The Kid: The Immortal Life of Ted Williams (132 page)

 
35
. Stout and Johnson,
Red Sox Century,
263.

 
36
. Interview with Mel Parnell, October 16, 2002.

 
37
. Williams with Underwood,
My Turn at Bat,
153.

 
38
. Johnson and Stout,
Ted Williams,
103.

 
39
. Interview with Jack Hillerich, August 29, 2005. (Williams had mostly been using the same bat since 1941, but it took him a few years to find the right model. When he was a rookie in 1939, he’d tried several bats, including Joe Cronin’s, Jimmie Foxx’s, and Joe Vosmik’s. He liked Cronin’s the best and stayed with that. Then, in the spring of 1941, Ted had Hillerich & Bradsby change the Cronin model for him by enlarging the barrel and modifying the handle slightly. That was the year he hit .406, and he basically stayed with that same bat through the 1946 season.

Ted did not have his own model Louisville Slugger until 1947. This was
because the company changed how it kept records starting that year. Previously, they would record orders by assigning a new design to the name of the player who first used it, and then would record all orders similar to it as “same as [the player’s name]” with any modifications following. Then, in 1947, a letter-and-number system was originated. So Williams’s own bats were designated as the W148 [1947 and 1948], the W155 [1948–1950], the W166 [1950–1955], and the W183 [1955–1960].

In the late fifties, it was Ted who first concocted a combination of resin and oil to help grip the bat, replacing tape on the handles. Other players followed suit, but they would usually let the sticky substance stay on the handle for a week before scrubbing it off. Ted cleaned his bats with alcohol every night.)

 
40
. Halberstam,
Summer of ’49,
190.

 
41
. Williams with Underwood,
My Turn at Bat,
56.

 
42
. Johnson and Stout,
Ted Williams,
170.

 
43
. Interviews with David Pressman on June 12, 2005; June 20, 2012; June 21, 2012; June 27, 2012; July 2, 2012; and July 3, 2012. (Pressman first told writer Bill Nowlin that Ted put his bats in a dryer for Nowlin’s 2002 oral history on Williams, coauthored with Jim Prime,
Ted Williams: The Pursuit of Perfection.
The 2002 book, in which various people gave their remembrances of Ted, was essentially the same as Nowlin and Prime’s 1997 oral history,
Ted Williams: A Tribute,
with some new interviews, including Pressman’s.)

 
44
. Johnny Pesky was interviewed on the heated bats issue on June 25, 2012, through his son, David, who reported that his father, then ninety-two and in failing health, could no longer be formally interviewed but did clearly recall Ted heating his bats in the clubhouse dryer. David Pressman said that he asked Pesky about the issue in the 1980s and that the former Red Sox shortstop confirmed Williams’s practice to him at that time. (Pesky died on August 13, 2012.)

 
45
. Interview with Bobby Doerr, June 24, 2012.

 
46
. Interview with Jimmy Piersall, June 25, 2012.

 
47
. Interview with Alan Nathan, July 2, 2012.

 
48
. Interview with Patrick Drane, June 25, 2012.

 
49
. Alan Nathan said in a July 5, 2012, e-mail that he had combined data on the initial speed and angles of the ball coming off the bat with data from the Hittracker.com website, which uses the measured landing point and flight time of home runs, along with an aerodynamics model, to find a batted ball’s speed through reverse engineering.

Chapter 11: 1949–1951

 
1
. Stout and Johnson,
Red Sox Century,
267.

 
2
.
True,
November 1954.

 
3
. Halberstam,
Summer of ’49,
227.

 
4
. Ibid.

 
5
. McDermott with Eisenberg,
A Funny Thing Happened,
28.

 
6
. Ibid., 34.

 
7
. Ibid., 220 and 221.

 
8
. Halberstam,
Summer of ’49
(notes for the book given to the author by Halberstam).

 
9
. Ibid.

 
10
. Stout and Johnson,
Red Sox Century,
270.

 
11
. Williams with Underwood,
My Turn at Bat,
159.

