The day the Slpendid Splinter went away and never came back was the saddest day in the history of baseball. His last hit was a towering 500 foot home run. He went out in a style that seems quite ironic to his final bow. Because he would turn in his proverbial grave if he ever found out that his son believed chryogenically freezing his celebrity father was a proper way to turn a profit, more important than letting him die a dignified death. A soldiers death. A Hall-of-Famers death. A man who was rail thin and believed that physics and finesse were the answers to hitting the ball over the fence, not large muscles and brute force. The day Ted Williams died....those who loved him wept tears of sorrow and loss, the Splendid Splinter is gone but he is not forgotten. For those who said no to "The Babe" and laughed in the face of Mickey Mantle moving his way up the organ transplant list just so he could get one last swig out of a bottle. We salute the real father of the long-ball. If Ted wanted people to remember him for all the right reasons he wouldn't want the legions of adoring fans to forget his tours of duty in both World War II and Korea. We know the truth. Ted's statistics would have been even more impressive if he hadn't been part of the Greatest Generation and lose nearly 6 seasons in his hitting prime just so he could be one more American Hero. Mr. Williams flew fighter jets just as well as he could swing a baseball bat. Sport and Baseball enthusiasts, fans of the game, find me a better man than the one spoken of here! For Teddy Williams will forever be that little boy standing in the middle of some San Diego train track swinging a pillow as if it were a Louisville Slugger, driving some poor high heater into the grand stands of eternal greatness.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Great Men in History: Ted Williams (A Eulogy)
The day the Slpendid Splinter went away and never came back was the saddest day in the history of baseball. His last hit was a towering 500 foot home run. He went out in a style that seems quite ironic to his final bow. Because he would turn in his proverbial grave if he ever found out that his son believed chryogenically freezing his celebrity father was a proper way to turn a profit, more important than letting him die a dignified death. A soldiers death. A Hall-of-Famers death. A man who was rail thin and believed that physics and finesse were the answers to hitting the ball over the fence, not large muscles and brute force. The day Ted Williams died....those who loved him wept tears of sorrow and loss, the Splendid Splinter is gone but he is not forgotten. For those who said no to "The Babe" and laughed in the face of Mickey Mantle moving his way up the organ transplant list just so he could get one last swig out of a bottle. We salute the real father of the long-ball. If Ted wanted people to remember him for all the right reasons he wouldn't want the legions of adoring fans to forget his tours of duty in both World War II and Korea. We know the truth. Ted's statistics would have been even more impressive if he hadn't been part of the Greatest Generation and lose nearly 6 seasons in his hitting prime just so he could be one more American Hero. Mr. Williams flew fighter jets just as well as he could swing a baseball bat. Sport and Baseball enthusiasts, fans of the game, find me a better man than the one spoken of here! For Teddy Williams will forever be that little boy standing in the middle of some San Diego train track swinging a pillow as if it were a Louisville Slugger, driving some poor high heater into the grand stands of eternal greatness.
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1 comment:
Good call on the Splinter
He also had the distinction of being widely considered as the world's greatest fly fisherman, a fact my father reminds me of every time we fish.
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