Being Ted Williams by Dick Enberg; Tom Clavin

Author:Dick Enberg; Tom Clavin
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781683582229
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Published: 2018-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

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A new decade could mean a fresh start for the Red Sox. For the most part, the team that had come oh so close the previous three seasons was still intact, and anchored by the “almost” Triple Crown winner. But as David Halberstam commented in his book about Ted, Pesky, Doerr, and Dominic DiMaggio, 1950 was really the last great season the four would experience together.

Ted would also reach his highest level in salary when Tom Yawkey offered him a $90,000 contract, with a $10,000 attendance bonus. After a winter of hunting in Minnesota and Arkansas, then fishing back in the Everglades, accompanied by Doris and Bobby-Jo, the Kid responded by leading the American League in home runs and collecting 80 RBIs by the All-Star break. The Midsummer Classic was played at Comiskey Park, home of the Chicago White Sox. In the first inning, Ralph Kiner of the Pittsburgh Pirates hit a long fly to left. Moments later, Ted suffered the most serious injury of his career.

He had maintained for years that “they would never get me out of the game running into a wall. Running into walls was for guys looking for a short career.” So what happens? Chasing Kiner’s ball brought Ted into contact with the unforgiving left-field wall, with his elbow, especially, striking it hard. Ted did make the catch, but inning after inning the pain in his arm grew worse. The manager, Stengel, offered to take him out, but that wasn’t Ted’s way. Even with his elbow swelling to an impressive size, he managed a single in the eighth inning to give the American League the lead. It wasn’t until the next day, back in Boston, that Ted went for x-rays. They showed a broken elbow, requiring a two-hour operation to set things right.

But the elbow never was quite right after that. Ted didn’t know at the time that the surgeons thought his arm might be permanently disabled, which could mean the end of his career. However, after just two months he was back in the lineup, but never able to fully extend his arm. Ted played in only 89 games that 1950 season and with essentially one arm hit .317, the lowest average since his rookie season. Another reason for Richard Alan Enberg to want to be like his idol—with a broken elbow, playing in pain, literally batting one-armed, Theodore Samuel Williams outhit almost every other major league player. Talk about winning a fight with one hand tied behind your back!

The Red Sox tailed off late in the season, falling out of the pennant race. A frustrated Joe McCarthy didn’t last until the end of the season. The Boston press was told he had resigned for health reasons. (McCarthy recovered, though he never managed again, and died in 1978, three months before his 91st birthday.)

There was a new manager, Steve O’Neill, and a new season of hope in 1951, when Ted rebounded to play in 148 games, and the Red Sox finished 20 games over .

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