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This is Lee Habib and this is Our American Stories, the show where America is the star and the American people. Coming to you from the city where the West begins, Fort Worth, Texas. The man who's been called the greatest hitter in baseball history carried a secret. one he was told to bury. Ted Williams was called the John Wayne of Sports.
He was the last player to bat 400. Here to tell his story is Ben Bradley Jr. A former Boston Globe reporter and author who wrote the acclaimed biography The Kid. The Immortal Life of Ted Williams. Let's take a listen.
This is from the introduction. Ted was an original. not a traditional, modest, self effacing hero, but brash, profane, outspoken, and guileless. Self-taught and inquiring, he excelled as a marine fighter pilot and became one of the most accomplished fishermen in the world. For better and worse, he was always his own man, never a phony, Characteristics that helped him outlast his critics and win widespread affection and admiration as he aged.
He had three favourite songs which he played in his mind to help him fall asleep. The Star-Spangled Banner, the Marines hymn, and Take Me Out to the Ballgame. You know, I close my eyes at night. And I've done this for 50 years. And I hear this take me out to the ball game and I get chills.
The only other song that makes me ever feel that way, the national anthem. and the halls of Monajism. On visits to Boston long after he retired, Williams was struck by how people fawned and fussed over him. puzzled that he seemed more popular in retirement than he was during his playing days. The best evidence of this was his reception at the nineteen ninety nine All Star game at Fenway Park.
Ted, by then fragile and ailing, was driven out on the field in a golf cart to a thunderous ovation. And then in a memorable scene, sworn by a new generation of All-Star players who knew they were in the presence of baseball royalty. The players lingered. wanting to soak in the moment and bask in Williams's glow. Ladies and gentlemen, he wore the Red Sox uniform for 22 years.
He was the last man to hit 400 in a season, and he did it 58 years ago. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the greatest hitter that ever lived, number nine, Ted Williams. If you had a ticket, you had the best seat in the house. I don't care where you sat. That was the greatest.
It's all about this pageantry and this big gala and here's some of the greats of all time are there. And then he came on, and it was like the needle just scratched off the record, and it was like, wow. It was a wonderful scene, wasn't it? Cause you could see that he didn't expect it. I think what really touched him was the players coming around and gathering at his meet.
And they were like little kids with these wide eyes, almost like they were talking to Santa Claus, right in the middle of Fenway Park. We try as hard as we can and hope that this moment translates on television. It was very difficult to speak after that. And I remember specifically the producer telling me in my ear: okay, your mic's open. Your mic's open, and I'm up there going.
I can't make any noises right now. He's like, where's the kid? He was looking for me and I'm like Ted, I'm right here. My man, right here, you're gonna be everybody's man, boy. I was just taking it all in.
I was just going, wow, this is just the coolest thing, greatest thing. This is, you know, savor it. Don't ever forget it. Yeah. You could see No one wanted to leave.
You know, Maguire and Gwynne, they were around him, these legendary people trying to get their moment with Ted. During each Williams at-bat, something between a hush and a buzz suddenly filled the air as the crowd shifted from autopilot engagement to edge of the seat anticipation. I was looking around for a story one day, and someone said there was this blind guy on the first baseline. Remember Tim Horgan, who covered the Red Sox in the 50s. I went up to the man and said, Pardon me for asking, but why do you come to the park?
why not listen to the game on the radio? He said, I love the sounds of the game when Ted comes up. Red Sox fans and the rabid press corps that covered the team seemed as captivated by Ted's personality as they were by his slugging. He was a prickly prima donna whose much chronicled rabbit ears had an unerring ability to zero in on even a few scattered booze amid all the cheers. He seemed immune to receiving praise, but generally couldn't tolerate criticism.
On the field, his moods ranged from sheer joy and exuberance during his rookie year in 1939 to rage and petulance later in his career. Williams reasoned that he was an expert at what he did, was trying his best to do even better, and thus resented any criticism. From 1940 to his last game in 1960, he swore off the time-honored baseball convention of tipping his hat to the fans. Once, after a spring training game in Miami in 1947, Ted appeared to doff his cap as he crossed home plate after hitting a home run.
