Theodore Samuel Williams

Theodore Samuel Williams , also called The Splendid Splinter, was a Baseball Hall of Famer who spent 19 seasons, twice interrupted by military service, with the Boston Red Sox. Williams was a two-time Most Valuable Player (MVP) winner, led the league in batting six times and won the Triple Crown twice. He had a career batting average of .344, with 521 home runs. An avid fisherman, he hosted a television show about fishing, and was also inducted into the Fishing Hall of Fame. Williams was born in San Diego, California as Teddy Samuel Williams (he later changed his name to Theodore), in honor of Teddy Roosevelt. Early in his career, he stated that he wished to be remembered as the "greatest hitter who ever lived". Many experts believe that he indeed achieved this goal. His two MVP Awards and two Triple Crowns came in different years. Along with Rogers Hornsby, he is one of only two players to win the Triple Crown twice. In 1941, Williams entered the last day of the season with a batting average of .3996. This would have been rounded up to .400, making Williams the first man to hit .400 since Bill Terry in 1930. His manager left the decision whether to play up to him.

In 1970 he wrote a book on the subject, The Science of Hitting; revised (1986), which is still read by many baseball players. He lacked foot speed, as attested by his career total of 24 stolen bases, one inside-the-park home run, and one occasion of hitting for the cycle. He felt that with more speed he could have raised his average considerably. Despite his lack of range in the field, he was considered a sure-gloved fielder. Williams served as a US Marine pilot during both World War II and the Korean War, serving in the same unit as John Glenn in the latter. These absences in the prime of his career significantly reduced his career totals. He retired from the game in 1960 after hitting a home run in his final at-bat, an accomplishment immortalized in The New Yorker essay "Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu", by John Updike. Williams, who had been on bad terms with the Boston newspapers for nearly twenty years and had enjoyed frosty relations with the Boston fans, characteristically refused either to tip his cap as he circled the bases or to respond to the prolonged cheers of "We want Ted" from the crowd. As Updike noted, "Gods do not answer letters." After retirement from active play, Williams served as manager of the Washington Senators and Texas Rangers during the 1960s and early 1970s.

An avid and expert fly fisherman and deep-sea fisherman, he spent many summer vacations after baseball fishing the Miramichi River, in Miramichi, New Brunswick, Canada. After suffering a series of strokes and congestive heart failures he died of cardiac arrest in Crystal River, Florida. A public dispute over the disposition of Williams' body was waged after his death. Announcing there would be no funeral, John Henry Williams, Ted's son by his third wife, secretly had Ted's body flown to the Alcor Life Extension Foundation in Scottsdale, Arizona, and placed in cryonic suspension. Fearing John Henry was planning to sell their father's DNA for possible cloning, Barbara Joyce Ferrell, Ted's daughter by his first wife, sued, saying his will stated that he wanted to be cremated (it should be noted that any such intention would not require cryonic suspension). John Henry's lawyer then produced an informal family pact signed by Ted, John Henry, and his sister, Ted's daughter, Claudia, in which they agreed "to be put into biostasis after we die." The dispute was resolved on December 20, 2002 when Ferrell withdrew her objections after a judge agreed that a $645,000 trust would be distributed equally among the siblings. The Ted Williams Tunnel in Boston, Massachusetts was named in his honor while he was still alive.