The Kid: The Immortal Life of Ted Williams

by Ben Bradlee Jr.

  O’Connor, Brian (friend of Ted; Jimmy Fund board member; adviser to John-Henry), O’Hara, Dave (longtime AP sportswriter in Boston), Oliver, Dell (Ted’s Hoover High teammate), Olson, Karl (Red Sox outfielder in 1951 and from ’53 to ’55), O’Neil, Buck (Negro Leaguer; baseball historian; worked in commissioner’s office), O’Neill, Thomas P., III (former Massachusetts lieutenant governor and PR executive), Ortiz, Carolyn (Ted’s first cousin; Paul Venzor’s daughter; sister of Rosalie Larson), Owens, Gary (director of golf at Black Diamond Ranch; knew Ted and John-Henry)

  Pagliaroni, Jim (caught for Red Sox in one game in ’55, then played from 1960 to 1962), Palmieri, Al (counselor at Ted Williams camp in Lakeville), Parnell, Mel (Red Sox pitcher, 1947–1956), Patel, Dr. Dinesh (chief of arthroscopic surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital), Patterson, James T. (Brown University professor; interviewed about Senator Robert Taft), Pellagrini, Eddie (played for Red Sox 1946–47), Perez, Bill (son of Connie Matthews, sister of Ted’s cousin Ernest Ponce), Perskie, Joe (HBO producer; did a program on the cryonics controversy), Pesky, Johnny (longtime friend; Ted’s former Red Sox teammate), Phelps, Hazel (Ted’s secretary when he was with the Washington Senators), Pierce, Charles (former Boston Globe writer), Piersall, Jimmy (Red Sox outfielder from 1950 to 1958), Pitts, Dan (knew Ted at Islamorada), Platt, Charles (onetime Alcor executive), Player, Gloria Poston (daughter of former Yawkey plantation manager Harry Poston), Plews, Herb (infielder for Red Sox in 1959), Podres, Johnny (former Dodgers pitcher), Ponce, Mary (widow of Ernest Ponce, Ted’s cousin), Porter, Bruce (former pastor at Island Christian School in Islamorada; introduced Ted to Jack Hyles; witnessed their evangelical encounter), Porter, Frank (Marine Corps veteran; interviewed about Ted’s military records), Positano, Dr. Rock (Joe DiMaggio pal), Poth, Len (served in World War II with Ted and played on the Pensacola baseball team with him), Pratt, Leo (bell captain at the Somerset Hotel from 1950 to 1960), Press, Ben (Ted’s childhood chum), Pressman, David (as a boy, befriended Ted and persuaded him to start heating his bats), Proia, Loretta (sister of longtime Red Sox clubhouse attendant Donald Fitzpatrick), Psaute, Alice (member of San Diego’s Salvation Army who knew May Williams), Puiia, Anthony (brother of Dominic Puiia, who played ball with Ted in the Marines)

  Ramin, Jordan (ghostwriter for Ted’s syndicated column in the mid-1960s), Reardon, Jack (Harvard official who offered Ted an honorary degree), Reedy, Billy (longtime friend of Ted from Detroit), Remy, Jerry (’70s Red Sox infielder; currently a Sox broadcaster; met Ted in spring training), Renna, Bill (outfielder for Red Sox from 1958 to 1959), Richter, Al (played shortstop for Red Sox in parts of 1951 and 1953), Rigney, Joe (Citrus Hills community association manager; knew Ted), Rittenberg, Gerry (trustee of Ted’s museum and a friend of John-Henry), Roberts, Bettye (with her late husband, Jack, bought the Sunset Lodge in South Carolina after it went out of business; friend of Hazel Weisse), Rogde, Ruby and Russ (Princeton, Minnesota, residents who knew Doris Soule), Rogowski, Ted (lawyer for Ted’s marriage to and divorce from Lee Howard; also did his Sears contract), Rolfingsmeier, Kathleen (live-in nurse who coordinated Ted’s at-home care), Romano, Roselle (Miami Beach woman originally from Fort Lee, New Jersey, who befriended Sam Williams’s half sisters, Ted’s aunts), Romolt, Jerry (memorabilia dealer and friend of Ted), Ronquillo, David (San Diego lawyer who was a cousin of Ted’s on the Hernandez side of the family), Rose, Charlie (TV broadcaster who interviewed Williams), Roselli, Mike (Fenway vendor from 1954 to 1960 who occasionally shagged flies for Ted), Ross, Jim (former reporter with St. Petersburg Times, now with Ocala StarBanner; cowrote a story in August of 2000 linking John-Henry and Hitter.net to pornography), Ross, Tom (pilot in Korea with Ted), Ruoff, Rick (Islamorada neighbor of Ted; fishing guide and writer), Ryan, Mary Jane (former Red Sox secretary; grew up in Vermont near the Wettach family)

