ball player. He would blow up, not acting but reacting. He'd get so darn mad he'd throw bats, kick the columns in the dugout so sparks flew, tear out plumbing, knock out lights and nearly kill himself. He'd scream out of frustration, not out of hate for the fans.

Once, he nearly ended his career before it started because of his anger of failure. It was in Minneapolis. It was 1938, the year before he went to play for Boston. He was leading the American Association in everything - runs, hits, RBIs, homers, everything. Lloyd Brown was pitching for St. Paul. Brown was a short, tough pitcher with a good curve. Ted got him to 3 and 1 in the first inning, bases loaded, two outs. Brown threw the fastball, right there. If Ted had gotten a little more of the ball, it would have gone 440 feet, but he just missed it, and popped out to the first baseman to end the inning. Boy, he's mad now. He went back to the bench so frusterated he didn't know what to do. Unfortunatly, there was a big water cooler right next to him, about half full. Williams then punched the thing just so hard with his fist. It sounded like a cannon went off in the dugout. Blood and glass flew everywhere. He was lucky he didn't cut his hand off. One piece of glass went pretty deep and just missed a nerve in Ted's hand. He could of ended his career right there. Luckily, it wasn't even enough to take him out of the game. That just shows you how angry he could get and how intense he was.

Simply put, Williams did not hate most fans more than any other player would.

**Williamsburg2599** · 03-17-2007, 08:26 PM

Originally posted by keepthefaith3

Did Williams really hate the fans?

Most would say: Oh, that Teddy Ballgame sure loved those fans, alright. He spit and screamed and even threw a bat at them. This is what I like to call ignorance. If you really look at Williams' career in depth, you can see the real reason he did some of those things to the fans. First, most fans treated Williams like dirt, on account of that old, evil Boston media. Would you really like someone who calls you a selfish, son a b*tch that doesn't care about the team after you've just hit a homer that put your club ahead? Second, we find that Williams was a very tempramental ball player. He would blow up, not acting but reacting. He'd get so darn mad he'd throw bats, kick the columns in the dugout so sparks flew, tear out plumbing, knock out lights and nearly kill himself. He'd scream out of frustration, not out of hate for the fans.

Once, he nearly ended his career before it started because of his anger of failure. It was in Minneapolis. It was 1938, the year before he went to play for Boston. He was leading the American Association in everything - runs, hits, RBIs, homers, everything. Lloyd Brown was pitching for St. Paul. Brown was a short, tough pitcher with a good curve. Ted got him to 3 and 1 in the first inning, bases loaded, two outs. Brown threw the fastball, right there. If Ted had gotten a little more of the ball, it would have gone 440 feet, but he just missed it, and popped out to the first baseman to end the inning. Boy, he's mad now. He went back to the bench so frusterated he didn't know what to do. Unfortunatly, there was a big water cooler right next to him, about half full. Williams then punched the thing just so hard with his fist. It sounded like a cannon went off in the dugout. Blood and glass flew everywhere. He was lucky he didn't cut his hand off. One piece of glass went pretty deep and just missed a nerve in Ted's hand. He could of ended his career right there. Luckily, it wasn't even enough to take him out of the game. That just shows you how angry he could ge6 and how intense he was.

Simply put, Williams did not hate most fans more than any other player would.

Great post, KTF. BTW, Ted cried on the field after that bat hit the fan.

**Ubiquitous** · 03-17-2007, 08:52 PM

Originally posted by keepthefaith3

Did Williams really hate the fans?

Most would say: Oh, that Teddy Ballgame sure loved those fans, alright. He spit and screamed and even threw a bat at them. This is what I like to call ignorance. If you really look at Williams' career in depth, you can see the real reason he did some of those things to the fans. First, most fans treated Williams like dirt, on account of that old, evil Boston media.

From what I have read most fans did not treat Ted like dirt. Ted was loved in Boston and yes some of the Boston media went after him but that doesn't mean the fans are sheep to what the media writes.

Case in point. Barry Bonds. For a good part of Barry Bonds' career the media hated him, loved to bash and write negatively about him. Yet for the most part that didn't rub off on to the home town crowd.

Ted Williams could not tolerate hypocrisy. He could not tolerate a group of individuals booing you at one moment for striking you out and then cheering you when you hit a home run. Thus he didn't tip his cap after feats on the ballfield. But he did in his last game tip his cap to the crowd. He did it before the game when they had a little ceremony for him.

Ted had rabbit ears and could hear every little insult toward him and sometimes he reacted. He was a temperamental hot head. I don't think for a second Ted hated Boston or its fans nor do I think Boston hated Ted.

