Last night, I finally finished the Ted Williams autobiography, “My Turn At Bat.” For some reason I just never got around to reading this before, which is odd because I have owned the book for ages and Williams is pretty much my favorite player of all time aside from Tony Gwynn. In any case, it’s a great book and I highly suggest you give it a read if you have the slightest amount of interest in the Splendid Splinter. So since I’m on a big Ted Williams kick right now, I present (yet another) post of photos of the greatest hitter of all-time.
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A great photo of Ted Williams during his time as Manager of the Washington Senators. I’ve read stories about him taking BP with his players during these years and hitting balls out of the park with ease. This is something I would have loved to of seen.
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August 24th, 1940. Ted Williams hops on the mound during a blowout to pitch two innings against the Detroit Tigers. I previously posted a photo of this famous moment HERE with more information, but was delighted to find this photo as it is more clear and close up. I assume that a photographer got close to the mound during his warm up pitches and snapped this gem.
Fun fact: I recently learned that Joe Glenn was the Catcher during Williams’ pitching appearance. As it turns out, Glenn was also the Catcher for Babe Ruth during his last career pitching appearance in 1933. So incredibly cool.
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April 14th, 1939. Six days before his Major League debut, Ted Williams hit a homerun in his first at-bat as a member of the Boston Red Sox. This came during an exhibition game against the College of Holy Cross Baseball team in Worcester Massachusetts at Fitton Field. Once again, I previously posted about this (HERE & HERE) but the photos I used were not as nice as this one. Give this one a click to get some nice detail of this notable moment in the life of Teddy Ballgame.
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Bobby Doerr, Ted Williams and Dom DiMaggio all leap together for the camera. While this kind of photo is common from this era, I find this one particularly special as it captures 3/4 of “The Teammates.” When I say that, I am speaking of Doerr, Williams, DiMaggio and Johnny Pesky. If Pesky was included in the photo above, I’d have to get this photo framed and put on my wall.
One of my ALL-TIME favorite books is “The Teammates: A Portrait of a Friendship” by David Halberstam. It chronicles all four of these players from their young years on the West Coast, to their days with the Red Sox, and into their golden years. It’s a great book which is written incredibly well. Anyone who will love a heart warming story about friendship and Baseball is sure to enjoy this book. I warn you though, if you read it you may find yourself getting a little misty eyed at one point or another.
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October 5th, 1941. Ted Williams takes part in batting practice prior to an exhibition game at Lane Field in San Diego, California. Williams played at Lane Field in 1936 & 1937 as a member of the San Diego Padres of the Pacific Coast League, so it’s safe to say that he was already quite familiar with the park.
According to Baseball historian Bill Swank, this is the FIRST color action photos of Williams. Check out Swank’s blog HERE and his impressive list of books he has both authored and co-authored HERE.
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Ted Williams playing left field in what I believe is Fenway Park. Not too much to say here besides the fact that I was excited to come across this as not too many photos of him actually playing in the outfield seem to be out there.