Well, there's a lot of things in my life I should have done, I didn't do, but there's some things that you should do and you just can't do, and I couldn't do that then. I thought about it. I thought about it. But um it didn't happen.
So alert was the press to Williams's every move that the Boston Globe's beat writer at the time, High Hurwitz, rushed to the clubhouse after the game and asked Ted if he had, in fact, tipped his hat. He denied that he had, and said he was merely mopping his brow. Whereupon Hurwitz famously wrote It was the heat, not the humility. I love that quote.
Well, um Williams was a figure in my life. I'm old enough that I saw him play the last three or four years of his career. His final game was in 1960, so this was the late 50s. And I would go to um Fenway Park as often as I could. I got his autograph once on a ball.
I was one of thirty or forty screaming brats waiting for him in the players' parking lot. We were a kind of an unruly mob. And he imposed some order on the process and made us line up and impose some order one at a time. And I'll sign each one of your one of your baseballs. And you've been listening to Ben Bradley Junior, a former Boston Globe reporter.
tell the story of the one and only Ted Williams. When we come back, more of the remarkable story here on Our American Stories. This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories. And all of our history stories are brought to us by our generous sponsors, including Hillsdale College, where students go to learn all the things that are beautiful in life. and all the things that matter in life.
If you can't get to Hillsdale, Hillsdale will come to you with their free and terrific online courses. Go to hillsdale.edu. That's hillsdale.edu. All right. Two truths and a lie.
Here we go. I went to college with college football coach Jim McElwain. I began my broadcasting career doing play by play for the Las Vegas Stars, and I've been a Verizon customer for fifteen years.
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Download the free weather bug app from the App Store today and start getting accurate weather forecasts 24-7. Get ready for the wildest sight your lawn has ever seen. Sunday, Sunday, Sunday. This spring, unleash soil science like never before. Witness your custom lawn plan and the transformation to a soft green paradise.
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And we continue with Our American Stories and the story of baseball legend Ted Williams. Here to pick up where he last left off is Ben Bradley Jr., author of The Kid. The immortal life of Ted Williams. I followed Ted after he retired, and of course he went out with such a bang. He hit a home run on his last time at bat.
Quite a touching sight, everyone standing at Fenway Park as Williams hit. probably for the last time in a Boston uniform in this ballpark. I looked for a fastball and I got a G, what a ball to hit. And I swung and I couldn't believe I didn't make contact. Swinged and I messed that.
He took a mighty cut. I thought, boy, how did I miss that?
Well, you can bet your bottom dollar, Williams would like to hit one out of here right now. I was watching Fisher, and he couldn't wait to get the ball for the catcher. And I said, he thinks he threw it by me. And he threw it in the same spot, same speed. There's a drive to keep right.
This may be called Bradford back there watching. Hold on, and win it. I'll never forget that one for sure. It's the closest time I ever come to tip my hat. after playing for 22 years.
What are you thinking? I I have to say that uh that that was certainly one of the uh the more moving moments and and tingling in my body. that I ever had as a baseball player at a last zone run. In fact, he it was all over and I did hit a home run. Home plates are waiting for him.
He does not tip his cat. In his death in 2002, I was struck by how much interest there still was in his life. and how many lives he had touched. I remember the Boston Globe ran a full page of letters. And they were from grandfathers talking about how they had introduced baseball to their sons through Williams and the sons to their sons.
And so, to that extent, He was a glue in the social fabric. his um really rough childhood. Growing up in the Depression in San Diego. his relationship with his mother. who was um a soldier in the Salvation Army.
and quite eccentric. And out until all hours of the night, saving souls on the streets of San Diego, but never home for her son. she would get home at ten or eleven o'clock at night. I wondered what the effects on Ted from that work. My mother was strictly Salvation Army, strictly non-family.
