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FYI - Ted Williams died this morning.
:(
Incredible baseball player, and served 5 years in the military (WWII and Korea) as a fighter pilot...
I don't think there are any players today who can even match up to him, personality, performance, patriotism, or just plain bravery.
I'll see if I can post some links later, too new to have headlines on any of the news sites. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Frown]" src="frown.gif" />
<a href="http://espn.go.com/classic/obit/williams_ted_obit.html" target="_blank">Espn's article</a>
<a href="http://espn.go.com/classic/obit/williams_ted_kurkjian.html" target="_blank">Commentary by ESPN annalist.</a>
It's definatly a sad day in history. The greatest hitter of all time passed away. One of the few "Great Americans" of yesteryear.
At least the Red Sox are home this weekend, I'm sure there will be a lot going on.
(I've never met fans more dedicated than Boston Red Sox fans).
Here's a great quote from the ESPN article. This helps explain as to just why this man is so loved and reveared.
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> On Feb. 19, 1953, flying low on a bombing run far above the 38th parallel, Williams' F-9 Panther was hit by small arms fire and started leaking hydraulic fluid. With his plane shaking badly (he didn't know it was also on fire), his control panel lit up with warning lights, and his radio dead, Williams followed a fellow pilot back to base, flying without hydraulics and wrestling his stick all the way. Approaching the landing field, an on-board explosion blew off one of the wheel doors and Williams was forced to land his crippled jet at 225 miles-an-hour and on one wheel. When the F-9 finally came to a stop at the end of the runway after skidding over 2,000 feet, Williams walked away from the burning wreck as firemen hosed it down with foam. </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">And
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Yet Williams turned out to be baseball's longest-serving military warrior, missing three full seasons (1943-45) during World War II and most of the 1952 and '53 seasons when the Korean War was going on. </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">
They said that Ted, used to have an uncanny ability when he hit. Not only could he tell exactly where he hit the ball on the bat, but if you gave him a baseball, he could point out EXACTLY where he his bat made contact on the ball. And if you fetched his hit, sure enough, there would be a mark, where Ted had pointed out.
Direct link from the Red Sox home page:
<a href="http://www.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/events/obits/mlb_obit_ted_williams.jsp?content=obituary" target="_blank">http://www.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/events/obits/mlb_obit_ted_williams.jsp?content=obituary</a>
Greatest hitter to ever play the game. Imagine his stats if he didn't lose 5 seasons to military service.
RIP Ted Williams
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by Quiet Thunder:
<strong>They said that Ted, used to have an uncanny ability when he hit. Not only could he tell exactly where he hit the ball on the bat, but if you gave him a baseball, he could point out EXACTLY where he his bat made contact on the ball. And if you fetched his hit, sure enough, there would be a mark, where Ted had pointed out.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Yeah I read about that one time. A sportswriter or someone didn't believe that he could tell where on the ball he'd made contact, so he covererf the end in pine tar and hit some balls. He was right every time.
Such a sad thing to hear. He was and will be a great American to so many people in so many ways for a long time to come. God Bless.
A few more interesting facts....
He used to build forearm strength by squeezing baseballs until the covers came off....
He is one of 3 players to steal a base in four different decades (Rickey Henderson and Tim Raines are the other 2).....
He is the oldest player ever to win a league batting title (age 40)....
He was wingman for John Glenn for 39 missions in Korea....