**Ubiquitous** · 03-17-2007, 09:03 PM

Originally posted by keepthefaith3

2. How good were Williams other senses?

Williams' sense of touch is also legendary. A bat had to have the right feel, the right wieght. If a bat nob was a thousandth of an inch off, Ted would send it right back to the factory. He used to have occasional pilgremages to the Louisville Slugger factory to pick out the right wood for his bats. He would use a bone to harden the grain in his bats. "I treated them like babies", he said in his biography My Turn at Bat.

This is a bit of a falsehood. In the latest biography by someone I'm forgetting they an excerpt from the clubhouse manager who was in charge of Ted's baseball bats. At the beginning of the year this guy would order two or three dozen bats. Ted would go through them pick the ones he liked and then pick out the "flaws" of the other ones, and tell this guy to send them back. The next day or so the clubhouse manager would tell Ted a new shipment arrived and Ted would repeat the process. The problem was that they were the same exact bats that he declined the day before, only this time some of them were fine.

As a part of of a cover for Sports Illustrated in 1986, Ted was shown with two of the greatest hitters of the day: Don Mattingly and Wade Boggs. During there discussion, Williams said that a few times in his career he could actually smell burning wood when he just barely tipped a good fastball. While Mattingly and Boggs thought Ted was fooling, he was actually serious. According to some calculations, the bat speed that would have generated for such an act of spontaneous combustion is just plain mind-boggling.

It might have happened that way too but the more common story involves Gwynn and I believe possibly Boggs. Ted was down in Florida opening up his hitters museum and he only had two modern players on his list of hitters. Gwynn and I believe Boggs. He asked them if they ever smelled burning wood on high fastball that they fouled straight back. Boggs said no, but Gwynn said yeah sometimes.

Williams taste, although not having to do with baseball, has also been reported as moderatly insane. In 1946 Mel Webb of the Boston Globe reported that one night Williams consumed the following: three shrimp cocktails, three cups of fish powder, one 1 1/2-thick inch steak, ten rolls, one pound of butter, two orders of string beans, two 2 1/2-pound broiled lobsters, one chef's salad, three ice creams with chocolate sauce, and an "indeterminate amount" of iced tea.

This really is not as crazy as it sounds. Ted Williams actively worked out and his metabolism had to be pretty darn high. Most athletes consume larges amounts of food on a daily basis.

As for his eyesight when he went into the military it was tested and it was 20/10. AS in he could see objects at 20 feet away that others could only see at 10 feet away. That is good eyesight but hardly legendary. His true greatness was in his eye/hand coordination and his ability to process information and make decisions rapidly. Again when he went to the military they tested him for flight school and he broke all kinds of records for hand/eye coordination. The guy had otherworldly ability to track a speeding baseball and adjust accordingly.

**The Kid** · 03-18-2007, 09:51 AM

Quotes on Ted Williams

An outfield composed of (Ty) Cobb, (Tris) Speaker and (Babe) Ruth, even with Ruth, lacks the combined power of (Joe) DiMaggio, (Stan) Musial and (Ted) Williams." - Connie Mack

"Did they tell me how to pitch to (Ted) Williams? Sure they did. It was great advice, very encouraging. They said he had no weakness, won't swing at a bad ball, has the best eyes in the business, and can kill you with one swing. He won't hit anything bad, but don't give him anything good." - Bobby Shantz

"He could hit better with a broken arm than we could with two good arms." - Jerry Coleman

"If he'd just tip he cap once, he could be elected Mayor of Boston in five minutes." - Eddie Collins

"I got a big charge out of seeing Ted Williams hit. Once in a while they let me try to field some of them, which sort of dimmed my enthusiasm." - Rocky Bridges

"I'm very pleased and very proud of my accomplishments, but I'm most proud of that (hitting four-hundred home runs and three-thousand hits). Not (Ted) Williams, not (Lou) Gehrig, not (Joe) DiMaggio did that. They were Cadillacs and I'm a Chevrolet." - Carl Yastrzemski

"In baseball, there is something electrifying about the big leagues. I had read so much about (Stan) Musial, (Ted) Williams and (Jackie) Robinson. I had put those guys on a pedestal. They were something special. I really thought they put their pants on different, rather than one leg at a time." - Hank Aaron

"It was typical of him to become a Marine Air Corps pilot and see action and almost get shot down. He was a remarkable American as well as a remarkable ballplayer. His passing so close to a national holiday seems part of a divine plan, so we can always remember him not only as a great player but also as a great patriot." - Vin Scully

"One of my best friends on earth and the greatest hitter I ever faced. And I faced a lot of guys, including Lou Gehrig. He was also a great friend to my wife Anne and me. He was a great American." - Bob Feller