A wonderful woman in in so many ways, but Uh I wouldn't want to be married to a gal like that. The house was dirty and Jesus, I hated it.
So I dove in. May Williams, who uh was born in Mexico And had family going back there several generations. She was a star of the street. She raised a lot of money for the Salvation Army, and she wouldn't hesitate, much to Ted's embarrassment, to ask anybody. For money for the Salvation Army, often playing off the fact that she was Ted Williams' mother.
But it was her zeal in her job, staying out until all hours of the night. Ted and his younger brother, Danny, were some of the first latchkey kids. Sitting on the porch of the house waiting for the mother to come home at 10 or 11 o'clock at night. The father was an alcoholic. largely absent, so not a factor at home.
There were things of a personal nature that bothered me. And I think That happens in life. And um Uh things that I wish that Could have been a little easier. But uh gee uh Maybe after seeing The news as easily as you see it today and see all everything that happens in the world. You gotta think just being in America, you're pretty like me.
And luckily for Williams, there was a playground. down the street. That had lights, which was unusual in those days. And so that was his salvation, baseball. It was the most fun I ever had in my life if I was hitting the ball and I could hit one bow, you know, just like that.
And gee, that felt good to me. But that playground was important to me. And I had a chance to play, and there were kids to play all the time. Every night, There was an old Mexican family calamandi. And they had five kids.
They all got into professional baseball, and the old man was out there every night playing pepper. Pepper, pepper, pepper, pepper, pepper, pepper, pepper. I got a chance to be in those games. But he nurtured this anger and resentment toward his mother, so that that the anger that he struggled with throughout his life was rooted there. He was able to use this anger as a as a double-edged sword in his career because he always said he hit better.
Mad. He would use that as a motivator. And he might pick a feud with the baseball writers to get himself revved up and go off on a tear and hit 500 for a month. But in his personal life, this anger would bubble up at very inappropriate times and places and caused him all kinds of difficulty. cost him the three marriages and strained relations with uh his children.
And he was probably bipolar before they even knew what that was. But Leavening the anger was a fundamental kindness and decency, as evidenced chiefly by the work. that he did for the Jimmy Fund. which is a charity In Boston, that serves kids sick with cancer. And back in those days, the cancer was nearly fatal.
always anywhere Williams would would visit these kids. At all hours of the day and night. And he let it be known to the doctors and nurses that if they felt A visit from him would be helpful, give good cheer to anyone who was sick. He would come, and he did that in all hours of the day and night over the course of nearly 20 years as a player and continued in his retirement. And he always insisted that there be no press coverage of this.
And some of the writers would find out about it and they'd ask him about it, and he'd say, Yeah, that's true, but if you write about it, I'll never talk to you again. That showed he was genuine. He was worried that if there was something in the paper about it it would look self serving. That he was trying to feather his own nest or temper his pecs bad boy image. And then I wanted to explore the fact that he was Mexican American, since his mother was Mexican.
Interestingly, fascinatingly, this was something that he chose to conceal. for his entire life. Because he was worried that the prejudice of the day might hurt his baseball career. There was more evidence that. the the prejudice was harsher against the black players of the day.
because there weren't even that many Mexican players, but Williams was taking no chances. And I tracked down a lot of his first cousins on the Mexican side of the family. And they had settled mostly up in Santa Barbara. And one cousin convened a family meeting for me, and I talked to these people. They were proud of Ted and the fame that he had achieved And they told me a fascinating uh story that was really revealing about Ted.
In 1939, at the end of his rookie season, where he had set the American League on fire. He returned to San Diego, the the conquering hero, and about a hundred of the Mexican side of the family gathered at the train station to greet him. Ted took one look at this group and hightailed it in the other direction. Didn't want to be seen with him. And you've been listening to Ben Bradley Jr.
tell the story of Ted Williams, and so many baseball fans know the achievements. But this is the story behind the story, that rough childhood of his, the father who was an alcoholic and checked out. The mom, who is a religious zealot, a Christian's Christian in some ways, out there raising the flag, raising money for the Salvation Army, but not there for her kids. The kids were sort of left alone. We also learned that his mom was a Mexican.