 
12
.
Boston Evening American,
March 9, 1950.

 
13
.
Time
files.

 
14
. Johnson and Stout,
Ted Williams,
108.

 
15
. Hirshberg,
What’s the Matter with the Red Sox?,
9 and 132–33.

 
16
. Stout and Johnson,
Red Sox Century,
276.

 
17
. Golenbock,
Fenway,
190.

 
18
. Johnson and Stout,
Ted Williams,
109.

 
19
.
Boston Evening American,
May 12, 1950.

 
20
. Stout and Johnson,
Red Sox Century,
277.

 
21
. Pope,
Ted Williams,
62.

 
22
.
Boston Globe,
June 20, 1950.

 
23
.
Boston Globe,
June 26, 1950.

 
24
. Linn,
Hitter,
234.

 
25
. Williams with Underwood,
My Turn at Bat,
167.

 
26
. Golenbock,
Fenway,
190.

 
27
.
Boston Daily Record,
August 22, 1950.

 
28
.
Boston Daily Record,
August 30, 1950.

 
29
.
Boston Daily Record,
September 8, 1950.

 
30
.
Boston Globe,
September 8, 1950.

 
31
. Seidel,
Ted Williams,
224.

 
32
. Williams with Underwood,
My Turn at Bat,
169.

 
33
. Harold Kaese notes, the Harold Kaese Collection of the Boston Public Library.

 
34
. Johnson and Stout,
Ted Williams,
113.

Chapter 12: Ted and Joe

 
1
.
New York Times,
December 12, 1951.

 
2
. Roy Blount Jr., “Legend: How DiMaggio Made It Look Easy,” in Okrent and Lewine,
The Ultimate Baseball Book,
206.

 
3
.
Washington Post,
July 6, 2002.

 
4
. George Vecsey, “The Clipper and the Kid,” in Baseball Writers of the
New York Times
and the
Boston Globe, The Rivals,
92.

 
5
. Interview with Eddie Pellagrini, October 22, 2002.

 
6
. Interview with Johnny Pesky, October 7, 2002.

 
7
. Johnson and Stout,
DiMaggio,
166.

 
8
. Halberstam,
Summer of ’49,
175.

 
9
. Golenbock,
Fenway,
243.

 
10
. Associated Press, March 18, 1938.

 
11
.
Boston Herald,
November 11, 1988.

 
12
. Gay Talese, “The Silent Season of a Hero,”
Esquire,
July 1966.

 
13
. Williams with Prime,
Ted Williams’ Hit List,
77.

 
14
.
Boston Herald,
November 11, 1988.

 
15
. Halberstam,
The Teammates,
48.

 
16
.
New York World Telegram,
August 11, 1949.

 
17
. Engelberg and Schneider,
DiMaggio,
94.

 
18
. Interview with Al Cassidy, October 9, 2002.

 
19
. Interview with Dan Wheeler, February 3, 2005.

 
20
. Interview with Jonathan Gallen, May 16, 2005.

 
21
. Interview with Jerry Romolt, July 21, 2004.

 
22
. Interview with David D’Alessandro, February 12, 2004.

 
23
. Interview with David D’Alessandro, May 6, 2010.

 
24
. Interview with Dr. Rock Positano, October 4, 2002.

 
25
. Interview with Alex Sanders, September 29, 2004.

Chapter 13: Korea

 
1
.
Boston Evening American,
December 21, 1951.

 
2
.
Boston Evening American,
January 13, 1952.

 
3
.
Boston Evening American,
October 22, 1951.

 
4
. Interview with Dominic DiMaggio, October 2, 2002.

 
5
.
Boston Daily Record,
January 11, 1952.

 
6
. Ibid.

 
7
.
Boston Daily Record,
January 12, 1952.

 
8
. Giusti, “Mobilization of the Marine Corps Reserve,” 41.

 
9
. Ibid., 42.

 
10
. Interview with Maureen Cronin, May 27, 2003, and March 16, 2005.

 
11
. Williams with Underwood,
My Turn at Bat,
174.

