Good-Bye, Teddy Ballgame

[flyhi 24]

For those who don't know it, we lost a great one today. Ted Williams, a baseball player with the Boston Red Sox died at the age of 83. He was a gutsy player who, they say, lived for his next time at bat. He was the last player to hit .400 in the majors, and he did it with style.

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In 1941, Mr. Williams achieved a feat that has not been equaled since: He hit .400. Actually, he hit .406, along with 37 home runs and 120 RBIs and a slugging average of .648. A measure of the confidence, that often in his life passed the line to arrogance, occurred on the last day of the 1941 season.

The Red Sox were scheduled to play a double header that day and Mr. Williams was taking a batting average of .39955 into that game. Red Sox manager Joe Cronin pointed out to Mr. Williams that he could sit out the final day and the year's average would be rounded up to .400. Mr. Williams refused to end the race that way. He played both games and went 6-8.

He became the youngest player, at 23, to ever hit .400. He also managed the feat with a "sacrifice fly rule" that counted the fly as an "out." Now, it is not scored as an official at-bat.

He seemed to shrug the achievement off, telling reporters that "If I was being paid $30,000 a year, the least I could do was hit .400."

At the end of his career, he had 521 home runs. Not bad for any player, but quite a feat for one who took off three years to fly for the Marines during WW II, and another two years for the Korean Conflict. He flew 39 "combat" missions in Korea. They say he came back in one plane that was shot up so bad, it wouldn't fly again. That would be enough to rattle anyone, but he was back on the flightline the next day. Quite an American.

I think Teddy Ballgame would have made a great skydiver.

Shit happens. And it usually happens because of physics.

[slotperfect 7]

Fair winds and following seas . . .

Arrive Safely

John