But boy, did Ted Williams do everything he could to conceal that, worried about the prejudices of the day. And then of course, that playground. That blessing of his, A, to be born in America, which he said, but also that playground with lights so he could practice and play at night in San Diego. And there he was every night with that neighborhood Mexican family. Practicing, honing his baseball skills, but always there was that anger.
partly his fuel, but boy did it damage his personal life. Three marriages, strained relationships with his kids, but there was also that fundamentally decent part of Ted Williams, always there for local kids with cancer. and insisting that there be no press. And then there was that final scene at the train station after his banner rookie year, coming back to San Diego, greeted by his Mexican family. And when Ted saw that, He hightailed out of there.
When we come back, more of the story of this great, great ball player and complicated man. The story of Ted Williams continues. here on Our American Stories. All right. Two truths and a lie.
Here we go. I went to college with college football coach Jim McElwain. I began my broadcasting career doing play by play for the Las Vegas Stars, and I've been a Verizon customer for fifteen years.
Okay, I lied. All three are true. A Verizon isn't as expensive as you think. In fact, if you bring in your ATT or T-Mobile bill, To a Verizon store, they'll give you a better deal. That's right, a better deal on the best network with the most ways to save on plans, streaming, and phone deals.
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Alright, quick quiz for the hiring managers out there. What's worse, being understaffed or being poorly staffed?
Well, that's a trick question, because both are recipes for chaos. Either way, just say to yourself, this is a job for indeed sponsored jobs. You'll get matched with candidates that meet the skills, certifications, and everything else you're looking for. Or, go a different way, and get no traction. Seriously, sponsored jobs posted directly on Indeed are 95% more likely to report a higher than nonsponsored jobs.
It really is a no-brainer. Spend less time searching and more time actually interviewing candidates who check all your boxes. Less stress, less time, more results. When you need the right person to cut through the chaos, this is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. And listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to help your job get the premium status it deserves at Indeed.com slash podcast.
Just go to indeed.com slash podcast right now. Indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? This is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs.
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Powered by a lauded V6 engine and smooth nine-speed automatic transmission, the new Nissan Pathfinder is Adventure on Wheels. With seating for up to eight, a premium interior and available second-row captain's chairs, it's adventure in comfort. And with 284 horsepower and 6,000 pounds of towing capacity, Pathfinder is adventure unlimited. The new Nissan Pathfinder, power your adventure. Towing capacity varies by configuration.
See Nissan Towing Guide and Owner's Manual for additional information. Always secure cargo. And we continue with Our American Stories and Ben Bradley Jr., author of The Kid. The Immortal Life of Ted Williams. Let's pick up where we last left off.
It was ironic given the fact that he concealed his identity as a Mexican American. that in nineteen sixty six When he was being inducted into the Hall of Fame, he used his acceptance speech. To digress totally and make a bold political statement, which was that he called on the lords of Cooperstown. to drop their their color line. and allow in the old Negro League players to the Hall of Fame.
Baseball gives every American boy a chance to excel. not just to be as good as someone else, but to be better than someone else. This is the nature of man and the name of the game, and I've always been a very lucky guy to have worn a baseball uniform. And I hope that someday The names of Satchel Page and Josh Gibson in some way can be added as a symbol of the great Negro players that are not here only because they were not given a chance. Booe Keune, the Commissioner, Followed that recommendation, and as a result, the black players just loved Williams.
It was sort of ironic. He had concealed his own Mexican-American background, but that probably made him sensitive to prejudice. That was a courageous thing that Williams did. He always claimed you got a bad press, but Generally he got a fantastic press. The press was adoring.
