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Last post 21 years ago by Charlie. 21 replies replies.
Teddy Ballgame
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tailgater Offline
#1 Posted: Sat, Jul 6 2002, 10:18 AM EST
Joined: 06-01-2000
Posts: 26,185
Possibly the best hitter the game has ever seen. Rest in peace. This cigar is for you.
JonR Offline
#2 Posted: Sat, Jul 6 2002, 10:41 AM EST
Joined: 02-19-2002
Posts: 9,740
Above everything else a gentleman and a scholar, he will be missed. JonR
Mr.Mean Offline
#3 Posted: Sat, Jul 6 2002, 11:37 AM EST
Joined: 05-16-2001
Posts: 3,025
Tonight I will smoke on in honor of the best damn hitter in the game.
xibbumbero Offline
#4 Posted: Sat, Jul 6 2002, 1:34 PM EST
Joined: 01-25-2002
Posts: 12,535
The Splendid Splinter plays for God's all star team now. I will go by his old High School,Hoover High and the Hall of Champion's 2 pay homage. X
E-Chick Offline
#5 Posted: Sat, Jul 6 2002, 3:25 PM EST
Joined: 06-15-2002
Posts: 4,877
I'll miss seeing him around town, but especially at the ballpark. BTW X, I didn't know he went to Hoover...both my parents went there.
SteveS Offline
#6 Posted: Sat, Jul 6 2002, 8:29 PM EST
Joined: 01-13-2002
Posts: 8,751
I coached youth baseball for 23 years here in the SF Bay area, each year attending as many coaching and instructional camps as I could find near enough and well enough timed to go to ...

One of the best and easiest of things I learned was an absolute fool-proof method of teaching a young kid to hold his bat properly ... best, because it works 100% of the time for any person, irrespective of their physical size or the bat they happen to be using and corrects the most common basic flaw in young hitters ... I commented to the instructor (Tom McCraw, still, a major league hitting instructor who is currently with the Blue Jays) what a uniquely interesting method it was... he replied that he agreed and said I might be interested in knowing who he'd learned it from ... Ted Williams, he told me, who had been his first major league manager (with the old Senators that became the Rangers) ...

This past spring, I took a neighborhood kid under my wing and tutored him in hitting ... it thrilled me to see him succeed beyond all anticipation and go from a struggling player at the plate to a batter feared by the other team ... I could not help thinking last night and again today, that it's a piece of Teddy Ballgame that is living on, in every coach and every player at every level who was touched, either directly or indirectly by his hitting genius ...


Ted aspired early to be the best hitter that ever lived and with a combination of rare skill and hard, diligent work, succeeded 100% ... he WAS, ABSOLUTELY the best hitter of all time

My cap's off to #9, wherever he may be now and on whatever team is lucky enough to have him playing position 7 in their lineup ... he'll be missed, but never forgotten.
JonR Offline
#7 Posted: Sun, Jul 7 2002, 8:41 AM EST
Joined: 02-19-2002
Posts: 9,740
Yo Steve : You going to keep it a secret or what , I have a nine year old nephew who could use some help in the batting department, any help would be appreciated. JonR
SteveS Offline
#8 Posted: Sun, Jul 7 2002, 3:31 PM EST
Joined: 01-13-2002
Posts: 8,751
long distance help would be more than a little bit difficult, inasmuch as I would have no visual and could give no feedback, but if you'd like to write, I'll tell you all I can in an e-mail ...

[email protected]

note that the word "from" IS part of the address ...
carmine7075 Offline
#9 Posted: Mon, Jul 8 2002, 2:25 PM EST
Joined: 10-17-2001
Posts: 40
Ted Williams was a great one. Got to see him once at an exhibition game with my grandfather. Good memories for all.
cwilhelmi Offline
#10 Posted: Mon, Jul 8 2002, 7:11 PM EST
Joined: 07-24-2001
Posts: 2,739
Not only was he the best hitter ever, but an impressive man. He gave up 5 of his prime years to serve his country, it's hard to imagine how much he would have done in those 5 years!! Rest well Teddy Ballgame, you will be missed!
SteveS Offline
#11 Posted: Mon, Jul 8 2002, 9:21 PM EST
Joined: 01-13-2002
Posts: 8,751
talking about Ted and those 5 years, if you look at the numbers he was putting up both before and after the 3 year hitch in WWII and the 2 years in Korea, you'll see he was averaging between 30-35 home runs per year ... numbers can be used to "prove" many points, but I think it's no stretch to say he'd have performed at the high end of those averages inasmuch as those were the really prime years in his career ... if you add 175 homers to his 521, you quickly see that Babe's then-record of 714 would've been very attainable for Ted ... no one ever played the Green Monster better in Fenway and those of us who saw him hit will always remember his sweet, sweet swing ...
tailgater Offline
#12 Posted: Tue, Jul 9 2002, 6:28 PM EST
Joined: 06-01-2000
Posts: 26,185
Steve, actually Yaz outperformed The Kid as a leftfielder.
SteveS Offline
#13 Posted: Wed, Jul 10 2002, 5:31 AM EST
Joined: 01-13-2002
Posts: 8,751
I agree that a case could be made for Yaz ... a pretty strong case could be made for Jim Rice as well. Then, again, a case could be made for Ruth as the greatest hitter ever ... TALKIN' about baseball and comparing and contrasting opinions is, as much as playing or watching the game, one of the key parts of the great American pastime.

