61 years ago today - Ted Williams' last home run

[tedzan]

Hi Scott (scooter729)......Really great story.

I'm a Yankees fan since 1947, mainly because my nearby neighbor 2 blocks away was Phil Rizzuto. Forward to 1984, when I met Ted Williams in Cooperstown on HOF weekend.
We had a great conversation for an hour. I started by telling him......"as a very young Yankees fan I always rooted for you to hit a HR in the RF upper deck at Yankees Stadium"
Which he did quite often back in the 1950's.
Ted looked at me seriously and said....."I don't undertsand, why did you root for me, since you are a Yankees fan ?"
I replied....."Because your name is Ted (like mine), and it didn't matter because I knew the Yankees would win the Pennant, anyway". Ted cracked up laughing.
And then, he became very serious as he said to me....."If the "Scooter" was on our team all those years, we may have been the American Lge. Champs instead of the Yankees."
Ted really admired the way Rizzuto played the game.





TED Z

T206 Reference
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[scooter729]

Thanks for sharing, Ted - must've been a great experience to have such a conversation with Williams!

I was fortunate enough to have one chance to meet him - at an autograph show in Boston in 1988. As a 14 year old, I thought it was crazy to spend $20 to get an autograph, but my dad insisted I would appreciate it someday. As always, Dad was right.

[DeanH3]

What a great story! Really cool to have such a personal connection to that event. Only if he had not missed so much time to Military service. I think sometimes Williams gets a little lost in the All Time Greatest conversations.

[JollyElm]

What a frickin' cool event to have a tie to, and your dad appearing in ink the next day to boot??? Come on now!!! Awesome story!!!!

1954bowman66tedwilliams.jpg

[ALR-bishop]

[daves_resale_shop]

A rain check!

[GasHouseGang]

The bookends of the 1954 Topps set.