With Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey, circa 1955. (National Baseball Hall of Fame Library)
Spitting toward the press box after hitting his four hundredth career home run on July 17, 1956. (Rogers Photo Archive)
With Jackie Robinson in Boston, 1957. (The Sports Museum)
With Mickey Mantle, in Florida, circa 1955. (Ted Williams Family Enterprises)
With Richard Cardinal Cushing, Archbishop of Boston, in 1958. (Red Sox photograph)
Reacting with fury and anguish on September 21, 1958, after seeing that a bat he had flung in disgust after striking out had struck an elderly woman. (National Baseball Hall of Fame Library)
Gladys Heffernan is tended to after being struck by Ted’s thrown bat. (Rogers Photo Archive)
With Ty Cobb at spring training in Scottsdale, 1959. (Red Sox photograph)
Hooking a babe for a gag shot at spring training in Scottsdale, 1960. (Rogers Photo Archive)
Heading to the field before his last game, September 28, 1960. (The Sports Museum)
The Women in Ted’s Life
Ted and his first wife, Doris, in San Diego, January 1946, after he returned from World War II. (May Williams Collection)
Evelyn Turner, circa 1952. (Courtesy of Albert Christiano)
Nelva More, circa 1956. (Courtesy of Nelva More)
Isabel Gilmore in Sarasota, 1959. (Courtesy of Grant Gilmore)
With his second wife, Lee Howard, 1961. (Courtesy of Lee Howard)
Dolores Wettach modeling, circa 1963, about five years before she became Ted’s third wife. (Ted Williams Family Enterprises)
Ted with Louise Kaufman at his camp on the Miramichi River, 1993. (Courtesy of Rob Kaufman)
Delivering his induction speech at Cooperstown, July 25, 1966. (Red Sox photograph)
With Senators owner Bob Short after signing to manage the team, February 1969. (Rogers Photo Archive)
President Nixon throws out the first pitch at the Washington Senators’ home opener on April 7, 1969, as Ted, left, looks on. (Boston Globe photograph)
With Dolores at the ballpark, 1969. (Ted Williams Family Enterprises)
Taking his rips as manager of the Texas Rangers during a hitting contest with other Red Sox old-timers at Fenway Park on August 25, 1972. (Boston Globe photograph)
With Claudia and John-Henry, circa 1974. (Ted Williams Family Enterprises)
Getting fitted for his uniform after putting on a few pounds, spring training, 1978. (Red Sox photograph)
With Red Sox manager Don Zimmer, 1978. (Red Sox photograph)
With Carl Yastrzemski after a spring training tennis match in 1978. Yaz won the match, 8–6, 6–1, 7–5. (Boston Globe photograph)
Heading onto the field at his first Red Sox Old-Timers’ Game, 1982. (Red Sox photograph)
John-Henry is given his father’s number at spring training. (Red Sox photograph)
John-Henry and Claudia as teenagers. (Ted Williams Family Enterprises)
Bobby-Jo and her second husband, Mark Ferrell. (Ted Williams Family Enterprises)
At the unveiling of his statue in Cooperstown, 1985. (Ted Williams Family Enterprises)
The Kid in repose at spring training, circa 1985. (Red Sox photograph)
Then vice president George H. W. Bush and Ted campaigning in New Hampshire, February 1988. (White House photograph)
Casting in the Miramichi. (Ted Williams Family Enterprises)
Ted tips his hat to the Fenway Faithful on May 11, 1991. (Boston Globe photograph)
Ted and John-Henry, circa 1991. (Ted Williams Family Enterprises)
John-Henry and Claudia throw out first pitches at Fenway Park, May 1991. (Boston Globe photograph)
With DiMaggio, being honored by President George H. W. Bush at the White House in 1991. (Ted Williams Family Enterprises)
