In 1984, I recognized Ted Williams in Cooperstown. Ted and I had a really interesting conversation "talking baseball" and baseball cards.
The following is a pretty accurate recollection of my conversation with Ted. We talked for about 45 minutes.
I started the conversation by telling him that......
ME....."Ted, although I was an avid Yankees fan as a kid in the 1950's, I always rooted for you to hit a HR at Yankee Stadium."
And sure enough, many times I saw him hit a HR....usually up into the RF upper deck.
TED...."If you're a Yankees fan, why did you root for me to hit a HR ?"
ME....."Because your name is Ted; and besides, I always expected the Yankees would win the AL Pennant, anyways."
TED....(he smiled) and asked me...."so, why then are you a Yankees fan ?"
ME....."because Phil Rizzuto was my nearby neighbor in Hillside, NJ"
TED...."if the Scooter was on the Red Sox all those years, we would have been the Champs."
Then I turned the conversation to his BB cards. He was like a little kid....I still remember how enthusiastic he was "talking BB cards".
ME....."are you aware of how rare your 1954 Bowman card is ?" ......and, I showed Ted this card.
TED...."No, but I signed a contract with Sy Berger of Topps in 1954, and no other Gum Co. was allowed to portray me."
Then, without me asking him, Ted went on this long dissertation telling me how Sy Berger was annoyed with him in 1959. Fleer had
approached Ted's agent to do a series of 80 cards depicting Ted's life. Fleer offered Ted $500 for the Rights. Sy Berger countered it
with $1000 for Ted to stay with Topps. Ted started laughing, as he told me that a bidding war between Fleer and Topps ensued.
Finally, when Fleer upped the ante to $5000, Topps relented. There it is folks, the real story behind the 1959 Fleer Ted Williams set....
straight from Ted, himself.
TED...."Just think about it, that was a lot of money back then just for having your pictures on a set of gum cards."
ME....."Ted, you ain't kidding, $5000 was my Dad's annual salary in 1959."
We talked some more as we walked. Then Ted ran into some dignitaries. He offered his hand to me, telling me that he really enjoyed
our conversation.
TED Z
T206 Reference
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