Happy Birthday, Ted Williams!

I don't know why I love baseball, but I do. I'm the only one of my family that really loves it. My father would watch bits and pieces growing up, but wasn't a big fan. He (and my mom) would of course root for the Red Sox, but didn't know players names other than the big ones. My mom actually took me to my first game at Fenway when I was 13 or so. They lost, but it was a great experience. My brother hates (or strongly dislikes) baseball, but he got hit in the face during Little League, so can you blame him?

After third grade, my parents sent my brother and I to a private Christian School in town. I was the outsider and didn't fit in with 90% of the girls. I decided to play with the boys and learned how to play football, hone my kickball and tether ball skills, and started to collect baseball cards. This was when José Canseco and Mark McGuire were big in Oakland and the Red Sox had Mike Greenwell, Jody Reed, Dwight Evans, Jim Rice, and my favorite, Wade Boggs. Why was he my favorite? I loved third base and thought that all the cool people played third- you had to have a strong arm to play (which of course I didn't).

Somehow, I got into the history of baseball and learned about the greats- Ty Cobb, Smokey Joe Wood, Shoeless Joe Jackson, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle (I took how I sign my name from him), Jackie Robinson, and many many more. I don't know what it is about old things- old movies, antiques, baseball,- I just love learning about how things were. Life seemed so much better back then- easier. You can argue that but look deep. Things were simpler. No cell phones. No television (until the 50's and 60's). No steroids. Just alcohol and tobacco were their drugs of choice. This may be disputed too, who knows.

I've always been a Red Sox fan and always will be. I must confess, my favorite player of all time is a Yankee. Hear me out, hear me out. His name is Lou Gehrig- got a disease named after him which killed my great aunt. He was a humble but powerful man. He hit after the flamboyant Ruth and was in 2130 games in a row before he benched himself and soon after died. He was a great first baseman (and football player at Columbia University). I read a biography of him when I was in 7th or 8th grade and was hooked instantly.



The colored box is Ted's strike zone
and the colors represent his
sweet spots (red=best)
 and have his batting %

 I'm also a big fan of Ted Williams, left fielder for the Sox. He wasn't as humble (at all) as Lou, but man was he a ball player. He was also a distinguished pilot in both World War II and Korea. His eyesight was said to be 20/10 twice better than normal vision. He literally wrote the book on hitting and had an impressive career, despite not winning a World Series. Damned Yankees.

A great book to read about Ted Williams and his 3 other baseball buddies: Johnny Pesky (the right field pole is named for him), Bobby Doerr, and Dom DiMaggio (Joe's brother) is called The Teammates: A Portrait of a Friendship. I want to read his book about hitting some day, too. Lots of good stories out there.

There's my confession- I'm a baseball fan. I have been to only 5 major league stadiums (so far) and countless other double and single A stadiums. I may not know all of the players or their stats by heart, but I know the game and the history. And on this day in 1918, Theodore Samuel Williams was born. Happy Birthday Ted!