The Kid: The Immortal Life of Ted Williams

Whew! It has taken me two weeks to pioneer my way through this detailed biography of Ted Williams authored by Ben Bradlee, Jr. but the effort was worth it. We now have had two five star biographies on Williams, the other by Lee Montville entitled "Ted Williams". Both are worth your time. If you want to know practically everything you care to know and more about Teddy Ballgame than Bradlee's book "The Kid" would be the book to read. Some may feel they are being told more than what would interest them because Bradlee goes into great detail about the several wives of Williams in addition to his children and step-children. In addition there is a detailed hassle regarding Ted being "stored" in the Alcor facility in Scottsdale, Arizona, that may be belaboring to some readers.Ted Williams was a man of many mood swings which may have dated back to his childhood where his mother was a dedicated worker with the Salvation Army and pretty much ignored him as did his father as well. Williams could be profanely abusive to people including his many wives and others who crossed his path. He, no doubt, could be very difficult to live with. On the other hand he could be very gentle with youngsters and would go out of his way to be of assistance to others who were in need. It was the great Rogers Hornsby who gave Williams the advice to "get a good ball to hit." Red Sox clubhouse man Johnny Orlando tagged Williams with the nickname "The Kid.".Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey was often beloved by his players. He did, however, run a house of prostitution in South Carolina in which he, himself, took advantage of. We have often heard of "The curse of the Bambino" in which the Bosox failed for so many years to win a championship due to their shipping Babe Ruth off to the Yankees in 1920. However, the real curse lies in the lap of owner Tom Yawkey who wanted nothing to do with having an African-American player on the team. The Sox turned down both Jackie Robinson and Willie Mays in a tryout. Can you imagine those two in addition to Williams in the Hub's lineup at the same time during the 1950s? Yawkey and bigoted manager Mike "Pinky" Higgins have only themselves to blame for Boston's lackluster teams during that golden decade of the '50s.Author Bradlee gives ample coverage of Ted Williams' military career. Ted was a flight instructor in World War II and had more interest in flying than in playing wartime baseball in the army. He was disappointed to say the least in being recalled to fight in the Korean War as a fighter pilot. However, his military career was exemplary and exhibited well-disciplined behavior.Williams' greatest thrill in baseball was his walk-off home run in the 1941 All-Star game. He batted a disappointing .200 in the 1946 World Series but he had suffered an injury to his elbow by a pitched ball prior to the start of the Fall Classic.A biography on Ted Williams would not be complete without a detailed coverage of his fishing exploits with his favorite locations being the Florida Keys, the Islamorada in the Upper Keys, and the Miramichi River in New Brunswick, Canada.Ted toyed with the idea of quitting in the mid-1950s until a fan named Ed Mifflin convinced him to continue playing so he could achieve milestones that were within his reach. The book covers anecdotes of several Red Sox players such as Don Buddin, Sammy White, Ted Lepcio, and Milt Bolling all of whom I remember from my baseball cards of the 1950s and my following of the Detroit Tigers.This book is a massive effort by author Ben Bradlee, Jr. which took him a decade to bring to fruition. It also includes three separate sections of photographs. If you want to know most everything about Ted Williams' life then this would be the book to read. If you want another five star biography on Ted Williams which will provide you with less detail then I would suggest you read Lee Montville's book entitled Ted Williams. Both are outstanding.

This well researched book on the life of Ted Williams stands alone in quality of sports biographies. Mr Bradlee spent 10 years researching the life and career of Ted and this work is a masterpiece.Bradlee starts with the history of both sides of Ted's family and Ted's childhood with parents who paid him scant attention. The scars from his upbringing affected Ted the rest of his life in both positive and negative ways.The author is able to bring to life the complexities of Ted, at times a cocky, self assured 19 year old phenom who is also plagued by self doubt and shyness. A man who seemed to at times shun the demands of public fame while at other times seeking out the adulation of fans. A man who made friends easily, but also could viciously attack his friends and lovers as he lost control of his temper. In some ways a misogynistic narcissist he also devoted himself tirelessly to charity drives for sick children (the Jimmy fund) and countless personal visits to hospitalized children of which he insisted that the press not cover.He was in many ways a very disciplined hitter , who knew how to wait for his pitch, yet at other times he let his temper get the best of him even while playing the game. He could be insolent in refusing to run out fly balls and indifferent to his shortcomings as a fielder. But boy could he hit, said by many to be the best pure hitter of the game, he combined a life time .344 average with over 500 home runs despite missing parts of 5 seasons due to military service.In this well researched book I learned so many things about Williams. For instance the fact that he was half Mexican from his mother's side of the family. I also learned that he reluctantly went into the service in world war 2 and was downright furious at being recalled for Korea. Despite his reluctance he was an excellent pilot and performed heroically during his 39 combat missions in Korea.This is a long book and so it has the luxury of delving into Ted's personal relationships with his wives and children. A full chapter is devoted to his well known feud with the Boston press and his problematic relationship with the fans of Boston. Every professional season of Ted's career is covered in detail, down to individual series against other teams and turning points. His Marine career is covered in detail especially his service in WWII. Bradlee has conducted 100s of interviews from people who knew Ted in the many varied parts of his life – from being a ball player , to a pilot, to a fly fisherman to a business man. The amount of research is just stunning.The final 300 pages of this 800 page tome cover Ted's life post active career. I've never read a sports biography that devoted that much space to that phase of an athlete's life. Bradlee get's to the heart of Ted's relationship with John – Henry , his only son. And the grotesque family feud over what happened to Ted's remains after he died. I found the final 300 pages on this phase of Ted's life to be just as interesting as his playing career. When one reads this part of the book you will come away with an appreciation for the difficulties children of legends have in establishing their own identities and the complexities of parent-children relationships.I heartily recommend this book for anyone interested in understanding one the greatest players to ever play the game. If I could find a similar biography on DiMaggio I would read it in a second. If anyone has any suggestions on a good DiMaggio biography let me know.

Too much of Ted Williams family. I want to read about Ted. His son was a terrible person . Wouldn’t recommend

A no-holds barred look at the life of Ted Williams. Fascinating account of his life, good and bad; hero, mythic and tragic.Great hitter, maybe the greatest. Angry man, maybe the angriest.

Well researched and extremely detailed book about the greatest hitter in baseball history.Prompt service from Amazon as well.

All OK

This is one of best among the few books I have readThis person was all-America and was my hero when I about seven years

exactly as shown. perfect condition.