He treated the writers like dirt. He would see them coming after the game and say, Oh, what kind of trouble are you guys going to stir up today? He was naive about the press. He loved fame, but not celebrity. He couldn't appreciate that people wanted to read all they could about Williams' personal life.
He thought that wasn't fair game. He said, Write anything you want about how I perform on the baseball field. But if a reporter called up his mother for even the most innocuous feature story, he'd go crazy. He'd consider that an invasion of privacy.
So he was naïve in that sense of how how the press worked. And so one guy, Don Budden, who was a shortstop in the 50s. One day, Bud told me a story. He said that after Ted opted off, You know, for the umpteenth time to the writers in the clubhouse, he said, Ted, how can you treat the writers this way? They have a job to do.
Why are you so uh tough on him? Ted said, son, if you hit 350, you can do a lot of things. He missed nearly five years of his prime to service in World War II and Korea. And he was not just doing uh KP duty. or playing service baseball the way Joe DiMaggio did.
He was an elite Marine Corps fighter pilot. Top gun. and um John Glenn, who flew with him in Korea, Ted was his wingman. I interviewed him. Glenn told me he thought Williams was one of the best pilots he'd ever seen.
And that's uh high praise coming from uh the astronaut. I made some flights with John Glenn. He was just a gung-ho Marine. He's my hero, that guy. He was one of the great, one of the great Americans in my lifetime, without any question.
So he hadn't seen combat in World War II. They held him back. He was an instructor. Another indication of. how good a pilot he was.
And then he was recalled for Korea, which was unfair since he had already served three years. And uh one of the great parlor games that people play when talking about Williams is trying to guess what his final statistics would have been had he not missed those five years. And uh he probably would have been up around seven hundred home runs. just shy of Babe Ruth's uh 714. and well over three thousand hits.
But I I argue that for his legacy, serving in those two wars, particularly the second one, Korea, in which he did see combat. and in which he was shot down and really should have died. That the service in those two wars is better for his legacy than merely accumulating those additional numbers. And uh The incident when he was shot down was really harrowing, and I was able to track down. A fellow who flew on the mission with him and who guided him in for a safe landing and.
after he took the enemy gunfire, He lost radio contact, he lost the hydraulics on the plane, the landing gear wouldn't come down, and the plane was on fire. I mean, how bad is that? And if he'd been f if he had followed the Marine Corps protocol. He would have objected. but he was so tall, nearly six four.
and they had to shoehorn him into the cockpit as it was. He was afraid that if he ejected, he would cap his knees and not be able to play baseball again. And they had a Ejection sheet that's supposed to throw you clear, but I analyzed all the angles and everything. And I said, geez, if I have to eject, I said, I'll leave my kneecaps right in that back.
So I was. terribly afraid. to do it.
So we decided to bring it in. It landed on its belly and skidded it for about a mile, and he jumped out of the cockpit. when it was on fire and walked away without a scratch. Again, inconceivable that today's modern superstar would serve in one war. let alone two, and miss that kind of time from their prime.
Can you see Alex Rodriguez going to Iraq or Afghanistan? I don't think so. Ba-da-da-da-da-da. Having completed serving his country for the second time in the Marine Air Corps, Ted Williams once again prepares to return to play baseball. Better understand that your future address is Fenway Park, is that correct?
Well, as of now, that's where I'm scheduled to go, Colonel. I uh plan on being up there tomorrow. And uh Needless to say, I'm... I'm anxious to see if I can still hit. Ted had a highly unusual relationship with the umpires.
The umpires loved him. They had great respect for his renowned batting eye. He had this terrific vision. and also he would never argue a call and try to show them up.
So that was another reason they liked him. But the the opposition would always complain that the umpires were biased in favor of Ted. And they thought that Ted effectively got four strikes instead of three. And one time a catcher turned around to argue a call, and the umpire says to him, Mr. Williams, we'll inform your pitcher.
when he throws a strike. He had great vision, but not as great as the mythology. It was 2015. according to his physical going into the Navy in 42, which is really good.