I cannot imagine a better way to spend an afternoon than to watch a game with cigar in hand and some knowledgeable buddies to discuss not only the game being watched, but all the other games and seasons that've gone before and all the great players who've played in them ...

You know, it absolutely blows my mind to suddenly realize that I've seen more than half of what is thought of as the "modern" game ... maybe e-Chick is right and I AM a geezer!! ... damn!! ...
Charlie Offline
#14 Posted: Wed, Jul 10 2002, 11:37 AM EST
Joined: 06-16-2002
Posts: 39,751
Ted Williams was a great hitter and great American! He served his country in two Wars and never cried about missing those 5 seasons! What an American Icon he was and compare him to the "stars" of today! Duh!!!! Charlie
SteveS Offline
#15 Posted: Wed, Jul 10 2002, 12:34 PM EST
Joined: 01-13-2002
Posts: 8,751
an acticle in one of the papers here ran a collumn last week in which the collumnist was claiming Barry Bonds to be comparable to Ted ... Ted was a TEAM player and was well regarded by his teammates, something Barry is NOT ... while Bonds has posted some pretty impressive numbers, especially lately, I was reminded of Lloyd Benson's remark to Dan Quayle in 1988 (a possibly obsure reference to many of you, I know) ... to paraphrase, I saw Ted Williams play, I know the player he was, I know the character he possessed and while Ted did have a sometimes abrasive relationship with the press and fans (early in his career), the comparison ends there ... and Barry Bonds IS NO TED WILLIAMS
!!
xibbumbero Offline
#16 Posted: Wed, Jul 10 2002, 3:39 PM EST
Joined: 01-25-2002
Posts: 12,535
AMEN to that. X
tailgater Offline
#17 Posted: Wed, Jul 10 2002, 5:47 PM EST
Joined: 06-01-2000
Posts: 26,185
Steve, I wasn't talking about Yaz vs Williams as a hitter. Only as a fielder. Williams was never regarded as a great fielder, and for that reason alone he is not always talked about as the greatest ballplayer, but merely as the greatest hitter. Yaz, on the other hand, has several gold gloves to go along with his two triple crowns.
cwilhelmi Offline
#18 Posted: Wed, Jul 17 2002, 9:02 PM EST
Joined: 07-24-2001
Posts: 2,739
Also, Williams was never on Steroids!! I'm very afraid of the negative effects roids will have on baseball in the coming years. It's gonna get worse before it get's better!
Charlie Offline
#19 Posted: Fri, Jul 19 2002, 7:47 AM EST
Joined: 06-16-2002
Posts: 39,751
Barry Bonds stands for everything that is wrong with today's professional ball player--no matter the sport! He is arrogant, abrasive, self serving, contemptable, greedy, not a teammate (he has his own little private area in Giants locker room) and above all, not a nice person in general! With each and every day we grow to appreciate the people we watched over the years give their all to the game and its fans! Some of those who we have grown to love and miss more and more with each and every day of saber rattling by the MLB Union are as follows: Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, Al Kaline, Carl Yaztremski, Willie Stargell, Roberto Clemente, Harmon Killebrew, and recently retired Cal Ripken and Mark McGwire! Too bad we are stuck with the jerks and asses who play the game today! Charlie
Charlie Offline
#20 Posted: Fri, Jul 19 2002, 7:49 AM EST
Joined: 06-16-2002
Posts: 39,751
I know I left a lot of great names off the partial list, but how could I leave off Tony Gwynn!? Charlie
SteveS Offline
#21 Posted: Fri, Jul 19 2002, 8:06 AM EST
Joined: 01-13-2002
Posts: 8,751
Paul Molitor and Robin Yount to name two more, plus countless guys whose names aren't household words ... if you get up my way, I'll introduce you to a guy named Brad Wellman who was the 2nd baseman for the Giants before Robbie Thompson, and was then with the Royals and the Dodgers before hanging them up ... this guy runs a little baseball academy now and works with kids ... great guy, fabulous attitude, wonderful teacher ... and I think there's a lot more guys like him than we know about, guys who never did make the news, and who didn't make the big splash, but were there for all the right reasons ... guys like Mike Sadek who caught for the Giants in the 70's ... never played in more than 100 games a season, has 5 career home runs, but a guy who's given a lot back to kids ... he was a fantastic influence on two of my four sons ... too bad there's not more known about this type of guy and less attention to the swell-heads like Bonds ...
Charlie Offline
#22 Posted: Fri, Jul 19 2002, 8:29 AM EST
Joined: 06-16-2002
Posts: 39,751
Steve, you are so right and I remember Brad Wellman.....being an oldtime Kansas City Royal fan, and it seems silly to list great guys who played the game and leave off another Royal George Brett! Charlie
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