More than the greatest hitter

I never had the pleasure of watching Ted Williams play -- he retired almost a year before I was born -- but as my knowledge, appreciation and love of the game grew, so did my reverence for the greatest hitter who ever lived.
You should know he was the last man to average .400 for a season, doing so in 1941. His average entering the final day of the season was .39955, which rounded off would have given him the magical number. He was given the chance by his manager to sit out; instead, he played both games of a doubleheader, went 6-for-8 and finished the season at .406.
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Williams is one of only two major leaguers to win the Triple Crown twice -- leading his league in average, home runs and RBIs. Rogers Hornsby of the St. Louis Cardinals also did so in 1922 and 1925.
Williams accomplished his Triple Crowns in 1942 and 1947 -- in his last season before joining the Marines during World War II, and in his second season after returning from the military.
Williams almost won the Triple Crown a third time, in 1949, but lost out for the batting crown by less than a percentage point to George Kell of the Detroit Tigers.
But the greatness of Ted Williams goes beyond the numbers.
He was a player reviled by the Boston media ... and loved by the fans. Even when they got on him -- he was booed off the field in one game in 1956 and responded by spitting three times on his way into the dugout -- eventually they came back to love him. Another year, he responded to a bad at-bat by throwing his bat; it ricocheted into the stands and hit a woman. She forgave him, but the writers never did.
Williams was once described as a "big kid" in a story; the writer probably meant to be derisive, but it was around children that Williams, much like Babe Ruth, felt most at ease.
He was tireless in supporting the Jimmy Fund, a Boston foundation that supports research of children's diseases. His only requirement in doing so was that no newspaper cameras be present.
Passions
Williams' passions, though, until his death, remained baseball (specifically hitting) and fishing.
Williams was troubled by injuries during the 1959 season and batted only .254. Remarkably, he took a pay cut during the off-season. In 1960, he batted .316 and hit 29 home runs, almost three times as many as the previous season.
Can you imagine a player today accepting a pay cut? He would probably be ostracized by the union.
Shelby Whitfield was the radio voice of the Washington Senators from 1969-71, when Williams was the manager.
Whitfield's book "Kiss It Goodbye" chronicled those years. He wrote of a man who, in his early 50s, was probably the best hitter on the team. The realization that his players didn't have the same commitment to the game as he did eventually wore him down. In his final season, the team won just 54 games.
Williams' greatness was never more evident than in July 1999, when he returned to Fenway Park for All-Star Game ceremonies and was greeted by a long and emotional standing ovation. And not only by the fans.
Williams was joined by future Hall of Famers Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken Jr., who both admitted they had tears in their eyes when the Splendid Splinter was introduced.
Tears will surely flow in the days to come, as Williams is remembered and then laid to rest.
More importantly, we should remember the joy he brought to millions of fans. And although there was more to Ted Williams than just a ballplayer, there's little doubt he'll be remembered as "The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived."
XRob Todor is sports editor of The Vindicator. Write to him at todor@vindy.com.