Some said it was 2010, but it was 2015. He didn't like it if people suggested that his success was attributable merely to his eyesight or merely to his. Great natural reflexes. He would say, you know. Bologna, it was hard work.
Nobody swung a bat. More often than I did. Nobody came to the plate as more often than I did. No one worked as hard at it. And on the on the most uh Significant day of his career, which is the last day of the 1941 season when he hit 406.
He went into the last. game, last day of the season. hitting three ninety nine point six. And so if he'd sat it out. that last day.
As Joe Cronin, his manager, was urging him to, they would have rounded the average up to 400 on the books. But he knew that that would have come with an asterisk, and so he insisted On playing not just one game, but two games. And you've been listening to Ben Bradley Jr. tell the story of Ted Williams. who, of course, though he had Mexican heritage, Fought for players in the Negro League to be included in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Few people did as much. As did Ted Williams, and he was beloved. He was loved. by the black baseball players, not only of the Negro League, but all that came after Jackie Robinson. It was interesting what he thought about people attributing his great batting success to his eyes and his natural talents.
He didn't like that. He always wanted to attribute his success to his hard work. When we come back, the rest of Ted Williams' story. here on our American stories. All right.
Two truths and a lie. Here we go. I went to college with college football coach Jim McElwain. I began my broadcasting career doing play-by-play for the Las Vegas Stars, and I've been a Verizon customer for 15 years.
Okay, I lied. All three are true. A Verizon isn't as expensive as you think. In fact, if you bring in your ATT or T-Mobile bill, To a Verizon store, they'll give you a better deal. That's right, a better deal on the best network with the most ways to save on plans, streaming, and phone deals.
So take that ATN to your T-Mobile build to your local Verizon store today, get a better deal, and start saving. Based on root metrics, best overall mobile network performance US second half twenty twenty five. All rights reserved must provide a recent consumer mobile bill in the name of the person redeeming the deal. Additional terms, conditions, and restrictions apply.
Alright, quick quiz for the hiring managers out there. What's worse, being understaffed or being poorly staffed?
Well, that's a trick question, because both are recipes for chaos. Either way, just say to yourself, This is a job for indeed sponsored jobs. You'll get matched with candidates that meet the skills, certifications, and everything else you're looking for. Or, go a different way. and get no traction.
Seriously, sponsored jobs posted directly on Indeed are 95% more likely to report a higher than non-sponsored jobs. It really is a no-brainer. Spend less time searching and more time actually interviewing candidates who check all your boxes. Less stress, less time, more results. When you need the right person to cut through the chaos, this is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs.
And listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to help your job get the premium status it deserves at indeed.com slash podcast. Just go to indeed.com slash podcast right now. Indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire?
This is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. No one knows what the future holds, but you deserve a weather app that can help. Weatherbug is easy to use and provides forecasts for your every need, from storm warnings to pollen levels, right at your fingertips. Get the fastest local alerts and comprehensive 10-day forecasts wherever you are. It's hyper-local real-time customizable alerts.
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Initial Quality Study Award information, visit jdpower.com slash awards. Awards based on 2025 model year. Newer models may be shown. And we continue with our American stories and the story of Ted Williams. being told by Ben Bradley Jr.
Author of The Kid The immortal life of Ted Williams. Let's pick up where we last left off. Here's Ben Bradley Jr. The last day of the season was a double header in Philadelphia.
So on his first plate appearance uh the home plate umpire, Bill McGowan, called time when Ted arrived at the plate and dusted off the the plate and said this underneath his breath, to hit four hundred. A batter has got to be loose. He says this to Ted. He's giving him advice. You know, just another indication of how the umpires admired him.
As I got up the plate, Bill McGowan, one of the greatest umpires that ever umpired, he said. In order to hit 400, he said you got to be loose. And Frankie Hayes, a catcher, said. Mr. Mack said we're going to pitch to you today.
I really felt like Now I can see the light of day. Sure enough, bang, I hit 400. And Williams would would use the umpires. to get information. He'd use them as sort of his own scouting system.
