The Kid: The Immortal Life of Ted Williams
Page 107
4. Interview with Ramona Mitchell, September 9, 2004.
5. Interview with Jean Holetz, July 28, 2004.
6. Interview with Bobby-Jo Williams Ferrell, March 11, 2003.
7. Associated Press, January 23, 1941.
8. Vince Orlando interview in 1967 by the late Boston Globe columnist Will McDonough. (McDonough, then a young reporter, was retained by Miami Herald columnist Edwin Pope that year to help him conduct research for a book on the 1941 season of Ted Williams. Besides Vince Orlando, McDonough interviewed a variety of other people, including Johnny Orlando, Joe Cronin, Tom Yawkey, Ted Lepcio, and Williams’s roommate, Charlie Wagner. The book was aborted, but copies of McDonough’s interviews were among Williams’s papers made available to the author by his daughter, Claudia. Some of the interviews first appeared in Montville, Ted Williams—after Montville obtained them from Pope.)
9. Boston Daily Record, March 12, 1941.
10. Boston Sunday Advertiser, March 16, 1941.
11. Boston Evening Transcript, February 26, 1941.
12. Boston Daily Record, March 23, 1941.
13. Boston Daily Record, April 1, 1941.
14. Boston Evening Transcript, March 25, 1941.
15. Vince Orlando interview, Will McDonough 1967 interviews.
16. Boston Globe, April 8, 1941.
17. Williams with Underwood, My Turn at Bat, 84–85.
18. Boston Globe, June 24, 1941.
19. Associated Press, June 8, 1941.
20. Boston Globe, July 1, 1941.
21. Vaccaro, 1941, 222.
22. Sporting News, July 17, 1941.
23. Prime and Nowlin, Ted Williams, 40. (Slaughter kept the ball for forty-four years until he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1985, whereupon he presented it to Williams, who signed the ball and left it at Cooperstown.)
24. Williams with Underwood, My Turn at Bat, 89 and 87.
25. Boston Herald and Boston Daily Record, July 9, 1941.
26. DiMaggio with Gilbert, Real Grass, Real Heroes, 51.
27. Ibid., 86 and 87.
28. Ibid., 87 and 88.
29. Ibid., 136.
30. Will McDonough 1967 interviews.
31. Vaccaro, 1941, 231.
32. Ibid., 239.
33. Boston Globe, September 7, 1941.
34. Vaccaro, 1941, 241.
35. Boston Daily Record and Boston Post, September 17, 1941.
36. Boston Herald, September 23, 1941.
37. Holway, Ted Williams, 268.
38. Boston Globe, September 26, 1941.
39. Boston Herald, September 26, 1941.
40. Johnny Orlando interview, Will McDonough 1967 interviews.
41. Williams with Underwood, My Turn at Bat, 87.
42. Charlie Wagner interview, Will McDonough 1967 interviews.
43. Harrington E. Crissey Jr., “The Splendid Splinter’s Splendid Finish,” paper in the Phillies Report, May 23, 1991.
44. Interview with Fred Caligiuri, September 19, 2003.
45. Linn, Hitter, 161.
46. Williams with Underwood, My Turn at Bat, 90.
47. Will McDonough 1967 interviews.
48. Boston Herald, September 29, 1941.
49. Boston Post, September 29, 1941.
50. Boston Globe, September 29, 1941.
51. Johnny Orlando interview, Will McDonough 1967 interviews.
52. Interview with Charlie Wagner, October 21, 2002.
53. Boston Globe, September 29, 1941.
54. Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, September 29, 1941, as cited in Crissey Jr., “The Splendid Splinter’s Splendid Finish.”
55. Williams with Underwood, My Turn at Bat, 83.
56. Holway, Ted Williams, 303.
57. Stephen Jay Gould, “Achieving the Impossible Dream: Ted Williams and .406,” as cited in Johnson and Stout, Ted Williams, 70.
