Ted Williams: The Biography of an American Hero

Not being a Boston Red Sox fan, I for decades had been denying the greatness (or trivializing it) of Ted Williams. This book changed that as fast as a Williams line drive whizzing past my ear. I went from denial to fan boy in a couple chapters. I am now a full fledged card carrying member of the All Time Teddy Ballgame fan club. The book is incredibly well written. Terrific insider stories and nuanced profile of the real legend. The subject is so facinating in that his pursuit of perfection made him the very best at everything he touches, from baseball to fishing and business all the way to the hall of fame. The hitting legend is dissected, the grumpy relecutant superstar revealved, the complex relations with family exposed. The intimate nature of the stories makes this a world class book. The miltary service detail in the book also reveals Williams to be truly worthy of his "Amercian Hero" status. Considering he spent his prime years in service of our nation, only to return to beaeball to perform at ALL WORLD levels as the very best this nation had to offer truly make this a very satisfying read. Terrific book about an American legend.

Ted Williams is most deserving of an excellent biography and in Leigh Montville, he could not have found a better biographer. This has to be the definitive biography of one of baseball's finest sluggers, and it certainly is one of the best I've ever read. Williams was a fascinating, complicated person, with larger-than-life positives and flaws. Montville, who interviewed more than 400 people in his research -- gives us a portrait that is almost painful in its thoroughness. There is hardly an aspect of Ted's life that the author does not explore, nor does he pull any punches about the people who populated Williams' life. He particularly skewers Ted's son, John Henry, whose tawdry, opportunistic and cynical behavior disgusts the reader. It was John Henry who engineered the obscenity of having Ted's body frozen, clearly against his will, and stored even today in an Arizona cryogenic warehouse. There is no sports biography like this one -- at least none I've read -- and even if you are not a baseball fan, you will be held prisoner by this book to be freed only after you read the last page. Montville has written a great book about a great sports figure.

