'Ted Williams' HBO Documentary Sheds Light on All-Time Great

It's a little more than 10 years to the day since Ted Williams bid his informal adieu to Boston and baseball fans. The all-time great Red Sox left fielder died three years later in 2002 after numerous health complications, but his appearance at the '99 All-Star Game at Fenway Park was one of his final in public, and the one that left the most indelible mark.

Even with the backdrop of Mark McGwire crushing chemically-enhanced blasts over the Green Monster during the Home Run Derby, and Pedro Martinez's maestro act at the height of his prime a night later in the All-Star Game, Williams' farewell was the defining moment of a seminal Midsummer Classic.

Life hasn't gotten any simpler since Williams rode that cart to the center of Fenway Park, adulation from fans in the Hub and All-Stars alike washing over him. Neither has the Splendid Splinter's legacy, as the HBO documentary "Ted Williams," which premieres Wednesday, July 15 at 9:30PM ET/PT, details.

Williams, of course, remains one of the greatest hitters to ever play the game, ranking second all-time in adjusted OPS behind Babe Ruth and first in on-base percentage, but, as the documentary suggests, the bizarre circumstances of his death (he chose to be cryogenically frozen in a controversial informal family pact that was disputed by one of his children in a lawsuit) could cloud how he is remembered, typically by younger fans.

"His nephew said it toward the end of the show -- he's 'the frozen guy' now," Margaret Grossi, the producer of the documentary for HBO said. "We ran into that with a lot of people when we mentioned Ted Williams.

"Hopefully people will remember him as this really well-rounded individual and this really amazing hitter and just see that he was a complex figure in history, but I'm not sure."

Even before he became a sci-fi punchline, Williams' place in baseball lore didn't seem entirely cut and dry.

Teddy Ballgame is certainly in the inner circle -- the pantheon -- of greatest players to ever play the game. But he's also pretty clearly not considered the greatest. In fact, among the elite, he almost seems overlooked at times.

Babe Ruth is the most famous athlete ever. Willie Mays is the greatest living ballplayer. Hank Aaron is the once and, to many, future home run king, a near-constant talking point in any discussion around the game's harmful association with performance-enhancing drugs.

Williams might be the greatest natural hitter ever, and given his feats in the batting average department and his other-worldly on-base percentage, his batting eye remains unmatched to this day. But, other than the .406 season in 1941, those aren't exactly the type of accomplishments celebrated at large with lists of superlatives from baseball fans. (In fact, his propensity to take the free pass got him labeled selfish often in the Boston media.)

In the era of Moneyball and the endless summer of on-base percentage, perhaps there's a bit more appreciation to be found for Williams. Albert Pujols has never matched his .482 career OBP in a single season, and Barry Bonds exceeded that mark just four times in his career -- from 2001 to 2004, when he was allegedly using every performance-enhancing substance Victor Conte and Greg Anderson could shuttle his way. Still, the baseball world doesn't seem to be bursting at the seams with reverence.

Part of it is the fact that he never won a title with the Red Sox. (Of course neither did anyone else for the better part of a century.)

"I think that had he won a World Series [he would have been more appreciated]," Grossi said. "I think that's a lot of the thinking in this country. ... The fact that he was maybe considered a selfish player didn't help him any, but I think even that would have been overlooked had he won a championship.

"I think that really was the missing piece for him. In one way, people thought of him as a war hero, but I wonder in terms of being appreciated in baseball, if that would have been more so if he had had those prime years [he lost serving in World War II and the Korean War]. And would he have won a championship."

The rest of it, at least according to the documentary, is a function of his adversarial relationship with the press, which curried little favor with a public much more swayed by the printed word then than it is now, and that big what if question that drives so many baseball statisticians mad.

What if Ted Williams never had to go World War II or Korea, after all? 600 homers? 700 homers?

"The only thing is, I don't know where you go with what ifs," Grossi said. "I think Ted took the what if and just put it aside. I'm sure he regretted missing those five years (1943-45 and 1952-53), but he just kept moving."

And it is that irrepressibly driven Williams -- the one seemingly impervious to any distraction on a baseball diamond -- that ultimately shines through in the Grossi-produced film.

Closely following his death in 2002, USA Today called Williams a real-life John Wayne. It seems silly to compare any real person, even one as prolific as Williams, to a character actor from the movies, especially one as cartoonish as Wayne.

But then you start putting his life story together.

The home run in his last at-bat at Fenway Park and the two in the 1946 All-Star Game there. The years of military service and the countless hours and untold sums given to the Jimmy Fund. The negotiating of a lower contract for himself with the Red Sox after an off year.

Who does, not just one, but all of these things in real life?

It hardly seems real or human. That's not to say his frailties are glossed over in the documentary. His strained relationship with his children is covered in detail.

In the end their remains this indomitable individual.

