"Trying to get a fastball by him was like trying to get a sunbeam by a rooster." Bob Feller--Cleveland Indians Pitcher.
After we got our Boston Red Sox program, Mom was flipping through it casually as we waited for the game to start. Mom saw a photo of a statue of Ted Williams in front of the park and looks at me in wonder how we missed it. Ted Williams was Mom's hero during her childhood and adulthood, and when Ted Williams died on July 5, 2002, she called me in Slovakia, where I was visiting a friend, and was in tears over the loss of one of the best baseball players ever.
Ted Williams spent his entire baseball career from 1939-1960 with the Red Sox. Known as "The Kid", "Teddy Ballgame", and "The Splendid Splinter," Williams hit a career 521 home runs and a career .344 career batting average. Williams also won two Triple Crowns, two MVP awards, and is the last ball player to hit .400 when he hit .406 in 1941. His career was interrupted twice during WWII and the Korean War when he volunteered to become a combat fighter pilot leaving many fans to wonder how many more home runs Teddy Ballgame could have hit in his career. Williams retired from baseball and the Red Sox with a bang in 1960 when he hit a home run in his last at bat. His #9 jersey is among the seven (1, 4, 6, 8, 9, 14, 27) numbers retired by the Boston Red Sox.
As much as the fans adored Ted Williams, he didn't like the press or many fans and had several run ins with reporters during his career. Never one to tip his hat to the Boston Faithful, Williams got all of Red Sox Nation in a tizzy when in the 1980's during a Ted Williams Appreciation Day at Fenway, he finally tipped his hat to say thanks to his fans. Another of our favorite Ted Williams moments was during the 1999 All-Star Game at Fenway Park when Ted Williams was honored by all of baseball as the best leftfielder ever. Teddy Ballgame, being ill, came out on the field in a golf cart and received handshakes and hugs from the All-Stars, and Mom and I were left in tears of joy at this site.
"Yep. Putting his hat on the little kiddie's head. Cute. And out of the side of his mouth: "Now get outta my way, you little rat bastard." Stephen King--Faithful (2004).
Cut to March 2009, Mom and I go to the front of City of Palms Park to see Ted Williams statue. The statue is a replica of the statue of Ted Williams at Fenway Park with Mr. Williams holding a bat in his left hand and placing his ball cap on the head of a young boy with cancer. The Boston Red Sox wanted a statue of Ted Williams the Philanthropist and honor his work with the Jimmy Fund, the Boston cancer fund that the Red Sox has sponsored for decades. Some critics like authors Stewart O'Nan and Stephen King, co-authors of the Red Sox 2004 Championship season book Faithful said the statue doesn't do Teddy Ballgame justice and should have been one swinging at the ball.
Like the statue or not, Mom and I felt we were in the presence of a god when standing next to Ted Williams's bronze likeness as were several hundred other fans paying homage that day after the game. Mom and I posed for a few shots before the statue and read the plaque below. I thought Mom shed a tear or two before we headed back to the car and back to the hotel. Being at the ballgame, meeting one living legend in Johnny Pesky, seeing our boys hit four home runs and win the game 9-4, and paying homage to Ted Williams. What more can a girl ask for?! I'm in baseball heaven!