58. Time files.
59. Nowlin, The Kid, 184.
Chapter 7: 3A
1. Williams with Underwood, My Turn at Bat, 97.
2. Boston Daily Record, January 6, 1942.
3. United Press International, February 27, 1942.
4. Boston Globe, February 28, 1942. (Eddie Collins told Harold Kaese that Williams gave him the news on January 28.)
5. Boston Globe, March 11, 1942.
6. Boston Post, March 1, 1942.
7. Boston Daily Record, February 7, 1942.
8. Boston Daily Record, February 23, 1942.
9. Seidel, Ted Williams, 108 and 111.
10. Williams with Underwood, My Turn at Bat, 98.
11. Boston Globe, February 28, 1942.
12. Boston Daily Record, February 28, 1942, as cited in Nowlin, Ted Williams at War, 22.
13. Boston Sunday Advertiser and Boston Herald, March 1, 1942.
14. Seidel, Ted Williams, 118.
15. Boston Post, March 1, 1942.
16. Associated Press, March 3, 1942.
17. Boston Daily Record, March 1 and 2, 1942.
18. Seidel, Ted Williams, 118.
19. Williams with Underwood, My Turn at Bat, 98–99.
20. Seidel, Ted Williams, 114.
21. Ibid., 112.
22. Boston Herald, March 10, 1942.
23. Seidel, Ted Williams, 119.
24. Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Boston Post, and Boston Daily Record, March 11, 1942.
25. Sarasota Tribune, February 23, 2012.
26. Boston Evening American, March 22, 1942.
27. Williams with Pietrusza, Ted Williams: My Life in Pictures, 49.
28. Boston Globe, April 13, 1942.
29. Boston Daily Record, April 16, 1942.
30. Seidel, Ted Williams, 122.
31. Ibid., 124.
32. Boston Evening American, March 25, 1960.
33. Boston Globe, May 12, 1942.
34. Boston Evening American, May 23, 1942.
35. Boston Daily Record, May 23, 1942.
36. Boston Globe and Boston Traveler, May 23, 1942.
37. Boston Globe, July 13, 1942.
38. Seidel, Ted Williams, 126.
39. Boston Herald, July 2, 1942.
40. Boston Daily Record, July 2, 1942.
41. Boston Globe, November 3, 1942.
42. New York Times, March 30, 2012.
Chapter 8: World War II
1. Boston Traveler, November 17, 1942.
2. Boston Daily Record, December 1, 1942.
3. Boston Globe, December 21, 1942.
4. Williams with Underwood, My Turn at Bat, 101.
5. Ibid., 100.
6. Sporting News, December 10, 1942.
7. Boston Globe, December 5, 1942.
8. Boston Evening American, January 11, 1952.
9. Williams with Underwood, My Turn at Bat, 100.
10. Interview with George H. W. Bush, March 3, 2006.
11. Boston Evening American, January 11, 1952.
12. Boston Globe, July 11, 1943.
13. Boston Globe and Boston Sunday Advertiser, July 11, 1943.
14. Boston Globe, Boston Daily Record, and Boston Traveler, July 13, 1943, and Dick Flavin, “The Day Ted and Babe Squared Off,” article for a Red Sox program, summer 2000.
15. Crissey Jr., Athletes Away, 29 and 30.
16. Boston Post, July 31, 1943.
17. Interview with Johnny Pesky, October 7, 2002.
18. Williams with Underwood, My Turn at Bat, 100–1.
19. Boston Globe, December 14, 1943.
20. Williams with Underwood, My Turn at Bat, 101–2.
21. Interview with Johnny Pesky, October 7, 2002.
22. Williams with Underwood, My Turn at Bat, 101.
23. Boston Evening American, January 11, 1952.
24. Boston Herald, May 26, 1997.
25. Boston Evening American, January 11, 1952.
26. Boston Evening American, January 10, 1944.
27. Boston Evening American, March 1, 1944.
28. Boston Evening American, January 13, 1
944.
