Free Republic

Sometimes, we never get to say goodbye, never quite show how we feel or tie up all the loose ends. But, with Ted Williams, thank heaven, it was different at the end. Three years ago at the All-Star Game, when he was 80 and weakened by strokes, but still mentally sharp, baseball finally digested and sorted all its complex feelings about The Splendid Splinter. The fame and the feuds, the .406 season and the fierce, aloof individualism, the feats as a fighter pilot in two wars and the failures as a manager, all of them came together. And baseball decided...

CRYSTAL, RIVER FLORIDA (TICKER) -- Hall of Famer Ted Williams, regarded as perhaps the greatest hitter in the history of major league baseball, died on Friday. He was 83. Williams, who suffered a series of strokes and congestive heart failure in recent years, was taken to Citrus County Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead of cardiac arrest at 8:49 a.m. EDT. Williams, who spent his entire 19-year career with the Boston Red Sox and was a first-ballot Hall of Famer in 1966, was the last man to hit .400 -- one of the few hallowed marks to go unchallenged...

CENTERFIELD - 1st version A summer day…in Fenway Park…September's hot as heck We have high hopes a baseball he will wreck The bleacher fans, with hot dogs in hand, will be cheering Number 9 And if Ted is on today, the SOX are fine Please, hit a homer, Ted…that's why we are here today Hit a homer, Ted…this year we'll go all the way We'll be beating those damn Yanks, finally In his first at bat, it is no surprise…defense all shifts to the right But with a mighty swing he just hit one out of sight To throw...