  Safer, Morley (CBS newsman who did a piece about Ted for 60 Minutes), Sanders, Alex (former Democratic candidate from South Carolina for Strom Thurmond’s seat in the US Senate; worked as an environmental lawyer for Tom Yawkey; friend of Ted), Sanders, Zoe (Alex Sanders’s wife; friend of Barbara Kovacs, Louise Kaufman’s daughter), Satz, Vivian (AT&T Internet specialist assigned to Hitter.net account), Schafrann, Jay (Miramichi neighbor and friend of Ted), Scherbarth, Bob (was catcher in one game in 1950 for the Red Sox), Schoenthaler, Ed (husband of Judy Schoenthaler), Schoenthaler, Judy (daughter of Lee Howard, Ted’s second wife), Schultz, Beverly (niece of Minnie Williams, Sam Williams’s second wife), Scott, George (played for the Red Sox from 1966 to 1971 and 1977 to 1979; knew Ted from spring training), Sheridan, Neill (played in two games for Red Sox with one at bat in 1948), Sherman, Steve (John-Henry’s employee at Atrium Mall store), Shimkin, Phil (Morley Safer’s 60 Minutes producer), Siegel, Bruce (husband of Candace Siegel; worked for John-Henry at Grand Slam), Siegel, Candace Orlando (daughter of Red Sox clubhouse man Vince Orlando, Johnny’s brother), Siman, Lynette (former Ted girlfriend; friend of Louise Kaufman), Sisk, Raymond (served in World War II with Ted and trained for Korea with him), Sisler, Dave (pitched for Red Sox from 1956 to 1959), Skelley, Bill (neighborhood friend of Ted who played on the 1937 Padres with him), Smith, Bob Gilchrist (came up with Red Sox in 1955 and pitched one game), Smith, Karl (longtime Ted friend; met as roommates at Pensacola), Smith, Mike (former Pawtucket schoolteacher; friend of Ted), Smutko, Michelle (Ted’s dialysis nurse), Sonnabend, Paul (manager of the Shelton Hotel and Somerset Hotel), Soule, Donald (brother of Doris Soule), Southard, Carol (wife of Steve Southard), Springstead, Jack (presiding judge in Antonucci case), Stalcup, William (doctor who did Ted’s hip replacement), Stehle, Daria (widow of Jim Stehle, a Marine pilot and friend of Ted who served in Korea at the same time), Stephens, Gene (backup outfielder for Red Sox from 1952 to the end of 1960; was known as Williams’s caddy), Sterry, Evalyn (Louise Kaufman’s best friend), Storton, Alan (childhood friend of Ted in San Diego), Stout, Glenn (coauthor, with Richard Johnson, of coffee-table books about the Red Sox and Ted), Stringer, Lou (infielder for Red Sox from 1948 to ’50), Sturdivant, Tom (pitched for Red Sox in 1960 and for Yankees from 1955 to 1959), Sullivan, Frank (pitched for Red Sox from 1953 to 1960), Sullivan, George (Sox batboy turned sportswriter), Sullivan, Joe (Boston Globe sports editor; interviewed about the cryonics story), Sullivan, John (former nurse and personal assistant to Ted), Sununu, John (former governor of New Hampshire and former White House chief of staff), Sutton, Peter (Ted and John-Henry’s lawyer), Swank, Bill (San Diego Padres historian)

