Ted Williams arrived in Boston as a 20-year-old full of vim and vigor, making his debut April 15, 1939, in an exhibition game against the crosstown Braves.
His first Fenway Park appearance came six days later, with a single and an RBI in five at-bats against the Philadelphia Athletics.
Over the next 21 years, Williams gave Boston and the Red Sox quite a show a man from an uneven family background who flashed his temper, lent much time to charity and became the last .400 hitter.
He hit baseballs, flew jets during the Korean War and cast fishing lines everywhere. He even used a shotgun to shoot pigeons at Fenway, drawing the wrath of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
The charismatic Williams made for great copy.
As noted in Ted Williams: A Portrait in Words and Pictures, Williams was "the perfect subject" for Boston's newspaper circulation wars in which more than a dozen daily papers in and around the city fought for readers.
While his batting feats were noteworthy, authors Richard Johnson and Glenn Stout say "Williams' complex, multilayered personality was ripe for analysis. And Ted found it impossible to shut up."
Early on, the fans got involved, with many becoming disenchanted with Williams' inability to take advantage of the bullpens built just for him after his rookie year.
It was now 380 feet down 22 feet to straightaway right field, and New Englanders expected more shots landing in Fenway's new "Williamsburg" section. Instead, he was benched in 1940 by manager Joe Cronin amid falling production (his Fenway homer total dropped from 14 in 1939 to nine in 1940), lapses in the field and a surly disposition.
Criticism poured in, and Ted took note. ("I always kept up with my critics," he admitted in his 1969 autobiography, My Turn at Bat.)
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Fenway's finest: 'The Splendid Splinter'
Recommendation and review posted by G. Smith