"It's cumulative with him," Grossi said. "He's one of those guys where if you read articles from the time, you would think he's just this skinny spoiled brat, but over time all the things he did, they just all added up to make this larger-than-life guy. On top of it all, he was just gorgeous.

"The guy had something inside of him that just kept him going. He just kept it intact no matter what was going on around him. I don't know if we'll see that again."

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

7-15-2009 @ 10:51AM

claytor said...

This guy is easily in the top ten greatest of all time. Period.

7-15-2009 @ 11:42AM

mordess said...

I had the HONOR or seeing him play at Fenway, and despite his hate-hate relationship with the media, it never extended to the kids (which I was) and especially to those with cancer (which thank god didnt include me). He might have spit at the media (who wouldn't?) but when it came time to signing an autograph to some waiting child, he never said no ... for him, baseball was about the kids. And in that category at least he's unmatched ... #1.

7-15-2009 @ 12:44PM

spikeritz said...

The fact that Ted hated the media makes him that much more of a hero. Baseball player, service to his country in time of war and a great work ethic. I don't think of him as the frozen guy, I think of him as someone we would all like to have been. This is a real man, not like SOME of these pampered crybabies today!

7-15-2009 @ 1:41PM

profharold said...

Ted Williams was one of the greatest hitters of all time. A pure ballplayer. Ted also was a Marine. He served his country and flew fighter jets. And he managed to have a great career. He stands above all player (so called players) today!

7-15-2009 @ 1:56PM

DON said...

WOW, THANKS TED ! NOT FOR JUST YOUR BASEBALL ACCOMPLISHMENTS BUT FOR BEINGS MAN ENOUGH TO HELP DEFEND YOUR COUNTRY. YEP, THAT WHAT I CALL A MANS MAN ! WANT A MAN TO EMULATE OR LOOK UP TO . HERE'S A GREAT ONE TO PUT ON THE LIST.

7-15-2009 @ 2:56PM

Wellread said...

Willie Mays the greatest living ballplayer?
Well, maybe retired, if you count out Aaron, and Koufax.
Living, I'd take Pujols.
We'll never know what an unjuiced Bonds would have done. Or Arod.

7-15-2009 @ 9:46PM

Jim said...

No question that Willie Mays is the greatest living ballplayer. Not just hitter, but ballplayer. A full five-tool player who once threw out Maury Wills from the centerfield wall trying to score from third on a sac fly (according to the book, "The Say Hey Kid"). And, of course, there is The Catch. Not to mention a coupke of MVP awards.

When Sports Illustrated listed its greatest players by sports during its first 25 years (1954 to 1979), Willie Mays was the man for baseball. This is not take away from Stan Musial or anyone else, but Mays had all the tools. It was a thrill to watch him play.

7-15-2009 @ 3:12PM

Munro said...

Anyone who makes the comment about Ted Williams that "Still, the baseball world doesn't seem to be bursting at the seams with reverence." doesn't know anything about baseball.

Anyone knowledgeable about baseball knows that the discussion of who was the greatest hitter of all time is between two people - Babe Ruth and Ted Williams. There's a reason that there are only two life-like statues of players that greet you when you walk in to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown - and they are Ted Williams and Babe Ruth.

But the legacy of Ted Williams goes way beyond the baseball field. He flew 38 combat missions in Korea, including a mission during which his plane was hit by enemy fire, but he still managed to land it.

And what says even more about Ted Williams is the statue of him outside Fenway Park. It is a statue of Ted placing his cap on the head of a young boy, signifying all the time he spent working with the Jimmy Fund, a cancer fund for children. What other statue in sports is there that is comparable? None.

Ted Williams was an iconic athlete, a decorated war veteran, and a humanitarian. Ted Williams was a true American hero.

7-15-2009 @ 4:32PM

Andrew said...

You cherry-picked that sentence. It was in relation to the other inner-circle all-time greats. Did you read the rest of my article? Clearly I feel essentially the same way about Williams as you do, despite the fact that I don't know anything about baseball.

7-15-2009 @ 4:39PM

mccarron said...

John Wayne was cartoonish? What's that supposed to mean? Leave the Duke out of it.

7-15-2009 @ 4:58PM

kmsbears said...

with all respect to Willy Mays, I think Stan Musial deserves the title of greatest living ballplayer. When he retired in 1963, he held almost every offensive record in national league history. Seven batting titles. Three world series championsps. Triple Crown. Multiple MVPs. .331 lifetime average. Stan played in a St Louis park where a left-handed pull hitter(like Stan) had to hit a ball over the right-field pavilion roof to hit a home run. He hit hundreds of line shots off the right field wire screen that hung from the roof down to the outfield wall. These all would have been homers in Yankee Stadium and yet, he still ended up with 476 home runs. 1751 hits at home, 1751 hits on the road. Perfect consistency. Averaged less than 50 strikeouts per season. As we always used to say in St. Louis, if Stan the Man had played in NY, people would have said "Joe Who" in deference to Stan's dominance over Joe D.

