Even though he was hurt, Ted was absolutely crushed that he performed so poorly.
You can say what you want about his antagonistic relationship with the Boston media-and I certainly think a lot of it was deserved. But Teddy Ballgame never made any excuses. He felt he let the team down. The Red Sox wouldn't have sniffed that lone World Series without him.
When he had a subpar 1959 due to neck issues, he refused a raise to come back for the '60 season, accepting a one year deal for what he was paid in '59. He refused to go out on a down note, came back, and absolutely destroyed the baseball. At age 41, he hit .316, and slammed 29 home runs in 310 AB. He OPS'd .1.096, good for a 190 OPS+.
I'll always wonder what Ted would have done if he'd come back for the 1961 campaign, with two new teams in the AL. He hit .388 in 1957, and if he was healthy, with that watered down pitching, and only playing about 100 games, I wonder if he could have approached .400 again.
Of course, then he'd have to go deep in his final at bat again. 
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