With Bobby Orr and Larry Bird, December 1992. (Courtesy of Brian Interland)
With Slugger, circa 1993. (Ted Williams Family Enterprises)
With daughter Claudia on his eightieth birthday, August 30, 1998. (Ted Williams Family Enterprises)
Taking a victory lap and tipping his Hitter.net hat at the 1999 All-Star Game at Fenway Park. (Ted Williams Family Enterprises)
Ted being kissed by Claudia and John-Henry at his last public appearance, February 17, 2002. (Ted Williams Family Enterprises)
The pact. (Ted Williams Family Enterprises)
APPENDIX I
Ted Williams’s Lifetime Statistics
APPENDIX II
People Who Were Interviewed for The Kid
Abel, Eric (Williams family lawyer; Claudia Williams’s husband), Aitken, Melanie (military spokeswoman), Ajemian, Bob (reporter who covered Williams), Allen, Bernie (Washington Senators player), Allen, David (husband of Dee Allen), Allen, Dee (daughter of Saul Venzor), Allen, Jerry (childhood friend of Ted), Allison, Patti and John (did physical therapy with Ted), Altshuler, Justin (his father was Ted’s dentist), Amidon, Ron (son of Virginia Amidon), Amidon, Virginia (widow of Chester Amidon Jr., Ted’s first cousin and the only son of Sarah Venzor, May Williams’s sister), Amoroso, Sarah (daughter of hitting expert Bert Dunne), Amphlett, Janet (psychologist), Andres, Ernie (played fifteen games for the ’46 Sox), Andrews, Mike (Jimmy Fund head; former Sox second baseman, notably for ’67 Impossible Dream team), Angell, Roger (acclaimed New Yorker baseball writer), Antignano, John (Ted’s Citrus Hills fishing buddy), Apte, Stu (Ted’s Miami and Keys fishing buddy), Aquilina, Bob (Marine Corps historian), Armstrong, Eleanor (longtime friend of the Yawkeys), Atkins, Jim (pitched briefly for Red Sox in 1950 and 1952), August, Steve (former Red Sox traveling secretary), Auker, Elden (pitched in the majors for ten years, including Ted’s rookie year, 1939, with the Red Sox), Avila, Tito (president of Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum), Ayoub, Philip (Ted acquaintance; spring training visitor in the ’80s)
Badaracco, Maria (godmother of Dave Egan Jr.; friend of the Colonel’s and his wife, Verda), Badgett, Rogers (Ted friend; former part owner of the Red Sox), Baker, Floyd (played for Red Sox in ’53–’54), Balbini, Paul (salesman who installed Ted’s TV satellite dish at Citrus Hills), Ballard, Mariclaire Dunne (daughter of hitting expert Bert Dunne), Barber, Michael (Citrus County Chronicle reporter who covered John McCain visit to Ted in ’97), Baroni, Peggy (cleaned for Louise and Ted for fifteen years along with her sister, Peg Smith), Barr, Hoyle (Ted’s former squadron commander at Cherry Point when he was recalled for Korea), Barry, Eddie (close friend of Ted; former Boston Bruin and amateur golf champ who wintered in Hernando, Florida), Bastarache, Joe (friend of Evelyn Turner), Battersby, Adam (sold John-Henry a pitching machine), Batts, Matt (backup catcher for BoSox from 1947 to 1951), Baumann, Frank (pitched for the BoSox from 1955 to 1959), Bays, Michael (State Farm insurance agent who handled Ted’s insurance for fifteen years; close friend to Ted and John-Henry; served as trustee on some of Ted’s trusts), Bean, Jack (old Minneapolis friend of Ted), Beck, Irv (met Ted and Doris in summer of 1943, when Ted was at Cherry Point; owned a drive-in theater), Beeland, Maggie (Winter Haven tennis instructor; friend of Ted), Bell, Leonard (childhood friend and Hoover teammate), Berberet, Lou (played for Sox in 1958), Bernreuter, Jenna (John-Henry’s girlfriend), Berra, Yogi (Hall of Fame catcher for the Yankees for seventeen seasons [1946–63]), Billings, Dick (came up with Senators in 1968, then stayed with Washington and Texas until 1974), Bisz, Daisy (lawyer and longtime friend of Ted), Blaikie, Bill (Ted’s former flight instructor at Pensacola during World War II), Blasband, Charles (Citrus Hospital CEO), Blood, Allen (former Jimmy Fund patient; met Ted at Fenway as a boy), Bolling, Milt (played all three infield spots for the BoSox from 1952 to 1957, when he was sent to the Senators; was Red Sox scout for forty-three years), Bond, Geedee (former Ted caretaker), Boone, Ray (thirteen years in the major leagues, including thirty-four games with the Red Sox in 1960; was a few years behind Ted at Hoover High in San Diego), Borer, Dr. Jeffrey (Ted’s cardiologist; witnessed Ted’s open-heart surgery in New York), Borland, Tom (pitched sparingly for Red Sox i
n ’60 and ’61), Bosman, Dick (pitched for Senators and Rangers from 1966 to 1973), Bradley, Rex (Louisville Slugger sales rep), Branom, Mike (AP reporter who covered Ted’s death), Breitbard, Bob (longtime friend of Ted), Brenner, Gerald N. (Jerry) (worked with John-Henry in Grand Slam, Ted Williams Card Company, and Major League Memorabilia), Bresciani, Dick (longtime Red Sox spokesman, now their historian), Brewer, Tom (pitched for the Red Sox from ’54 to ’61), Broberg, Pete (starting pitcher for Senators and Rangers from 1971 to ’73, Brothers, Frank (son of Jack Brothers; Keys friend; Citrus Hills caretaker), Brow, Dick (helped Ted on 1988 campaign for George H. W. Bush in New Hampshire), Brown, Bobby (played for Yankees from 1946 to 1954; was American League president from 1984 to 1994), Brown, Carl (Maryland friend of Ted’s; would send him soft-shell crabs), Brown, Don (hitting instructor at Ted’s camp; was at Ted’s last game), Brown, Hal (pitcher for BoSox from 1953 to 1955), Brown, Hank (Islamorada fishing guide), Brown, Joy (wife of Hank Brown), Brown, Steve (artist; fisherman; close friend to Ted at the end of his life), Brown, Tom (Arizona mortician who worked at Alcor for most of 2002), Buchholz, Butch (former tennis great; served on Sears sports advisory staff with Ted), Buchser, Edro (Marine flier; met Ted in Korea), Buddin, Don (played for Red Sox from 1956 to 1961), Burgess, John (knew Ted because of effort to get Shoeless Joe Jackson into Hall of Fame; hired Buzz Hamon after he left Ted’s museum), Burgin, David (former sports editor of now defunct Washington Daily News in 1969, when Ted became manager of the Senators), Burkart, Peter (Huck Finnegan’s nephew), Bush, President George H. W., Butcher, Don (a student of Williams’s service in World War II), Butcher, John (nurse who was with Ted when he died)
Cafiero, Nancy Barnard (was courted by Ted and was one who got away), Caldwell, William E. (son of the late Wos Caldwell, the Hoover baseball coach), Caligiuri, Fred (pitched for the Philadelphia A’s in 1941; started second half of doubleheader in which Ted went 6–8 to hit .406), Caliri, Victor (witness to the 1939 fight between Ted and Doc Cramer), Camacho, Jimmy (son of Joe Camacho), Camacho, Joe (Ted friend; Lakeville camp instructor; Senators bench coach), Canales, Fred Ponce (grandson of Frederico Ponce, who married Eulalia Hernandez, Natalia’s sister and May’s aunt), Carmichael, Nancy (Shands Hospital physician’s assistant), Carpenter, James (serviced Ted’s satellite dish in Citrus Hills), Carroll, James (close friend of Ted), Carroll, Kenneth (a flight instructor with Ted at