He was a scientist like Einstein, only his laboratory was the batter's box. He may have practiced his swing as much as Horowitz caressed his piano. If the English language was a piece of dynamite in Churchill's mouth, the 32 1/2 ounce piece of ash he held in his grip created an explosion when it struck a horsehide sphere on its sweet spot.Ted Williams became exactly what he wanted to be, claiming for all to hear, "When I walk down the street, I want people to say, "There goes the greatest hitter of all time." And he was and still is. Many people aspire to greatness, but to yearn to be the greatest at anything? Imagine Shakespeare emoting, "When I stroll down the road, I wish the populace to exclaim, "There goes the greatest playwright of all time." History is full of great military commanders with egos the size of some of the countries they conquered, but none of them, at least publicly, expressed a desire to be known as the greatest. And the debate over who exactly was the foremost military leader in history would be endless for the number of candidates. Oh sure, Muhammad Ali, especially when he was just Cassius Clay, declared himself the greatest fighter "of all times." But there was a comic artistry to that bravado, with an eye towards increasing the gate of his next fight.Williams was serious.Hitting was serious. During his failed three years as a big league manager, he benched his hottest hitter for three days because the player had kidded Williams about his ability to teach hitting.The statistics, and events in his life, roll off the tongue of the knowledgeable baseball fan. The 521 home runs, the .406 batting average when he was young and the more astonishing .388 when he was old, really old. He lost about five years of his career to serving in two wars, flew in Korea as John Glenn's wingman, and crash landed after his plane was hit, refusing to eject because he thought his legs would break. Three failed marriages and three children hindered his lifestyle until he found happiness with a woman six years older than he, after he had twice scorned her for two other marriages. There was a long physical decline, and a hideous placement at death in a cryonics laboratory, engineered by his disgusting and money grubbing and probably unbalanced son.Ted Williams excelled at everything he found interesting, fishing, hunting, photography. He became such an expert pilot in World War II that he became a flight instructor. But anything that did not interest him, he dismissed as a waste of time, such as the finer points of baseball. Once, when he managed the Washington Senators,bored with the debate between two of his coaches on how to execute cutoff plays from the outfield, he blurted out, "Ah, the hell with it. Let's go hit." In the case of human beings like his wives and children, he pretty much ignored them when they didn't fit into his daily routine, or ripped into them in fits of rage.He was cursed with rabbit ears, refusing to tip his cap at Fenway Park after homers because fans would sometimes boo. Williams hated most of the Boston sportswriters of his era, and they hated him back.He was a loner who unlike DiMaggio, had real friends, but separated them into categories. Fishing friends did not mix with baseball friends, baseball friends did not mingle with Boston friends or Rhode Island friends or Florida friends.Essentially left to his own devices by a mother whose dedication began and ended with the Salvation Army, he was a latchkey kid 40 years before that term was coined. There was in Ted Williams a spirit and sometimes spite, of the untamed animal.He did what he wanted to do when he wanted to do it. And said what he wanted to whenever he felt like it. He was loud, crude, unbelievably profane, and yet sometimes remarkably, and quietly, generous, kind and caring. As a father he was a bush leaguer, but he slept all night alongside a dying child who would not let go of his finger. He was not religious, blaspheming God like a constant drumbeat, yet often committed selfless acts in the spirit of Christian charity. It was No. 9, at his Hall of Fame induction, who spoke of the injustice of segregated baseball that, until he criticized it, had locked great players who happened to be black out of Cooperstown. Teddy Ballgame was a complex, selfish and kind man. What the psychologists can make of that is up to them.Leigh Montville wrote this fine biography, but he and his editor should have used more tact. It was not necessary to spend 100 pages describing in excruciating detail the last descending eight years of Williams' life, nor the dispute among his three children over what to do with his remains. And there was no need to include in the book the picture of the semi-comatose, frail Williams, shrunken and unrecognizable, at his last public appearance,his heir grinning behind the dying man's wheelchair. More sensible minds and kinder hearts at Random House would have understood that the dying deserve digniity even after they leave this life. Taste is not Montville's strong point, nor that of his publisher.But for the baseball player, there is this most important lesson to learn, whether he plays in his father's backyard, the sandlot, or even if he wears a major league uniform. Get a good pitch to hit.

Have always been a Ted Williams fan. This book goes into detail regarding many facets of Ted's life that I was previously unaware of. I recall seeing Ted play in a doubleheader against the Cleveland Indians ( some social do-gooder will probably soon insist that the name be changed) During which the Boudreau shift was employed with all fielders on the right side of the diamond with the exception one in shallow left field. Bob Feller (100 MPH) pitched one of the games, struck him out once and Ted hit HR in same game. This is an excellent book that describes many incidents such as the above. In my mind he played during the golden age of baseball.

Best baseball book I have read, incredible writing with color and detailed stories. Fantastic read for all history or sports fans

It's all there- subtantial detail about all the good and bad of this tremendously talented, very famous, interesting and complex man. The book is well written and very entertaining. I couldn't put it down and finished it in 3-4 days. It covers all stages of Williams' life. I liked the fact that it covered a lot of his post-baseball life.I especially liked the interviews with and anecdotes from many of the players from Williams era, as well as his friends, ex-wives and associates. I grew up in the 50s, so I could relate to many of these players and their comments. The only negative is that it could have had less detail on the intracies of fishing- since I'm not a fisherman.The book is probably the best baseball biography I've ever read.

Leigh Montville's biography of Ted Williams is compelling reading. Williams was a complex, driven individual who sought perfection within himself often at the expense of alienating others. He was a "man's man"--a military hero and a baseball hero who led a life where conflicts were plenty but admiration was just as commonplace. Montville's superbly reaserched biography captures the essence of Wlliams, all his positives and all his warts. This is required reading for serious baseball fans.

What a great book about a great man.Not your normal sporting hero, but a man of the times for the times

perfect

My husband enjoyed the book