 
12
. Interview with Ted Lepcio, August 20, 2003.

 
13
. Courtesy of Claudia Williams.

 
14
.
Boston Globe,
March 14, 1956.

 
15
.
Boston Globe,
April 1, 1957.

 
16
.
Boston Record-American,
April 2, 1957.

 
17
. Ibid.

 
18
. Associated Press, March 1, 1952.

 
19
. Dillman,
Hey Kid!,
60–62.

 
20
. Interview with Danny Dillman, August 8, 2007.

 
21
. Associated Press, February 8, 1954.

 
22
. Joe Bastarache, a friend and neighbor of Evelyn Turner’s in Blowing Rock, North Carolina, made copies of the letters Ted wrote to Turner available to the author. Most were written from Korea.

 
23
. Interview with Joe Bastarache, October 28, 2003.

 
24
. Interview with Albert Christiano, March 14, 2006.

 
25
. Turner’s manuscript was made available to the author by her guardian, Joe Bastarache.

 
26
.
New York Times
and
Boston Herald,
April 3, 1952.

 
27
.
Boston Daily Record,
May 1, 1952.

 
28
. Cataneo,
Peanuts and Crackerjack,
98.

 
29
.
Boston Herald,
May 1, 1952.

 
30
. Interview with Ken Wood, September 24, 2003.

 
31
.
Boston Traveler,
May 1, 1952.

 
32
. Interview with Raymond Sisk, July 6, 2004.

 
33
. Interview with Bill Churchman, May 11, 2004.

 
34
.
Boston Globe,
May 26, 1952.

 
35
. Interview with Tom Ross, June 29, 2004.

 
36
. Interview with Hoyle Barr, December 14, 2004.

 
37
. Interview with Robert Ferris, December 9, 2004.

 
38
. Interview with Irv Beck, July 8, 2004.

 
39
. Letter from Ted Williams to Evelyn Turner, November 21, 1952.

 
40
. Associated Press, March 26, 1953.

 
41
.
Miami Herald,
December 27, 1952.

 
42
. Williams with Underwood,
My Turn at Bat,
178.

 
43
. Interview with Dick Francisco, December 21, 2004.

 
44
. Sambito, “A History of Marine Attack Squadron 311,” 14 and 25.

 
45
. Scripps Howard in the
Boston Herald,
June 28, 1953.

 
46
. Glenn with Taylor,
John Glenn,
131.

 
47
. Interview with Marvin Hollenbeck, July 8, 2005.

 
48
. Interview with Larry Hawkins, June 29, 2004.

 
49
. David Truby interview with Ted Williams, June 28, 2006. (Truby interviewed Williams about the crash landing and his service in Korea for an August 2006 article in the aviation adventure magazine
Flight Journal.
)

 
50
. Interview with Woody Woodbury, July 9, 2004.

 
51
. Williams with Underwood,
My Turn at Bat,
180.

 
52
. Interview with Frank Venzor, November 20, 2002.

 
53
. Williams with Underwood,
My Turn at Bat,
181.

 
54
. Interview with Robert Veazey, April 7, 2006.

 
55
. Glenn with Taylor,
John Glenn,
130.

 
56
. Interview with John Glenn, October 25, 2004.

 
57
. Interview with Edro Buchser, April 28, 2004.

 
58
. Williams with Underwood,
My Turn at Bat,
183.

 
59
. Ibid., 183 and 184.

 
60
.
Boston Herald, Boston Globe,
and
New York Times,
July 15, 1953.

 
61
.
Washington Daily News,
July 28, 1953.

 
62
. Interview with George Sullivan, April 27, 2005.

Chapter 14: Transitions

 
1
. Interview with John Murphy, May 11, 2004.

 
2
.
Boston Globe,
August 10, 1953.

 
3
.
Boston Globe,
August 13, 1953.

 
4
.
Boston Evening American,
August 12, 1953.

 
5
.
Boston Evening American,
August 17, 1953.

 
6
.
Boston Evening American,
August 18, 1953.