"Ted's (Williams) passing signals a sad day, not only for baseball fans, but for every American. He was a cultural icon, a larger-than-life personality. He was great enough to become a Hall of Fame player. He was caring enough to be the first Hall of Famer to call for the inclusion of Negro Leagues stars in Cooperstown. He was brave enough to serve our country as a Marine in not one but two global conflicts. Ted Williams is a hero for all generations." - Dale Petroskey (President of the Baseball Hall of Fame)

"Ted (Williams) was everything that was right about the game of baseball. If you really think about it, he was everything that is right about this country. It is certainly a sad day for all of us. He is a man who lost five years of service time serving his country. What he could have done with those years in the prime of his life ... it would be awesome to really put those numbers together. He would have probably been the greatest power hitter of all time." - Pirates Manager Lloyd McClendon

"Ted (Williams) was the greatest hitter of our era. He won six batting titles and served his country for five years, so he would have won more. He loved talking about hitting and was a great student of hitting and pitchers." - Stan Musial

"The way those clubs shift against Ted Williams, I can't understand how he can be so stupid not to accept the challenge to him and hit to left field." - Ty Cobb

"They can talk about Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb and Rogers Hornsby and Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio and Stan Musial and all the rest, but I'm sure not one of them could hold cards and spades to (Ted) Williams in his sheer knowledge of hitting. He studied hitting the way a broker studies the stock market, and could spot at a glance mistakes that others couldn't see in a week." - Carl Yastrzemski

"When you're a kid, what fun the game is! You grab a bat and glove and ball, that's it. I know what Ted Williams and Stan Musial meant when they said it got tougher to get in shape every year." - Eddie Mathews

"(Ted) Williams is the classic ballplayer of the game on a hot August weekday, before a small crowd, when the only thing at stake is the tissue-thin difference between a thing done well and a thing done ill." - John Updike

**The Kid** · 03-18-2007, 10:07 AM

Who first called Williams "The Kid"?

The first man to call Williams The Kid was Johnny Orlando. It was Ted's first year with Boston. Ted, who had to borrow $200 for the trip to Sarasota, had just gotten to the clubhouse of the training complex. Everyone else (Jimmie Foxx, Lefty Grove, Doc Cramer and other greats) was out on the field and Orlando, the equipment manager, said to Williams, "Who are you?"

"Ted Williams."

"Oh, well, The Kid has arrived, eh. you go change with the other rookies, Kid." The nickname stuck for ever.

**The Kid** · 03-18-2007, 10:37 AM

How was Williams' first training camp for Boston?

Ted's first spring training camp, in my opinion, really helped shape him from a minor leaguer in San Diego to a major leaguer for Boston. Williams was surrounded by veteran future hall of famers in Jimmie Foxx and Lefty Grove. He was also around then rookie Bobby Doerr, who he made a great, life long friendship with. He was also being managed by Joe Cronin, who he also made a life long friendship with after a scratchy start (Cronin called Ted a "busher" the first time he saw him). I don't think you can have a better deveolpment area than that. Williams said that Grove was the smoothiest, prettiest left handed pitcher he had ever seen. Ted also carefully watched Foxx hit long, high drives that Williams later said sounded like "firecrackers going off". According to many records, on the first day, Doerr said to Williams, "Wait till you see Foxx hit". Williams supposedly said "Wait till he sees me hit". Well, Ted never said that, but doesn't it sound like he would?

Williams, who was unsure wether Boston would keep him that year. He asked Cronin, "I am I on the list, Joe?"

"Why don't you look on the damn board and see wether your on the list." (And these guys became friends?)

Williams place, according to the list, was Daytona Beach, the Minneapolis training camp. Williams asked Johnny Orlando to take him there. Williams then said, "Tell them I'll be back." "Them" was reffering to the outfielders, Doc Cramer, Joe Vosmik and Ben Chapman, evreyone of them .300 hitters. "Tell them I'll be back, and tell them I'm going to wind up making more money in this friggin game then all of them combined." Williams couldn't have been more right.

**The Kid** · 03-18-2007, 12:05 PM

Williams Names the Top 20 Greatest Hitters Ever

In 1994, after opening up his All Time Great Hitter's Hall Of Fame, Ted Williams named the top twenty greatest hitters of all time. Williams' List:

20. Ralph Kiner
19. Mike Schmidt
18. Frank Robinson
17. Harry Heilmann
16. Mel Ott
15. Johnny Mize
14. Al Simmons
13. Tris Speaker
12. Mickey Mantle
11. Hank Greenberg
10. Willie Mays
9. Hank Aaron
8. Joe Jackson
7. Stan Musial
6. Ty Cobb
5. Joe DiMaggio
4. Rogers Hornsby
3. Jimmie Foxx
2. Lou Gehrig
1. Babe Ruth

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