  Tabor, Jim (son of Jim Tabor, Ted’s combative teammate on the Minneapolis Millers and the Red Sox), Tamposi, Elizabeth “Betty” (daughter of Sam Tamposi, Citrus Hills developer and Red Sox limited partner; assisted John-Henry), Tamposi, Steve (son of Sam Tamposi; CEO of Citrus Hills), Taylor, Larry (Ted friend; former Marine general), Taylor, Ted (identified Hitter.net for acquisition by Duro Communications), Terwilliger, Wayne (Ted’s third-base coach with Senators), Thalassites, Leo (Marine Corps friend of Ted), Thicket, Dick (Lakeville, Massachusetts, pharmacist; friend of Ted from his baseball camp), Thomson, Bobby (hit “shot heard ’round the world” for the New York Giants in 1951; after playing fourteen seasons in the National League, he moved to the American League in 1960 and played for the Red Sox), Thrift, Roger (played pepper with Ted when he was stationed at Chapel Hill prior to flight school in 1943), Tomasco, Stephen (Bobby-Jo Williams’s first husband), Trank, Mary (executive assistant to Tom Yawkey and Dick O’Connell at the Red Sox), Tridico, Mary (widow of Doris Soule’s second husband, Joseph J. Tridico), Trimble, Joe (pitcher for Red Sox in 1955; appeared in two games), Truax, Della (Ted Williams Family Enterprises secretary), Trucks, Virgil (Detroit Tigers pitcher in ’40s and ’50s; friend of Ted), Truitt, Kathy Moran (daughter of Art Moran, Ted’s squadron commander in Korea), Tulley, Vin (Nashua, New Hampshire, car dealer; friend of Ted), Tuttle, Chip (did public relations for John-Henry), Twyman, Jack (former Cincinnati Royal, basketball representative on the Sears sports advisory staff with Ted)

&
nbsp; Umphlett, Tom (played outfield in 1953 for the Red Sox), Underhill, Emerson (Miramichi fly tier; friend of Ted), Underwood, John (ghostwrote Ted’s autobiography, My Turn at Bat, in 1969, and other Ted books), Unser, Del (played for Senators from 1968 to 1971)

  Vadim, Vanessa (Jane Fonda’s oldest child; early John-Henry girlfriend), Van Tassel, Donna (naturopath and nutritionist who says she brought Ted to God at the end of his life), Varian, Bill (former reporter with the St. Petersburg Times, now the Tampa Bay Times, who cowrote a story in August of 2000 linking John-Henry and Hitter.net to pornography), Vaughn, Becky (nurse and caretaker of Ted), Veazey, Robert (assistant to the base operations officer during Williams’s crash landing in Korea), Venzor, Charles (Ted’s first cousin; son of Saul Venzor and brother of Dee Allen), Venzor, Daniel (Ted’s first cousin; son of Bruno Venzor), Venzor, Frank (Ted’s first cousin; son of May’s brother Paul Venzor and brother of Carrie Ortiz and Rosalie Larson), Vernon, Mickey (played for Red Sox in 1956–57), Villarino, Joe (Ted’s childhood pal), Vinick, James (bought Ted’s movie rights; worked with him at the Jimmy Fund)

