Ted Williams Dead at 83

kfwb news ^ | 7-5002 | dfu

[doug from upland]

Baseball great Ted Williams has died at 83. More to follow.

[strider44]

You're right about no modern player leaving sports to serve in the armed forces. He didn't just serve in the infantry either, he was a fighter pilot. If you look at his stats, the years he missed cost him dearly. he would have easily been #3 on the homerun list. By his averages, he would have surpassed Mays's 660.

[housethatruthbuilt]

good story about ted: left to fly missions in the war. comes back to the sox, takes batting practice, for the first time in a year or two, on a regulation diamond. after a couple of pitches he stops and says the mound was in inch off in height. no one believes him but he insists. they measure and sure enough it is off by an inch.
also i think it was actually 20-10 vision.

[VOA]

ps I still think you should have gotten the MVP in 1941 over Dimaggio.

LOL!
A fairly liberal friend of mine, a professor of psychology, asked me to
explain when baseball was "America's Game".

Even though I'm not a big baseball fan, I said I thought it was a combination
of things: tradition, history, statistical obsession with performances (with asterisks
to denote suspect records) and even a religional, spiritual thing. How else could you
explain "Field of Dreams" and "The Natural"?

Your comment has me chuckling because I know I was at least on target when I said tradition
and history were a big part of the appeal!

[Dales]

If all he did was serve our armed forces in the great war, he would be a great man. But that's not all he did.

[Charles Henrickson]

Jack Buck last month, Ted Williams this month. A great baseball announcer and a great baseball player. Both war heroes, patriots. Those two truly exemplified "The Greatest Generation."

[spald]

Ted was 38 years old and hit .388 for the season. We travelled down to Cleveland to watch the Bosox versus the Indians. Ted went 3 for 4 with two doubles and 5 rbi. The man just spanked the ball.

[Jhensy]

Saddest thing is, he lived 83 years, and the Sox never won the Championship in his lifetime.

Whoops, I just did the math and he was born August 1918, less than 2 months from the Sox' last title. Doubly ironic that he was born in 1918!

[TheOtherOne]

[doug from upland]

Darn. I used to have that baseball card and many others of his.

[gumboyaya]

Teddy ballgame didn't need no stinking steriods - simply the best.

[SMEDLEYBUTLER]

Rest in Peace Devil Dog.

Williams awarded Air Medal
and two Gold Stars before
receiving a discharge for health reasons.

[sushiman]

>Lou Bodreaux, manager of the Cleveland Indians

That's BOUDREAU , a surname I happen to share .

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

I used to watch him on a hunting show, don't remember the name,

"The American Sportsman" with Curt Gowdy. Another one of the greats..

[Nightbird]

The guy's name is Pat Tillman. A safety for the Arizona Cardinals who hits like a ton of bricks. He's maybe 25 or so, and has a promising career ahead of him. He's voluntarily giving up NFL millions to serve in the Army. Also, just a year ago or so he turned down a lucrative free agent contract to stay with the hapless Cardinals out of loyalty to the team that drafted him. He's always had the reputation of being a little crazy. If his Ranger career is anything like that of his football prowess, Saddam had better watch out.

[EmmaPeel]

God Bless You, Ted...now my daddy gets to meet you in Heaven :D

[Mudboy Slim]

"Ted probably has two records that will never be broken. The hit streak..."

Which streak is that?!

FReegards...MUD

[spald]

"Your comment has me chuckling because I know I was at least on target when I said tradition and history were a big part of the appeal!"

LOL indeed. History for sure. When Ted was 38, I was 27 and hubbie 29. We used to vacation in Florida in the late sixties and Ted was always available for discussions during spring training. We was a wonderful fisherman with the patience to a saint. We'd stand around Ted and every father would approach with their young sons and state, within earshot of Ted, "son, I want you to meet the best hitter baseball has ever seen" or words to that effect.

[RonF]

Today's ballplayer is often toasted because he is viewed as having ignorance of the game and it's history, and being concerned only with himself. But not always.

Two years ago, the All-Star game was at Fenway Park. A helicopter shot of the field showed that Ted William's number was mown into center field. Teddy Ballgame of the MFL was brought out to the mound. He stood up out of his wheelchair and made the ceremonial first pitch. Then TV switched away to a slew of commericals. Time to get Teddy off the field and get the game started. Gotta keep things rolling, right?

Hell,no! Back from commericals and ... what's this? To a man, the ball players were all milling around Williams, refusing to leave until each and every one of them had had a chance to talk to him and shake his hand, like a bunch of start-struck 12-year olds, despite the entreaties to leave the field so that the all-important TV schedule could be met. One of the players later said, "That's why I came to the game!" At least these guys had some appreciation for history.

I wonder if any of them reflected on what they could make if they had his stats....

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

In his last at bat in 1960 he homered. What a way to go out........

At Fenway Park, to this day, the seat in the right field seats where that ball landed is painted red, where all the others are blue.