Ted and the others

The Sun-Sentinel ^ | July 6, 2002 | Thomas Boswell

[Luis Gonzalez]

Splendid Splinter

"John Wayne never portrayed a baseball player in the movies. There was no need. Ted Williams held the role in real life."

Mike Berardino--Sun-Sentinel Staff writer.

[Luis Gonzalez]

FYI

[First_Salute]

Thank you.

[Luis Gonzalez]

"DiMaggio was regal. But Williams was real. Joe D met the world like an icy myth of a starched man and liked it that way. Ted wore his rough edges and his opinions on his sleeve. And if you didn't like his dock shoes and his shirttail out, then tough. You never landed a jet that was on fire, jumped out, then ran back to kick the plane because you were so mad somebody shot you down."

[Luis Gonzalez]

You are welcomed. I'm taking a vacation of sorts, but I had to post this article.

[uncbob]

You never landed a jet that was on fire, jumped out, then ran back to kick the plane because you were so mad somebody shot you down.

Williams risked crash landing his shot up jet rather than ejecting because he said he was afraid if he ejected he would break his kneecaps ( cockpit was tight for a man of his height ) and never be able to play ball again

Most people are unaware that Gerry Coleman of the Yankess was a pilot in the same outfit in Korea as Williams

[LonePalm]

"Hey, Ted! You're batting clean-up for the Angels tonight."

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)

[gumboyaya]

I just wish some of today's players would read this and stop for a moment and think. So your going on strike, that is just brilliant. Your taking steriods to look grotesk and hit the ball a ton, big deal. You jump teams for a few extra bucks every few years, how special. Ted, Joe D, Hutch, Mickey would not be at all pleased. As a group tell your union reps to stop this madness and go back to playing the game as it should be.

[Luis Gonzalez]

"Hey, Ted! You're batting clean-up for the Angels tonight."

BUMP!!!!

[Luis Gonzalez]

"...tell your union reps to stop this madness and go back to playing the game as it should be."

Maybe they all forget what playing ball was like, back when they fell in love with the game.

[Brices Crossroads]

I think Ted williams was one of the greats of all time. That said, I am sorry this writer felt he had to run Joe Dimaggio down in order to make that point. Dimaggio was no less great and one of the most graceful athletes I have ever seen. This guy obviously dislikes Jotin' Joe because of his well known (and well founded) disdain for the press. Ted Williams does not need any such help from this guy. His record speaks for itself.

[iconoclast]

Good article. but I'm gettin tired of reading this sentence ...

never played on a world champion?

How many other great Bosox are in the same boat? a few hundred?

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the heads up!

[rohry]

Thanks for posting this. It sums up the Ted that I knew...

"He started asking questions. One last interactive seminar on hitting a baseball. Socratic, as always."

I had the opportunity to go to his baseball camp in Lakeville, MA during the magical summer of '67 (Impossible Dream Red Sox). I was there for three weeks, played baseball for 8 hours a day. Ted came for a visit during the end of my first week there. He would stand behind the backstop while we hit, a constant flow of comments, critcisms, and suggestions. I'm sure that he imagined himself being in our place and this was a carbon copy of the way he talked to himself while at bat.

The next day it rained all day. Here we were, a couple hundred baseball junkies aged 9-18 with nothing to do. We even tried playing catch indoors. After lunch, (Ted ate with us although he sat a table with the counselors/coaches) Ted started talking about hitting a baseball. He talked for almost three hours. Nobody moved, everyone (even the 8 year olds) sat in awe, listening intently. He talked with a passion, an excitement that you rarely see anymore. He would get up with a bat in hand, demonstrating the proper angle of a swing, explaining adjustments that you needed to make in an at bat, etc.

He did all this using the Socratic method that Boswell refers to, asking questions in that big voice of his and then excitedly barking out the answer. All the while a couple hundred kids that loved baseball sat under the tent on picnic tables in awe of a man bigger than life. Bless you Teddy Ballgame...

[Luis Gonzalez]

"Good article. but I'm gettin tired of reading this sentence ..."

"...never played on a world champion?"

So is Dan Marino...

[Mudboy Slim]

"In his ninth decade, he remained a symbol of American competitiveness, craftsmanship, curiosity, patriotism, individualism and iconoclasm, a combination that would've cheered the founders' hearts."

FReegards...MUD

[SamAdams76]

Good point. A World Championship is a team achievement, not an individual achievement. Any journeyman player can get lucky and land on a World Championship Team. It takes a special player however to singlehandedly turn a mediocre team into a contender year after year. And the Red Sox had a lot of mediocre teams during William's career.

The most amazing thing about Ted's career however is the fact that he missed nearly five complete seasons in the prime of his career so that he could fight in not one, but two wars for America. That demonstration of patriotism and self-sacrifice and still boggles my mind. Can anybody imagine Derek Jeter or Nomar Garciaparra leaving the game so they can join the Marines and fight in the war against terrorism?

[deport]

Most people are unaware that Gerry Coleman of the Yankess was a pilot in the same outfit in Korea as Williams

Ted also flew as wingman for John Glenn while in Korea...

[VOA]

Ted also flew as wingman for John Glenn while in Korea...

Actually, I would have said that John Glenn had the good fortune to have Ted Williams
as his wingman...

[MoralSense]

This guy obviously dislikes Jotin' Joe because of his well known (and well founded) disdain for the press.

No, I think Boswell dislikes the post-Yankees DiMaggio for his obsessive self-image creating and for his absolutely unbridled greed. All the things you say about DiMag as a player are true, incidentally -- maybe the greatest all-around there ever was. But he was not a nice man, not at all.