Frank Thomas

Notable Sports Figures
“Serena Williams: Biography.” Tennisrulz.com. http://
www.tennisrulz.com/players/swilliams/biography.
htm (January 19, 2003).
“Serena Williams Biography—Part I.” William Hill
Wimbledon 2002. http://wimbledon.willhill.com/
serena_williams_1.htm (January 19, 2003).
“Serena Williams: Career Highlights.” ESPN.com.
http://espn.go.com/tennis/s/wta/profiles/swilliams.
html (January 19, 2003).
Ted Williams
1918-2002
American baseball player
Sketch by Don Amerman
Baseball player Ted Williams—nicknamed the Splendid
Splinter, Thumper, and Teddy Ballgame—has
been called one of the two greatest hitters of all time,
along with Babe Ruth. Over his nineteen seasons with the
Boston Red Sox, Williams had a .344 batting average,
even though he lost nearly five seasons in his prime to
service as a combat pilot in World War II and the Korean
War. Williams, a left-handed batter, was known for his
perfect swing and 20/10 eyesight. He would not swing
at bad balls and therefore was often walked by pitchers.
This talent contributed to his yet-unbroken record of
bases on balls, at .482. Williams was also outspoken and
hot-tempered and did not cater to fans and sports writers.
Yet, he was a staunch supporter of children’s charities.
He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in
1966. Williams made news of a different kind after his
death in July 2002, when his son reportedly shipped
Williams’s body to Arizona to be cryogenically preserved
in order to harvest the great player’s DNA.
Young Ball Player
Theodore Samuel Williams was born August 30, 1918,
in San Diego, California, the son of Samuel Steward
Williams, who ran a passport photography shop, and May
Venzer Williams, a woman of some Mexican heritage who
worked for the Salvation Army. Young Ted played baseball
after school until dark and even took his bat to school to
practice. In junior high, the tall, lanky youth played American
Legion baseball and played on the Herbert Hoover
High School team. He developed a talent for judging good
and bad pitches as a teen and did not hesitate to walk if the
balls were not worth striking at. He later said, “Getting on
base is how you score runs. Runs win ball games.”
Williams played his first professional games with the
minor league San Diego Padres, in 1936. The following
Ted Williams
Williams
season the Padres sold him to the Boston Red Sox, where
he spent the rest of his career. As a young player, he was
extremely cocky and had a violent temper, often smashing
things when he got angry. He was a perfectionist at
hitting, and he practiced constantly, even in hotel rooms,
where he smashed a bed and a mirror with his powerful
swing. A contemporary of the great Joe DiMaggio of the
New York Yankees, Williams was batting .400 in 1941, at
age 23, his third season in the major leagues. When his
manager offered him a chance to sit out a doubleheader
on the last day of the season and preserve his batting average,
Williams declined. He played the games, getting
six hits and finishing with a .406 average, leading the
Red Sox to a second-place finish behind the Yankees.
DiMaggio was voted the American League’s Most Valuable
Player (MVP) that year, but Williams won the first
of six American League batting championships. He also
won the first of his four home run titles.
In 1942, Williams won his first American League
Triple Crown, when he finished the season with a .356
batting average, thirty-six home runs, and 137 runs batted
in (RBIs). However, the peak of his career would
soon be interrupted by war.
Military Service and Continuing Career
At the end of the 1942 season, Williams became a
fighter pilot and flight instructor in the U.S. Marine
Corps, during World War II. He served through 1945
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