Pensacola), Carroll, Thomas (son of Ted’s Hoover baseball teammate Bernard G. Carroll Jr.), Carter, George (Ted caretaker), Cashavelly, Chris (friend of Ted), Cashman, Brian (grandson of Boston Daily Record beat writer Joe Cashman), Cassidy, Al (longtime Ted friend and associate, and executor of his estate), Cassie, Les, Jr. (boyhood friend of Ted), Castinetti, Phil (memorabilia dealer in rings case), Ceballos, Dolores (youngest sister of the late Joseph Urezzio of Mount Vernon, New York, who is listed as the informant on the death certificate of Ted’s aunt Mae [born Veacy Williams] Grey), Chakales, Bob (pitched for Red Sox in last part of 1957), Chittum, Nelson (pitched for Red Sox in 1959 and ’60), Christiano, Albert (Evelyn Turner’s son), Churchman, Bill (Ted’s longtime friend; Pensacola and Willow Grove flight instructor; mentor to Bobby-Jo), Cioffi, Ernest (Ted visited Michael Cioffi, Ernest’s four-year-old brother, who was dying of leukemia, on 7/8/54 in Charlestown), Clark, Doris (church friend of Louise Kaufman), Clark, Errol (Ted’s accountant for several years from the late ’80s to the early ’90s), Clark, William “Otey” (pitched for Sox in 1945, his only year in the big leagues), Clarke, Harriet Poston (oldest daughter of Harry Poston, who managed the Yawkey plantation for several years in the early 1950s), Cleary, Bill (former Harvard hockey coach and athletic director), Cleary, Jim (friend of Ted), Clevenger, Tex (pitched for Red Sox in 1954, then went on to play for Senators), Cohen, Jeff (former Brandeis athletic director and son of longtime Record sports editor Sammy Cohen), Coleman, Jerry (former Yankees great; World War II and Korea veteran), Coleman, Joe, Jr. (went to Lakeville camp; pitched for the Senators under Ted), Collins, Bud (reporter who covered Ted), Colson, Bill (former Sports Illustrated editor), Connolly, Steve (trainer of John-Henry), Consolo, Billy (played for Red Sox from 1953 to 1959), Contreras, Teresa Dolores Cordero (twelfth child of May Williams’s sister Mary Venzor and Albert Cordero; Ted’s first cousin), Cooper, Alice (member of the Hernandez side of the family whose father, Rayo Hernandez, was the brother of Natalia Hernandez Venzor, Ted’s grandmother and May’s mother), Corbett, Peter (reporter who wrote most of the Alcor stories for the Arizona Republic), Corbin, Jim (husband of Marion Corbin), Corbin, Marion (Geedee Bond’s sister; also worked part-time for Ted), Cordero, John (son of Mary Venzor, May’s sister), Corea, Larry (Red Sox clubhouse assistant, nephew of Johnny Orlando, and husband of Mary Jane Corea), Corea, Mary Jane (sister of Johnny Pesky’s wife, Ruth), Cornblatt, Bruce (Boston native; producer for Bob Costas at HBO Sports), Costas, Bob (the broadcaster), Coughtry, Marlan (played second and third base for 1960 Red Sox), Cousy, Bob (former Boston Celtic; honorary pallbearer at Dave Egan’s funeral), Cox, Casey (Senators and Rangers pitcher 1966–72), Coyle, Bill (friend of John Sullivan; also went to Lakeville camp as a boy), Craig, Barry (the Episcopalian priest in the parish on the Miramichi River), Cramer, Ruthie (Islamorada neighbor of Ted), Crissey, Kit (expert on military baseball), Crockett, Woodrow (former Tuskegee Airman; interviewed about Korea), Cronin, Corky (one of Joe Cronin’s three sons), Cronin, Maureen (daughter of Joe Cronin), Cronin, Mildred (widow of Joe Cronin), Cullen, Albert, III (Grand Slam clerk and Ted Williams Card Company director), Cullen, Tim (played for Senators from ’66 to ’71), Curtis, Dr. Anne (Shands Hospital doctor; did pacemaker surgery on 11/3/00), Curtis, Clarence (son of Roy and Edna Curtis; brother of George), Curtis, Edna (housekeeper at Ted’s Miramichi cabin; widow of Ted’s beloved guide Roy Curtis), Curtis, George (son of Roy and Edna Curtis; brother of Clarence), Cushing, Frank (younger Hoover graduate, longtime friend of Ted)