29. Boston Evening American, January 16, 1944.
30. Boston Evening American, January 19, 1944.
31. Hynes, Flights of Passage, 67–69.
32. Interview with Dick Francisco, December 21, 2004.
33. Interview with Hill Goodspeed, April 20, 2006.
34. Boston Globe, April 18, 1953.
35. Boston Post, February 25, 1955.
36. Williams with Underwood, My Turn at Bat, 104.
37. Interview with Kenneth Carroll, December 8, 2004.
38. Interview with John Holland, April 19, 2006.
39. Williams with Underwood, My Turn at Bat, 103.
40. Interview with Bob Kennedy, April 28, 2004.
41. Interview with Len Poth, July 7, 2004.
42. Interview with Frank Maznicki, April 14, 2004.
43. Boston Evening American, January 11, 1952.
44. McDermott with Eisenberg, A Funny Thing Happened, 218.
45. Boston Globe, March 25, 1952.
46. Williams with Underwood, My Turn at Bat, 104.
47. Interview with Jimmy Dunn, January 10, 2006.
48. Baseball Digest, April 1946.
Chapter 9: 1946
1. Boston Globe, January 28, 1946.
2. Sporting News, March 14, 1946.
3. Time, April 10, 1946, as cited in Seidel, Ted Williams, 146.
4. Boston Evening American, April 1, 1946.
5. Seidel, Ted Williams, 145.
6. Boston Globe, April 7, 1946.
7. Turner, When the Boys Came Back, 54.
8. Boston Globe, March 9, 1946.
9. Corcoran with Harvey, Unplayable Lies, 125–26.
10. Boston Evening American, April 17, 1946.
11. Boston Evening American, April 29, 1946.
12. Boston Daily Record, May 13, 1946.
13. Honig, Baseball When the Grass Was Real, 255.
14. Turner, When the Boys Came Back, 167.
15. New York Times, July 10, 1946.
16. Honig, Baseball When the Grass Was Real, 257.
17. Boston Globe, July 10, 1946.
18. Boston Herald, July 15, 1946.
19. Williams with Underwood, My Turn at Bat, 107.
20. Hirshberg, From Sandlots to League President, 158.
21. Boston Globe, September 8, 1946.
22. Williams with Underwood, My Turn at Bat, 108.
23. Dunne, Play Ball!, 5–8.
24. Ibid., 95.
25. Ibid., 91–94.
26. New York Times, October 31, 1946.
27. Dunne, Play Ball!, 266.
28. Turner, When the Boys Came Back, 199.
29. Williams with Underwood, My Turn at Bat, 109.
30. Detroit Free Press, May 24, 2005.
31. Time, September 15, 1947.
32. Associated Press, December 30, 1947.
33. Einstein, The Fireside Book of Baseball, 385.
34. Life, September 23, 1946.
35. Williams with Underwood, My Turn at Bat, 111.
36. Linn, Hitter, 222.
37. Ibid., 214.
38. Boston Globe, October 4, 1946.
39. Boston Daily Record, October 4, 1946.
40. Boston Globe, October 4, 1946.
41. Boston Globe, October 6, 1946.
42. Boston Evening American, October 5, 1946.
43. Boston Globe, October 6, 1946.
44. Boston Globe, October 5, 1946.
45. Interview with Joe Garagiola, April 9, 2004.
46. Boston Evening American, October 8, 1946.
47. Corcoran with Harvey, Unplayable Lies, 135.
48. Boston Evening American, October 10, 1946.
49. Robinson, Ted Williams, 168.
50. Boston Globe, October 12, 1946.
51. Boston Evening American, October 14, 1946.
52. Boston Globe, October 13, 1946.
53. Boston Globe, October 14, 1946.
54. Ibid.
55. Boston Globe, October 15, 1946.
56. Associated Press, October 15, 1946.
57. Sport, July 1952, and Williams with Underwood, My Turn at Bat, 116. (Rice or the unnamed writer told the dinner-with-Williams story to New York Journal-American columnist Frank Graham, who wrote about it in the July 1952 issue of Sport. Williams also tells of the dinner in his book.)
58. Boston Evening American, October 15, 1946.
59. Interview with Dominic DiMaggio, October 2, 2002.
60. Boston Globe, October 16, 1946.
61. Ibid.
62. Ibid.
63. Boston Evening American, March 29, 1960.
64. Boston Post, October 16, 1946.
65. Williams with Underwood, My Turn at Bat, 118.
66. Ibid., 105.
Chapter 10: 1947–1948
1. Williams with Underwood, My Turn at Bat, 122.
2. Seidel, Ted Williams, 169.
3. Sport, February 1947.
4. Williams with Underwood, My Turn at Bat, 122.
5. Nowlin and others, Ted Williams: A Splendid Life, 31.
6. Prime and Nowlin, Ted Williams, 240.
7. Williams with Underwood, My Turn at Bat, 18.
8. Interview with Buck O’Neil, July 15, 2004.
9. Boston Daily Record, April 16, 1945, as cited in Stout, “Tryout and Fallout.”
10. Interview with John Harrington, May 21, 2003.
11. Boston Globe, September 3, 1971.
12. Writer Marc Onigman was apparently the first to disclose the race section of the report as part of an article on Yawkey in the August 9, 1980, edition of Boston’s now-defunct Real Paper, an alternative weekly.