  Wagner, Charlie (former Red Sox pitcher; he and Ted were roommates for seven years), Walley, James (former Marine pilot who flew with Ted in Korea), Walsh, Eddie (former Boston policeman who went into the sports memorabilia business and became friendly with Ted and John-Henry), Watkins, Lewis (Ted friend; artist; one of the founders of his museum), Watson, Bob (Ted’s neurologist at the University of Florida), Watson, Mary (daughter of Bob Watson), Webster, Ray (played briefly for Red Sox in 1960), Weisbrod, Frank (knew Ted in Princeton, Minnesota, and hunted with him), Wells, Millard (Ted fishing pal in the Keys and on the Miramichi), Werle, Bill (pitcher for the 1953 and ’54 Red Sox), Wheeler, Dan (former New Hampshire state trooper who provided security for Ted), Whitcomb, Dick (high school chum of Dolores Williams), Whitfield, Shelby (former radio and TV broadcaster for the Washington Senators in 1969 and 1970; friend of Ted), Widmar, Al (played briefly for Red Sox in 1947), Wight, Bill (pitched for Red Sox in 1951 and ’52), Wilkinson, Phil (resident biologist for Tom Yawkey on his South Carolina plantation from 1966 to 1977), Williams, Claudia (Ted’s youngest child and second daughter), Williams, Dolores (Ted’s third wife), Williams, Sam (Ted’s nephew; son of his brother, Danny), Williams, Ted (namesake nephew of the Ted; son of Danny), Wilson, Archie (played eighteen games for 1952 Red Sox), Winkin, John (longtime University of Maine baseball coach; Ted friend from Lakeville camp; cut John-Henry from the Maine baseball team), Wisnia, Saul (publications editor at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; author of several books, including one on the history of the Jimmy Fund), Wood, Ken (played outfield for the 1952 Red Sox), Woodbury, Woody (served in Korea with Ted; witnessed his crash), Worthington, Al (played in six games for the 1960 Red Sox), Wowk, Brian (cryobiologist; Alcor board member), Wright, Tom (outfielder for Red Sox from 1948 to 1951)

  Zarrell, Charles (former camper at Ted’s baseball camp in Lakeville), Zeigler, Bill (Washington Senators trainer under Ted), Zimmer, Don (Red Sox manager when Ted started doing spring training with the team again in 1978)

  Notes

  Please refer to the bibliography for complete source information.

  Introduction

  1. Johnson with Baldyga, Frozen, 201.

  2. Ibid., 200–2.

  3. Interview with Cindy Felix, May 18, 2006.

  4. Interview with Tanya Jones, January 25, 2006.

  5. Interview with Eric Abel, January 13, 2006.

  6. Interview with Claudia Williams, March 29, 2006.

  7. Interview with Tim Horgan, October 5, 2005.

  8. Boston Globe, March 23, 1947.

  9. Williams with Underwood, My Turn at Bat, 161.

  10. Interview with Bobby-Jo Williams Ferrell, May 5, 2004.

  11. Interview with Jerry Romolt, July 21, 2004.

  12. Interview with Johnny Pesky, October 7, 2002.

  13. Interview with Milt Bolling, August 13, 2003.

  14. Interview with Bobby Doerr, March 7, 2006.

  15. Interview with Johnny Pesky, October 7, 2002.

  16. Interview with Dave McCarthy, January 3, 2003.

  17. Interview with Steve Brown, November 12, 2004.

  18. Interview with Elizabeth Tamposi, September 22, 2005.

  19. Interview with Dave Sisler, August 20, 2003.

  20. Interview with Bob Costas, June 7, 2005.

  21. Interview with Manuel Herrera, October 29, 2002.

  22. Interview with Gino Lucero, January 16, 2006.

  23. Interview with Tom Wright, June 27, 2003.

  24. Interview with Ted Lepcio, August 19, 2003.

  25. Interview with Jimmy Piersall, July 16, 2004.

  26. Saturday Evening Post, January 10, 1942.

  Chapter 1: Shame

  1. Nowlin, The Kid, 252.

  2. Interview with Frank Venzor, February 10, 2005.

  3. Interview with Al Cassidy, December 5, 2002.

  4. Interview with David Ronquillo, June 2, 2006. (Ronquillo was told the story at a 1997 family reunion by a now-deceased relative, Priscilla Wade, who was at the train station in 1939.)