D’Alessandro, David (former John Hancock chairman; interviewed about his dealings with Joe DiMaggio), Daley, Beth (Boston Globe reporter; covered the cryonics story), Daley, Pete (caught for the Red Sox from 1955 to 1959), D’Angelo, Arthur (head of Twins Enterprises Inc.; used to run a dry cleaning business that serviced hotels in Boston, including Ted at the Somerset), Dangleman, George (Naval flight instructor who served with Ted in World War II), Daniels, George B. (financial adviser to Hazel Weisse, who owned the South Carolina brothel financed by Tom Yawkey), Davis, Joe (business partner and friend of Ted), Dawsy, Jeff (sheriff of Citrus County, Florida), Day, Arthur (doctor who treated Ted after his strokes in 1992 and 1994), Dayton, Joan (friend of Ted from the Keys), Deal, Ellis “Cot” (pitched briefly for Red Sox in 1947–48), Dennis, Jeff (flew with Ted in Korea), Desmond, John (Pensacola flight instructor), Diamond, Eleanor (former assistant to John-Henry and witness to Claudia’s signing of Alcor consent forms the night Ted died), Dickson, Eugene (nephew of Minnie Williams, Sam Williams’s second wife), Dickson, Floyd William (nephew of Minnie Williams, Sam Williams’s second wife), Digby, George (longtime Red Sox scout who tried to sign Willie Mays), Diles, Dave, Sr. (former sportscaster; author; wrote a book on Denny McLain), Dillman, Danny (former Detroit Tigers batboy who ran errands for Ted), DiMaggio, Dominic (former Ted teammate and longtime friend; brother of Joe), DiMaggio, Emily (Dominic’s widow), Diver, Mary (Miramichi friend of Ted and Louise), Dluhy, Mary (former John-Henry aide), Doak, Jerry (son of W. W. Doak, late owner of the Miramichi tackle shop), Dodge, Ed (Williams family doctor ca. 1990–96), Doerr, Bobby (former Ted teammate and longtime friend), Donovan, Edward (fireman who was there the day Ted visited his uncle John C. Smith at the Mount Vernon firehouse in August of 1939), Donovan, Marguerite (friend of Ted and widow of the late Red Sox executive John “Deals” Donovan), Dorn, Joseph (Williams family doctor ’96–’02), Doubleday, Nelson, Jr. (former owner of the New York Mets who honored Ted at a game between the Red Sox and Mets at Shea Stadium in June of 1999), Dowd, John (Ted’s lawyer in Antonucci case), Doyle, Danny (caught for Red So
x in 1943), Doyle, Ted (did public relations for Ted and John-Henry for ten years starting in 1991), Drane, Patrick (assistant director of Baseball Research Center at University of Massachusetts at Lowell; interviewed about Ted heating his bats), Dropo, Walt (played for Red Sox from 1949 to 1952), Duffy, Earl (assistant manager of Shelton Hotel, where Ted lived after Korea), Dunn, Floris (widow of Jim Dunn and mother of Jimmy), Dunn, Jimmy (son of the late Jim Dunn, a former Navy firefighter who helped pull Ted out of a plane that had crashed while practicing carrier landings in Jacksonville in 1945), Dunne, Mike (son of hitting expert Bert Dunne), Dupuy, L. J. (general manager of Baton Rouge River Bats, for whom John-Henry played briefly), Duquette, Dan (Red Sox general manager from 1994 to 2002), Durrell, Dick (Minneapolis acquaintance of Ted)
The Kid: The Immortal Life of Ted Williams Page 103
