the greatest hitter that ever lived

July 5, 2002

Today's Reading
Historic Storms of New England by Sidney Perley, The Time Bike by Jane Langton

This Year's Reading
2002 Book List

Ted Williams died today. The greatest hitter that ever lived - that's how they introduced him at the 1999 All Star Game and that's how he wanted to be remembered.

I'm just old enough to have seen him play at the end of his career. My grandfather took me on my first visit to Fenway Park when I was about 6 years old. I wish I could say that my most vivid memory was of Ted Williams but it was of the overwhelming greenness of Fenway Park, that and the thrill of riding on the MTA for the first time (now called the T). The name Ted Williams was magic to me. I knew without being told that I was in the presence of greatness and that this experience was special beyond just my grandfather taking me to my first baseball game. It doesn't translate into a specific story I can write down, just a feeling that I will never forget.

My most vivid memory of Ted Williams is not a baseball memory and it came later, after he had retired. There used to be this annual Sportsman's Show in Boston with fly fishing demos, boats, camping equipment, fishing gear, you name it for outdoor sports. Ted Williams was an accomplished fly fisherman besides being the greatest hitter that ever lived and a Marine fighter pilot. Anyway, he was putting on a fly fishing demo at the Sportsman's Show and I was there with my Dad looking at fishing equipment. I was having a ball running around the Sportsman's Show like the little kid I was and ran smack dab into Ted Williams. I still remember looking up at him and realizing I knew exactly who he was. I think I said something like "Ted Williams! [pause] Excuse me," instead of "Excuse me, Mr. Williams." To his credit, he laughed.

And that's my memory of the greatest hitter who ever lived.