  5. Interview with Carolyn Ortiz, November 17, 2002.

  6. Interview with Rosalie Larson, November 15, 2002.

  7. Interview with Salvador Herrera, November 2, 2005.

  8. Williams with Underwood, My Turn at Bat, 28.

  9. Nowlin, The Kid, 260.

  10. Interview with Teresa Cordero Contreras, February 9, 2005.

  11. Nowlin, The Kid, 280.

  12. Interview with Manuel Hererra, October 29, 2002.

  13. Interview with Dee Allen, November 15, 2002.

  14. Interview with David Allen, November 15, 2002.

  15. Interview with Ruth Gonzalez, February 10, 2005.

  16. Nowlin, The Kid, 297.

  17. San Diego Union, July 7, 1980.

  18. Interview with Alice Psaute, November 1, 2002.

  19. San Diego Union, July 7, 1991.

  20. Linn, Hitter, 73.

  21. Williams with Underwood, My Turn at Bat, 33.

  22. Interview with Edward Donovan, April 23, 2004.

  23. Interview with Roselle Romano, April 14, 2005.

  24. Williams with Underwood, My Turn at Bat, 31.

  25. Ibid., 30.

  26. Nowlin, The Kid, 265.

  27. Ibid., 225.

  28. Mills, San Diego, 65.

  29. David Halberstam interview, January 1988, made available to the author.

  30. Williams with Underwood, My Turn at Bat, 22.

  31. Time file.

  32. Ibid.

  33. Ibid.

  34. Williams with Underwood, My Turn at Bat, 24.

  35. Ibid., 23.

  36. Boston Evening American, July 14, 1941.

  37. Linn, Hitter, 4.

  38. Williams with Underwood, My Turn at Bat, 24.

  39. Time file.

  40. Society for American Baseball Research, A History of San Diego Baseball.

  41. Nowlin, The Kid, 79.

  42. Boston Evening American, July 14, 1941.

  43. Williams with Underwood, My Turn at Bat, 29.

  44. Interview with Bobby Doerr, October 14, 2002.

  45. Interview with Steve Brown, November 12, 2004.

  46. Interview with John Cordero, February 10, 2005.

  47. Interview with Manuel Hererra, October 29, 2002.

  48. Ibid.

  49. Interview with Jim Vinick, May 18, 2004.

  50. Interview with Swede Jensen, January 20, 2005.

  51. Williams with Underwood, My Turn at Bat, 22.

  52. San Diego Union, July 7, 1991.

  53. Prime and Nowlin, Ted Williams, 7.

  54. Interview with Joe Villarino, October 25, 2002.

  55. Linn, Hitter, 31.

  56. Interview with Roy Engle, October 25, 2002.

  57. San Diego Union, November 12, 1977.

  58. Bob Holbrook, “Ted (Yes, Our T. Williams) Started as Righthander: Imagine What He W
ould Have Done to LF Fence,” Boston Globe, August 14, 1958.

  59. Sports Illustrated, August 21, 1967.

  60. Interview with Bud Maloney, February 7, 2005.

  61. Interview with Ben Press, May 21, 2006.

  62. Williams with Underwood, My Turn at Bat, 21–22.

  63. Linn, Hitter, 3.

  64. Connor, Baseball for the Love of It, 21.

  65. Williams with Underwood, My Turn at Bat, 25.

  66. Time file.

  67. Ibid.

  68. Interview with Jerry Allen, July 30, 2007.

  69. Nowlin, The Kid, 78.

  70. Louis Lyons interview, Boston Globe, September 7, 1941.

  71. Baseball Digest, September 1949.

  72. Nowlin, The Kid, 56.

  73. Christian Science Monitor, September 11, 1957.

  74. Interview with Bill Skelley, January 21, 2005.

  75. Williams with Underwood, My Turn at Bat, 33.

  76. Interview with Bob Breitbard, October 23, 2002.

  77. Interview with Jerry Allen, July 30, 2007.

  78. Nowlin, The Kid, 237.

  79. Ibid., 240.

  80. Williams with Underwood, My Turn at Bat, 30.

  81. Linn, Hitter, 34, and Fresno Bee and Republican, July 12, 1939.

  82. Interview with Fred (Ponce) Canales, February 11, 2005.

  83. Williams with Underwood, My Turn at Bat, 38.

  84. Ibid., 31.

  85. Interview with Steve Brown, November 12, 2004.

  86. Interview with Les Cassie Jr., October 25, 2002.

  87. Williams with Underwood, My Turn at Bat, 28.

  88. Interview with Les Cassie Jr., October 25, 2002.