He'd get on base after hitting a double, I'd say, and he'd start chatting up the second base umpire and Where are you guys coming from? Oh, Chicago? Oh, how's so-and-so throwing? What's he got? Has he got a good how's his curve?
How's this fastball? How's this change? You know, and they they would they would Share information with them on what the pitcher was doing. Finally, the American League found out about this and had to call a stop to it. In nineteen fifty five, the Washington Senators were in town to play the Red Sox at Fenway Park, and on the mound for the Senators was Pedro Ramos.
A rookie and who was from Cuba. And Ted comes up and Ramos strikes him out. And this was highly unusual. Ted hardly ever struck out.
So Ramos was beside himself with excitement. And after the game, in an act of real putzpa, He takes the ball and barges into the Red Sox clubhouse and walks up to the great man. and asks if he'll sign the ball. that uh he struck him out on. Ted said, Get the blankety blank out of here, you so-and-so.
But finally someone prevailed upon him to uh sign the ball.
So Ramos is delighted. He goes back to the clubhouse and shows everybody the ball. Fast forward, two or three weeks later, the Senators are back at Fenway Park. Ramos again is on the mount. Ted comes up, puts the first pitch, 20 rows up in the bleachers.
Going into his home run trot, rounds third base, yells over to Ramos, I'll sign that son of a two if you can find it. I love that story. The big news story of the past seven days It was not Mr. Khrushchev or the presidential campaign. It was the news out of Boston.
that Mr. Ted Williams had retired as an active ball player for the Boston Red Sox. It seems that at 42, he was too old. It does show that perhaps experience doesn't count. Yeah.
Ted was not a great husband or a father. He himself acknowledged that and said toward the end of his life to close friends that as a husband and a father, I struck out. Those were his words. Williams was, you know, he was self-absorbed, and he hadn't had much to do with any of his children while they grew up. But he made an effort to reconnect with his younger two, John Henry and Claudia, particularly John Henry.
They started to get close in 1991. When John Henry graduated from college, University of Maine, and didn't know what to do with his life. That happened to be the 50th anniversary of Ted hitting 400. And John Henry approached his father with uh a modest suggestion to do a small memorabilia venture to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary, and they ran off a few T shirts and something small. But Ted happened to be coming off an experience where he'd been burned by a a memorabilia dealer who had swindled him.
And cost him over a million dollars.
So, Ted was looking for someone who he could trust to run his memorabilia business, which was quite lucrative. and John Henry stepped up and said, Dad, you can trust me. I'm your son.
So I think Ted overcompensated for not being there for his son growing up and gave him more control than this untested young man probably deserved. And over the next several years, John Henry went through millions of dollars in the memorabilia business. In 1997, got interested in cryonics. And cryonics, for those of you who don't know, is not a science, but. Really, a hope and a belief system held by maybe a few thousand people around the country that medical science will one day advance to the point Where it will be possible to cure you from whatever it is you've died from.
and somehow bring you back to life. A lot of holes in this theory. You know, they haven't worked out if Ted would come back as an 83-year-old man or a young stud who could hit 400. But John Henry became a believer, and he started asking his father about it. What did he think about this?
And Ted was totally dismissive of it. Get out of here with that stuff. Don't talk to me about that. John Henry died suddenly in 2004, about 18 months after Ted died. He died of leukemia.
To his credit, since he was the one who foisted cryonics upon his father, John Henry himself. had his remains frozen.
So they're together, father and son. Out at this facility in Arizona called the Alcor Foundation. Claudia said that she and John Henry approached their father in November of two thousand. and asked him This was right before he was in the hospital and was going to have a pacemaker put in the next day. It was that occasion, she says, when.
She and her brother asked their father. Yes. he would agree to cryonics. They said that they had decided they wanted to do this for themselves. And they wanted him to do it as well, so they could be together forever as a family.
