Frank Thomas

Notable Sports Figures
Ted Williams, swinging bat
about my first 300 home runs—who the pitcher was, the
count, the pitch itself, where the ball landed.” His eyesight
was legendary—it was said he could read the label
on a spinning record and distinguish between a fastball
and a curve ball as the ball approached the plate.
Retirement and Hall of Fame
Williams retired at the end of the 1960 season, at age
42, batting .316 that year and finishing his career with a
home run. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of
Fame in 1966, along with famed baseball manager Casey
Stengel. Williams showed his refreshing humanity when
he read a speech he had written in a motel room the
night before. He said being elected to the Hall of Fame
was “the greatest thrill of [his] life.” He also said,
“Ballplayers are not born great. . . . No one has come up
with a substitute for hard work. I’ve never met a great
player who didn’t have to work harder at learning to
play ball than anything else he ever did. To me it was the
greatest fun I ever had, which probably explains why
today I feel both humility and pride, because God let me
play the game and learn to be good at it.”
Manager and Fisherman
Williams took over as manager of the Washington
Senators in 1969 and was named American League
Williams
Manager of the Year. He stayed with them when they became
the Texas Rangers in 1972. He then retired to the
Florida Keys and pursued his love of fishing, specializing
in tarpon. He served as a sporting goods consultant
to Sears department stores, designing fishing equipment.
After suffering three strokes in his seventies that left
him partially blind, he remained active in sports, campaigning
to get Shoeless Joe Jackson inducted into the
Hall of Fame. Williams was cheated out of approximately
$2 million by a partner dealing in sports memorabilia
during the 1980s; his signature was forged on bats and
other souvenirs. Williams’s son, John Henry, ferreted
out the forgeries and started a business selling authentic
Ted Williams memorabilia. In 1994, Williams opened
his own baseball museum in Hernando, Florida, adding
the Hitters Hall of Fame in 1995, complete with his own
annual Greatest Hitters Award. The museum is known as
“the Cooperstown of the South.”
Figure of Honor
As Williams aged, he became a revered figure in
Boston. The city named a tunnel for him, and in 1999 he
was saluted at the All-Star Game with a special ceremony
in which the star players from both leagues gathered
around him on the pitcher’s mound at Boston’s Fenway
Park. Among those honoring him were Cal Ripken, Jr.,
Tony Gwynn, Mark McGwire, and Ken Griffey, Jr.
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