What Do You Think of Ted Williams Now? by Richard Ben Cramer

Author:Richard Ben Cramer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Ted made himself into a warrior pilot—and a good one in his Marine F-9 Panther jet.

On a bombing run, north of the 38th parallel, Ted lost sight of the plane ahead. He dropped through clouds, and when he came out, he was much too low. North Koreans sent up a hail of bullets. Ted’s plane was hit and set afire. The stick stiffened and shook in his hand: his hydraulics were gone. Every warning light was red. The radio quit. A Marine in a nearby F-9 was pointing wildly at Ted’s plane. He was trying to signal: “Fire! Bail out!” But Ted’s biggest fear was ejecting; at six-three, wedged in as he was, he’d leave his kneecaps under his gauges. So the other pilot led him to a base. Ted hauled his plane into a turn and he felt a shudder of explosion. One of his wheel doors had blown out. Now he was burning below, too. He made for a runway with fire streaming thirty feet behind. Koreans in a village saw his plane and ran for their lives. Only one wheel came down: he had no dive breaks, air flaps, nothing to slow the plane. He hit the concrete at 225 miles an hour and slid for almost a mile, while he mashed the useless brakes and screamed, “STOP YOU DIRTY SONOFA-BITCH STOP STOP STOP.” When the F-9 stopped skidding, he somersaulted out the hatch and slammed his helmet to the ground. Two Marines grabbed him on the tarmac, and walked him away as the plane burned to char.

He was flying the next day, and day after. There weren’t enough pilots to rest a man. Ted was sicker, weak, and gaunt. Soon his ears were so bad he couldn’t hear the radio. He had flown thirty-seven missions and won three air medals when they sent him to a hospital ship. Doctors sent him on to Hawaii and then to Bethesda, Maryland, where at last they gave him a discharge. His thirty-fifth birthday was coming up, he was tired and ill. He didn’t want to do anything, much less suit up to play. But Ford Frick, the commissioner, asked him to the ’53 All-Star Game, just to throw out the first ball.

So Ted went to Cincinnati, sat in a sport coat in the dugout. Players greeted him like a lost brother; even Ted couldn’t hear a boo in the stands. Tom Yawkey was there and Joe Cronin; they worked on the Kid. The league president asked him to come back; the National League president, too. Branch Rickey sat him down for a talk; Casey Stengel put in a plea. Ted went to Bethesda to ask the doctors, and then he told the waiting press to send a message to the fans at Fenway: “Warm up your lungs.” He took ten days of batting practice and returned with the Red Sox to Boston. First game, Fenway Park, bottom of the seventh: pinch-hit home run.

…

TED WILLIAMS was the greatest old hitter. In two months, upon return from Korea, he batted .

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.