And she says Ted agreed. But my reporting and research suggests that if he did, he was not of sound mind at the time. And that also I was able to track down about a dozen people whom he told after the date of that meeting that no, he wanted to be cremated. And have his ashes thrown off the keys where he had lived and fished for many years.
So it was a sad ending for the greatest hitter who ever lived. And in their final analysis, People's memories of Ted will be of swaggering youth. Hitting four oh six. Uh Forever the Kid. Ted, you really have to give him his size.
I mean, he was A force. And there was a force that boiled up from him.
Some took it kindly and thought him a god.
Some took it ill and thought, what makes this guy think he's so great? But nobody could miss it. Um Um Like a feather caught on a vortex. Williams ran around the square of bases at the center of our beseeching screaming. He ran as he always ran out home runs.
Hurriedly. Unsmiling head down. as if our praise were a storm of rain to get out of. He didn't tip his cap. Our noise for some seconds passed beyond excitement into a kind of immense open anguish.
a wailing, a cry to be saved. But immortality is non-transferable. Even the umpires on the field begged him to come out and acknowledge us in some way. But he never had. and did not now.
Gods did not answer letters. Uh And a terrific job on the production, editing, and storytelling by our own Greg Hengler. And a special thanks to Ben Bradley Jr., a former Boston Globe reporter. And author of the book, The Kid: The Immortal Life of Ted Williams. Go to Amazon for the usual suspects to pick up the book.
you won't be disappointed in what a story Ben told. That brilliant reading. Of Robert Redford's that came from an essay in The New Yorker by John Updike. which was called Cub Fans Bid the Kid Adieu. It was Updike's farewell His eulogy.
To Ted Williams, a Boston Red Sox player, being honored by a Chicago Cub fan. That's history in the making right there. And my goodness, we learn about Williams' remarkable war service. Five years of his life, three in World War II, two in Korea. One of his wingmen in Korea was no other than John Glenn.
who called Williams one of the greatest pilots he'd ever flown with. And what would Williams have accomplished if he were there all five years? That's a favorite bar quiz game. But probably, statistically, he would have ended up over 700 home runs close to Babe Bruth. And over 3,000 hits.
But at Marine Corps service, it was the core to understanding Ted Williams' duty and loyalty to his country. The story of Ted Williams, one of baseball's all-time greats, here on Our American Stories. Think Verizon is expensive? Think again. Anyone can bring their ATT or T-Mobile bill to a Verizon store today and we'll give you a better deal.
So bring us your bill. Walk in, running, hogo sticking, teleport if you can. Ride on the back of a rollerblading yak or flying on the wings of a majestic falcon. Any way you can, bring your ATT or T-Mobile bill to a Verizon store today, and we'll give you a better deal on the best network. Based on Rootmetric's best overall mobile network performance U.S.
second half 2025, All Rights Reserve must provide a very recent post-paid consumer mobile bill in the name of the person redeeming the deal. Additional terms, conditions, and restrictions apply.
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I've had the privilege of working closely with Robert Kraft for a long time. And one thing I've always respected is how seriously he takes up standing up to hate. As a Jewish athlete my identity is something I am proud of. But I also know what it feels like to be singled out for it. That's why this new commercial for the Blue Square Alliance Against Hate that aired during the big game really hit home.
It's about showing up for someone when they're targeted, even if you don't have the perfect words. And sometimes standing next to someone is enough. And you can show support by sharing the blue square. To test the new Pathfinder, Nissan turned to the boldest creators of all. Kids.
Their drawings sparked a wild idea, brought to life by a Hollywood director, a stunt team, and the SUV that makes the unthinkable unforgettable. No tricks, just V6 power, practical effects, and the rugged new Pathfinder. Watch how it all came together and discover why JD Power ranks Nissan number one in new vehicle quality among mainstream brands. For JD Power 2025 U.S. Initial Quality Study Award information, visit jdpower.com/slash awards.
Awards based on 2025 model year. Newer models may be shown. This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human. Mm-hmm.
