......

Foxnews is the source.

Ben

Ted Williams, the Boston Red Sox revered and sometimes reviled “Splendid Splinter” and baseball’s last .400 hitter, has died at age 83

Another Marine is sent home...

I betcha they play a lot of ball in heaven..

Ben

An honorable man.

If any sportsman could be called a hero, it was him.

.344 lifetime batting average: nuff said.

Miss you, Ted

Saw him play w/the BoSox a couple of times when I was a kid.  The greatest of hitters, but even more, a very great American.  Might well have broken Babe Ruth's HR record,  except he thought it was more important to serve his countryin WW2 AND Korea.

May he rest in peace.



[marines]

What a great ball player.  


Btw,
3 replys to your own post.  [rolleyes]

What a shame! Another good one gone.

Ted Williams, Teddy Ballgame, Marine fighter pilot.

[img]www.onlinesports.com/images/mm-wmtw-029.jpg[/img]

My mother used to work for Hatfield's in St. Joseph, Mo.  Harold Hatfield and Ted Williams were old friends from way back, and Ted would stop by the store to visit with Harold every once in a while.  While at home on leave in October of 1985, Ted was in for a visit and saw my Boot picture on my Mom's desk.  He asked my Mom where I was stationed and how I was doing.  She told him I was in town on leave, and asked if he would like to meet me.  

The phone at the house rang , and it was Mom.  She asked me how much trouble it would be to put on a uniform and come down to the store to meet someone.  I figured Mom was trying to set me up with a hot date, and it took less then 45 minutes to get in my Alphas and walk the 2 blocks to the store.

I walked through the door and up to Mom's desk.  Mr. Williams saw me come in and came up behind me, but I didn't see him!  I asked my Mom where the nice young lady I'd come to meet was at.  Mom smiled and said, "He's not a young lady, Dave.", and she nodded over my shoulder.  I turned around, and he stuck out his hand and said, "Dave, I'm Ted Williams.", I just stood there like a deer caught in the headlights for what seemed like eternity, then the training took over and I snapped to attention and replied, "Sir, Lance Corporal Peacher reporting as ordered!", then I shook his hand.  He said "By God, the Corps still makes 'em like they used to!  At ease son, at ease!".  We talked for over two hours, while he autographed baseballs for everyone who came in the store, and then we had some of Harolds wonderful barbecue ribs for lunch.  

Ted Williams was a damn good man...Rest in peace, Captain Williams, you made a difference!

C'mon people, Ted Williams could not have been a very good ball player.

In all of the pictures that I've seen, never once did I see him with several gold chains flopping around his neck, nor did I see him with any giant diamond earings hanging out of his head.  Even his physique tells me that he didn't sprinkle steroids on his cereal in the morning.  Hell, the guy probably didn't even have a tattoo!

In order to be a really good ball player, you have to have a [b]marketable image[/b].  Mountain Dew wouldn't touch this guy.

[;D]

/Salute Ted Williams, and RIP. Truly an American legend.

-legrue

A very sad day indeed. We have lost a great American today. Oh yeah, he could play a damn good ball game too.

Now [i]there's[/i] an athlete who I am not ashamed to call a real "hero."

Ted, a whole nation salutes you...

Is there [b]ANYWHERE[/b] arfcom isnt????

6 degrees of seperation is something else....


RIP to all the Vets that are going....They were Truly Great Men...

From the Stars and Stripes archives:

Eight, nine years ago Ted Williams consented to a do on the occasion of his 70th birthday. John Glenn was a surprise guest and, when he got the microphone, he spoke of his days during that dust-up in Korea. As a wing commander, he had his choice of anyone in his command as his wing man. He chose, not a true professional Marine fighter pilot, but rather chose a reservist, Ted Williams. Why? Because Ted was the best marksman in the wing. In fact, his performance in World War II was such that Ted was kept as a marksmanship instructor for those beautiful gull-wing F4Us Marines flew in those days.

During this stint and over frozen North Korea, Ted's plane was hit. Although standard procedure was to bail out immediately, Ted took one look down at all that ice and opted to try to make it back to his base. All he knew was that his controls were sluggish and his dashboard was out. John Glenn and others were yelling over their radios that Ted should bail out because he was on fire, but Ted's commo was shot out and he couldn't hear them and had no way of knowing he was on fire.

He made it back to his base, barely. When he landed, his cockpit became filled with smoke and, for the first time, he became aware of the fire. Ted vaulted from the cockpit and ran as fast as he could. When 50 or 60 yards away, his plane exploded and he was thrown to the ground, unharmed. That afternoon he went up again.

But for John Glenn this would never have been known. Ted just never talked about his two wars in the Marine Corps. As much as the Corps regretted calling back these people (they got me, too), there was a desperate need for company-grade officers. You know what happened to the previous batch, brought over from Nippon to hold the Pusan perimeter.

When his tour was over, Ted decided his muscle memory and timing were gone and he would not resume baseballing. But he stopped by Boston on a game day to say good-bye. The manager (Joe McCarthy?) pointed out his uniform, still hanging in its accustomed place, no doubt so rookies could genuflect there before taking the field.

Though protesting, Ted put it on and Fenway Park erupted when the fans saw him. At the end of the game, which the Sox were winning anyway, the manager spoke to the umpires and persuaded Ted to take a pinch hit, just to satisfy the fans. Much to his surprise, Ted hit a home run. (But I doubt he tipped his cap.) Because of this, however, we got another three or four years out of John Glenn's wingman.

All this is reported in a recent biography of Ted: Hitter.

Another story: Bobby Keegan, memorialized at Cooperstown for a no-hitter for the White Sox, K'd Ted to get it. I see Bobby each year at a fraternity (Sigma Chi) two-day reunion at Bucknell, and I asked him about this. Probably because of too many reunions, Bobby has forgotten how he got him. Not Ted. The author of Hitter interviewed Ted on this point and Ted quickly answered, "Low and outside." I think he remembers every pitch ever thrown to him and every game he ever played.

I'll get over it.

Can you imagine the uproar if we called up one of todays players to go to war.I'm sure all of our superstars would go without question to serve their country.His greatest achievement wasn't on the ballfield,it was on the battlefield.Ted Williams is another example of why it's called The Greatest Generation.