Swing and a Hit by Paul O'Neill

Author:Paul O'Neill [O’Neill, Paul]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2022-05-17T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 7

Ted Talks: Talking Hitting with Ted Williams

His voice was powerful and direct, kind of like the voice of God. In some ways, he was a god. A hitting god named Ted Williams calling my cell phone, as stunning and as welcome a call as I’ve ever received.

Flash back to spring training in late March 1999, where I was methodically getting ready for another day with the Yankees. Each spring, I would sweat and stew and take hundreds of reps as I searched for a swing that I could confidently carry into the regular season. But on this day in Tampa, I was ornery and sluggish because I was about 4 for my last 34. I wasn’t balanced. I wasn’t driving the ball. I was fighting the flu and I was miserable. And then my phone rang. And then the voice spoke.

“Paul? This is Ted Williams,” the booming voice said. “I’ve been thinking about you. You’re a hell of a ballplayer.” Did I just hear him correctly? Was this really Ted Williams and did he really call me a hell of a player? Yes and yes. I placed my hand on the back of a chair, steadied myself, and sat down. My immediate reaction was to sit like a student in a classroom because I wanted to give this momentous call the respect it deserved.

I knew my sister, Molly, a reporter for The New York Times, was scheduled to interview Ted about food, fishing, and obviously, a little baseball, too. When Molly told me about her impending interview, I was excited for her and I was also in awe that my older sister was poised to speak with one of the greatest hitters of all time. I told Molly I was struggling and jokingly said she should tell Ted I needed some advice. Still, I never expected Molly’s visit to Ted’s home would result in him contacting me. This experience brought me back to being the boy whose proud father had told him his swing reminded him of Williams’s swing. Well, I wasn’t imitating Williams’s swing anymore, but I was talking to the man himself.

To this day, even with my sister’s connection and her gentle or forceful nudging, I’m still amazed that Ted was willing to call me. I was even more amazed when Ted said, “I bet you’re not hitting the ball the other way.” That comment gave me goose bumps because it showed that Ted knew the way that I had to hit to be a productive hitter. As I’ve stressed, to be successful, I needed to look for pitches on the middle and outside part of the plate and hit the ball to the opposite field. So, the legendary Ted Williams—a pull hitter who was also talented enough to adjust and hit the ball up the middle or the opposite way—knew my approach. The hitting genius knew my tricks.

“You know what?” I replied. “You’re right. I’ve been getting out on my front side too quickly.” A minute

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