13. Interview with George Digby, October 7, 2005.
14. Bryant, Shut Out, 1.
15. Article by Jim Bouton for the Boston Globe, October 8, 2003.
16. Interview with Pumpsie Green, July 16, 2004.
17. Interview with Curt Gowdy, October 24, 2002.
18. Interview with Larry Taylor, April 29, 2004.
19. New York Times, December 18, 1980.
20. Johnson and Stout, Ted Williams, 94.
21. Boston Traveler, October 3, 1947.
22. Boston Traveler, June 2, 1946.
23. Boston Globe, January 7, 1948.
24. Boston Globe, January 29, 1948.
25. Harold Kaese notes, the Harold Kaese Collection of the Boston Public Library.
26. Boston Globe, February 2, 1948.
27. Boston Traveler, February 3, 1948.
28. Stout and Johnson, Red Sox Century, 261.
29. Boston Herald, February 3, 1948.
30. McNaught Syndicate, February 9, 1948.
31. Williams with Underwood, My Turn at Bat, 161.
32. Boston Globe, March 10, 1948.
33. Stout and Johnson, Red Sox Century, 263.
34. Tommy Byrne interview with David Halberstam for Summer of ’49, provided to the author by Halberstam. (Like Byrne, Berra himself enjoyed trying to distract Ted by doing things like flipping pebbles at his feet.)
35. Stout and Johnson, Red Sox Century, 263.
36. Interview with Mel Parnell, October 16, 2002.
37. Williams with Underwood, My Turn at Bat, 153.
38. Johnson and Stout, Ted Williams, 103.
39. Interview with Jack Hillerich, August 29, 2005. (Williams had mostly been using the same bat since 1941, but it took him a few years to find the right model. When he was a rookie in 1939, he’d tried several bats, including Joe Cronin’s, Jimmie Foxx’s, and Joe Vosmik’s. He liked Cronin’s the best and stayed with that. Then, in the spring of 1941, Ted had Hillerich & Bradsby change the Cronin model for him by enlarging the barrel and modifying the handle slightly. That was the year he hit .406, and he basically stayed with that same bat through the 1946 season.
Ted did not have his own model Louisville Slugger until 1947. This was because the company changed how it kept records starting that year. Previously, they would record orders by assigning a new design to the na
me of the player who first used it, and then would record all orders similar to it as “same as [the player’s name]” with any modifications following. Then, in 1947, a letter-and-number system was originated. So Williams’s own bats were designated as the W148 [1947 and 1948], the W155 [1948–1950], the W166 [1950–1955], and the W183 [1955–1960].
In the late fifties, it was Ted who first concocted a combination of resin and oil to help grip the bat, replacing tape on the handles. Other players followed suit, but they would usually let the sticky substance stay on the handle for a week before scrubbing it off. Ted cleaned his bats with alcohol every night.)
40. Halberstam, Summer of ’49, 190.
41. Williams with Underwood, My Turn at Bat, 56.
42. Johnson and Stout, Ted Williams, 170.
43. Interviews with David Pressman on June 12, 2005; June 20, 2012; June 21, 2012; June 27, 2012; July 2, 2012; and July 3, 2012. (Pressman first told writer Bill Nowlin that Ted put his bats in a dryer for Nowlin’s 2002 oral history on Williams, coauthored with Jim Prime, Ted Williams: The Pursuit of Perfection. The 2002 book, in which various people gave their remembrances of Ted, was essentially the same as Nowlin and Prime’s 1997 oral history, Ted Williams: A Tribute, with some new interviews, including Pressman’s.)
44. Johnny Pesky was interviewed on the heated bats issue on June 25, 2012, through his son, David, who reported that his father, then ninety-two and in failing health, could no longer be formally interviewed but did clearly recall Ted heating his bats in the clubhouse dryer. David Pressman said that he asked Pesky about the issue in the 1980s and that the former Red Sox shortstop confirmed Williams’s practice to him at that time. (Pesky died on August 13, 2012.)
45. Interview with Bobby Doerr, June 24, 2012.
46. Interview with Jimmy Piersall, June 25, 2012.
47. Interview with Alan Nathan, July 2, 2012.
48. Interview with Patrick Drane, June 25, 2012.
49. Alan Nathan said in a July 5, 2012, e-mail that he had combined data on the initial speed and angles of the ball coming off the bat with data from the Hittracker.com website, which uses the measured landing point and flight time of home runs, along with an aerodynamics model, to find a batted ball’s speed through reverse engineering.
Chapter 11: 1949–1951
1. Stout and Johnson, Red Sox Century, 267.
2. True, November 1954.
3. Halberstam, Summer of ’49, 227.
4. Ibid.
5. McDermott with Eisenberg, A Funny Thing Happened, 28.
6. Ibid., 34.
7. Ibid., 220 and 221.
8. Halberstam, Summer of ’49 (notes for the book given to the author by Halberstam).
9. Ibid.
10. Stout and Johnson, Red Sox Century, 270.