Ted Williams

Thought I'd share this article with the rest of you baseball fans. Novelist John Updike writing on Ted Williams last home run, during his last game at Fenway Park, eloquently summarizing his historic tumultuous relationship with Boston fans and writers.

"Like a feather caught in 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. Though we thumped, wept, and chanted "We want Ted" for minutes after he hid in the dugout, he did not come back. 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 nontransferable. The papers said that the other players, and 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 do not answer letters."

// Excerpt from Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu by John Updike

Full article can be found here: http://www.baseball-almanac.com/articles/hub_fans_bid_kid_adieu_article.shtml

thanks for sharing. Ted Williams was in a league all his own.

the article actually makes Ted seem like an ungrateful "god" that couldn't be bothered with the mere peasants in the stands. Oh how quaint, the bumpkins want me to come out and ackowledge them? - well his Royal Tedness can't be bothered.

actually, it was probably more about playing at a time where people were wary about showing their emotions in public -- even the celebrations following championships were a lot more muted than they are today -- I'm sure Williams never intended or thought he appeared holier than thou.

sportwriters love to wax nostalgic for this era - but I much prefer the present era where athletes acknowledge and even embrace the fans and are willing to show a joy on the field. Yes, some players go too far, but I would much rather see excess flamboyance than the joylessness that Williams seemed to show in that article.