Where Have All the .400 Hitters Gone ?

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Posted By: Ted Zanidakis

Thanx Peter for your analysis on Ted's career and what could
have been. Ted was one of my favorite's from when I was a 10
year old. At that age I figured any BB player named Theodore
was OK with me. And, as you know I grew up as a Yankee fan. We
all did in our neighborhood, since Phil Rizzuto lived just two
blocks away.

Actually, one of Ted's famous comments to the "media" was.....
"if the Red Sox had Rizzuto at SS all those years, we would've
been the Champs".

Your last comments regarding what kind of person Ted really was
reminds me of an 1/2 hour conversation I had with him at a BB card
show in 1984. Actually, he did most of the talking. I started
with the subject of his 1954 Bowman card (which I showed him).
And, he changed the subject to the 1959 FLEER cards that portrayed
him in an 80-card set.

I will never forget his youthful enthusiasm as he told me about
the bidding war that Topps and Fleer engaged in for the rights
to portray Ted on their BB cards. Sy Berger (Topps Gum Co exec)
was an avid Williams fan, and of course Topps had the exclusive
rights to Ted from 1954 to 1958.

So, Fleer approached Ted with a $500 offer to have the exclusive
rights to do a story on him. Sy Berger called Ted and raised the
offer to $1000 to keep him with Topps. Well, Ted gleefully said
that a bidding war started and when it was ended Fleer won out
and they paid Ted $5000. Ted concluded our conversation with a
hearty laugh as he said....."I couldn't believe these guys were
paying me that much money just to print some silly little BB cards
of me. Hey, that was a lot of money back then, just think about it."

I would like to add to what you said Peter.....Ted was a really
great human being.