Teddy Ballgame
04-25-2005, 07:01 PM
- As everyone knows, Teddy Ballgame homered in his last at bat in the major leagues on September 28th of 1960 to help the Sox beat Baltimore 5-4.
- Famed novelist but then merely free lance sports stringer John Updike movingly describes the drama of Williams' last at bat, the breaking down in tears of joy of the 17 year old catcher in the on deck circle who had joined the Red Sox that year in large part to play on the same team as the 42 year old superstar he idolized, and then the drama of Williams circling the bases for the 521st and final time and whether or not he'd tip his hat to the delerious crowd. The Kid remained true to himself right to the end, refusing to depart from his habit of not tipping his hat or otherwise showboating after a homer. As Updike put it in a quote for the baseball ages, "Gods do not answer letters."
- None of the other all time home run leaders was able to go out in the ultimate style of a Ted Williams, hitting a trade mark shot out of the park on his last swing of the bat. As Williams has rightly said, hitting consistently and with power a 90 plus mile an hour exploding and spinning and swerving baseball with a small, round piece of wood is the single most difficult thing to do in all of sports. The odds of doing on one's last time up to bat are long indeed.
- But it is interesting to note that The Splendid Splinter hit a home run on his last at bat IN ALL THREE GAMES that he thought were his last games ever.
- On April 30th, 1952, "Ted Williams Day" was held at Fenway Park to honour the star before he went off to serve his country in another war, this time to fly 39 combat missions in Korea. Ted had a premonition that he would die over there and he came within a minute or two of being right (his crash landed fighter jet exploded in flames mere seconds after he managed to get out of the cockpit). Even if he lived, Williams was already just months short of his 34th birthday, had never fully recovered from his brolen elbow and how it limited his arm extension and therefore his power ever after, and he figured he'd be washed up if he ever got back from Korea.
- Nevertheless, Ted reciprocated the fans' good wishes that day by clouting a last at bat home run to beat Detroit and star pitcher Dizzy Trout 5-3.
- Making his way back from Korea alive, The Thumper miraculously hit .407 in the final six weeks of 1953 but then broke his collarbone in spring training of 1954 and went into a "can't I have any luck except for bad luck?" depression. As he fought his way back from injury again, the soon to be 36 slugger wrote a piece for The Saturday Evening Post titled "Why This Will Be My Last Year." Ted had no intention of coming back in 1955 even though he led the league in almost everything offensive in 1954, albeit lacking the at bats to win the bating title (this stupid rule was changed after 1955, when he again lost the batting title because he had too many walks and too few official at bats).
- So Williams considered Spetember 26th, 1954 to be his final game and in his final at bat he (what else?) slammed another home run, his 366th career dinger.
- Yes, Williams did return for the last two thirds or so of the 1955 season because an off season divorce from his first wife pretty much cleaned him out financially and because a devoted fan named Ed Mifflin got to Ted with reams of stats that showed how well he had done but mainly how much more he could accomplish with four or five more good seasons.
- Bottom line, on the three occasions spread out over more than eight years when Ted Williams personally believed that he was getting his last swing at the baseball, he knocked it right out of the park.
And now you know another reason why John Wayne told Ted that he was the real hero while Wayne just played heros in the movies.
- Famed novelist but then merely free lance sports stringer John Updike movingly describes the drama of Williams' last at bat, the breaking down in tears of joy of the 17 year old catcher in the on deck circle who had joined the Red Sox that year in large part to play on the same team as the 42 year old superstar he idolized, and then the drama of Williams circling the bases for the 521st and final time and whether or not he'd tip his hat to the delerious crowd. The Kid remained true to himself right to the end, refusing to depart from his habit of not tipping his hat or otherwise showboating after a homer. As Updike put it in a quote for the baseball ages, "Gods do not answer letters."
- None of the other all time home run leaders was able to go out in the ultimate style of a Ted Williams, hitting a trade mark shot out of the park on his last swing of the bat. As Williams has rightly said, hitting consistently and with power a 90 plus mile an hour exploding and spinning and swerving baseball with a small, round piece of wood is the single most difficult thing to do in all of sports. The odds of doing on one's last time up to bat are long indeed.
- But it is interesting to note that The Splendid Splinter hit a home run on his last at bat IN ALL THREE GAMES that he thought were his last games ever.
- On April 30th, 1952, "Ted Williams Day" was held at Fenway Park to honour the star before he went off to serve his country in another war, this time to fly 39 combat missions in Korea. Ted had a premonition that he would die over there and he came within a minute or two of being right (his crash landed fighter jet exploded in flames mere seconds after he managed to get out of the cockpit). Even if he lived, Williams was already just months short of his 34th birthday, had never fully recovered from his brolen elbow and how it limited his arm extension and therefore his power ever after, and he figured he'd be washed up if he ever got back from Korea.
- Nevertheless, Ted reciprocated the fans' good wishes that day by clouting a last at bat home run to beat Detroit and star pitcher Dizzy Trout 5-3.
- Making his way back from Korea alive, The Thumper miraculously hit .407 in the final six weeks of 1953 but then broke his collarbone in spring training of 1954 and went into a "can't I have any luck except for bad luck?" depression. As he fought his way back from injury again, the soon to be 36 slugger wrote a piece for The Saturday Evening Post titled "Why This Will Be My Last Year." Ted had no intention of coming back in 1955 even though he led the league in almost everything offensive in 1954, albeit lacking the at bats to win the bating title (this stupid rule was changed after 1955, when he again lost the batting title because he had too many walks and too few official at bats).
- So Williams considered Spetember 26th, 1954 to be his final game and in his final at bat he (what else?) slammed another home run, his 366th career dinger.
- Yes, Williams did return for the last two thirds or so of the 1955 season because an off season divorce from his first wife pretty much cleaned him out financially and because a devoted fan named Ed Mifflin got to Ted with reams of stats that showed how well he had done but mainly how much more he could accomplish with four or five more good seasons.
- Bottom line, on the three occasions spread out over more than eight years when Ted Williams personally believed that he was getting his last swing at the baseball, he knocked it right out of the park.
And now you know another reason why John Wayne told Ted that he was the real hero while Wayne just played heros in the movies.