"A Tribute to Ted Williams"

     I was a pretty lucky kid.  My grandfather Ernie was a Major League ballplayer and he began teaching me the game before I was five years old.  Although he died at an early age when I was just twelve, we went to quite a few games together, along with my father and brother.  I met people like Connie Mack, Joe Sewell and Casey Stengel (a teammate of my grandfather’s in 1924).  It didn’t mean much to me then; it does now.

    One of my earliest memories goes back to a game between the Philadelphia A’s and the Boston Red Sox at Shibe Park (later Connie Mack Stadium) in Philadelphia.  Ernie pointed to a skinny kid in a Red Sox uniform wearing number 9.  Ernie said, “You watch him; that’s Ted Williams.  He is the greatest hitter to ever play this game and there will never be anyone better.”  A few minutes later that skinny kid ripped a line drive into the right field seats that was still climbing when it cleared the fence.  That was more than fifty years ago and I still believe that there has never been a better pure hitter than Ted Williams.

     This piece pays tribute to Ted.  The stuff in the painting is pretty obvious, but I have been asked quite often why the miniature Marine is in the painting.  He is there because Ted did two tours as a Marine aviator, during WW II and the Korean War, which were during the prime of his career.  Can you imagine his numbers if he hadn’t missed those years?

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