7-15-2009 @ 6:01PM

Andrew said...

"You cherry-picked that sentence. It was in relation to the other inner-circle all-time greats. Did you read the rest of my article? Clearly I feel essentially the same way about Williams as you do, despite the fact that I don't know anything about baseball."

I did not cherry pick that sentence. Here are a few other of your lukewarm references to Williams:

"Even before he became a sci-fi punchline, Williams' place in baseball lore didn't seem entirely cut and dry."

"Teddy Ballgame is certainly in the inner circle -- the pantheon -- of greatest players to ever play the game. But he's also pretty clearly not considered the greatest. In fact, among the elite, he almost seems overlooked at times. "

"But, other than the .406 season in 1941, those aren't exactly the type of accomplishments celebrated at large with lists of superlatives from baseball fans. (In fact, his propensity to take the free pass got him labeled selfish often in the Boston media.)"

Are you kidding? That is not the way that people who know baseball talk about Ted Williams.

A few samples:

"Ted Williams was the greatest hitter of our era. He won six batting titles and served his country for five years, so he would have won more. He loved talking about hitting and was a great student of hitting and pitchers." - Stan Musial

"The greatest hitter I ever faced." - Bob Feller

"The further we go in the analysis of batting statistics, the closer we come to being forced to accept the conclusion that Williams, not Babe Ruth, was the greatest hitter who ever lived."
(The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract)

And finally, a quote from someone who would rather directly supports the very point I am trying to make:

"For my money, Ted Williams is the greatest hitter of all-time. I'd take him over Ruth, I'd take him over Cobb. I'd take him over Cobb because of the combination of power and average. I'd take him over Ruth because with Ruth, you can only speculate about what he would have done in the modern era. Ted Williams hit .388 at the age of 39 in 1957. He was what few of us ever become; he was exactly what he set out to be. He said he wanted to be able to walk down the street some day and have people say "There goes the greatest hitter who ever lived". And if they don't say that, it's only because they don't know what they're talking about."

- Bob Costas in Ken Burns' 1994 documentary Baseball

I could go on and on with the quotes. Your statements in the article clearly do not reflect the consensus about Ted Williams among those who are most knowledgeable about the game.

7-15-2009 @ 7:01PM

Many smart people consider Ted Williams one of the greatest, if not the greatest, hitters to ever play baseball. I'm talking about casual fans, and in that group of people, I think Ted is often overlooked because Babe is the Babe, because Willie Mays had the spectacular defense and because, now, Hank Aaron has become the de facto home run king to a lot of people.

Go and ask 100 baseball fans at a game who the best hitter ever was, and I bet Ted Williams' name does not come up most often, maybe not even second most often. That is where I think the perception of him suffers next to other all-time greats, not with the "most knowledgeable" baseball minds around, and most certainly not with me.

I'm just trying to understand how a piece where I praise Williams repeatedly is being turned around on me.

7-15-2009 @ 6:32PM

wwwbkbigfish said...

Ted Williams was the man that John Wayne wanted to be. His life was real while the Duke's was contrived and fabricated. Study the history and you will agree. Ted Williams may have been the man that all of us would like to be.

7-16-2009 @ 4:58PM

Big Fish,

what was contrived or fabricated about the Duke's life? From everything I've seen he was an honorable man.

Mac

7-15-2009 @ 7:05PM

Gene said...

"Even before he became a sci-fi punchline, Williams' place in baseball lore didn't seem entirely _cut and dry_ [my emphasis]."

You're far from alone in misstating the last phrase, but your being a writer, I thought you might like to know that it's "cut and dried"--meaning fixed or settled in advance--from the practice of cutting wood and letting it dry thoroughly before burning it.

7-15-2009 @ 7:17PM

lblbc said...

When talking about the greatest players alltime in Baseball, it never ceases to amaze me how Hank Aaron is continually left out of the conversation. He is easily the most underrated superstar in any sport, ever. Forget about the 755 home runs, he STILL HAS 3000 HITS without them (1 of 4 players to have 17 seasons with 150 or more)! He has more hits than ANY righthander in the history of the game(3771 -3rd all time), 2174 runs (4th), 2297 RBI's (most), 6856 total bases (most), 1477 extra base hits (most)career .305 hitter, .982 fielding percentage,3 Gold Gloves, 240 stolen bases, was a World Series champion the same year he was MVP (hit .364 & slugged .600 in 2 World Series) The fact that he set the home run record under the kind of abuse and threats that he received is remarkable itself. His name should fly off the tongue when discussing the alltime greats

7-15-2009 @ 7:45PM

okrhody said...

I grew up watching Ted Williams and am blessed to have done so. Growing up in Providence R.I. we got to see all the home games on T.V. (when baseball was actually played in the daytime) Several trips a year to Fenway were the highlight of my days as a kid. Ted was the greatest and I even had a Ted Williams fishing pole. Every kid wanted to wear #9.