Facing Ted Williams: Players from the Golden Age of Baseball Recall the Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived

by Dave Heller (Editor), Wade Boggs (Foreword by), Bob Wolff (Afterword)

Overview

“The Splendid Splinter,” “Teddy Ballgame,” “The Kid”—no matter the nickname, Ted Williams was one of the most accomplished hitters in baseball history. He was the last man to hit .400 in a single season, a nineteen-time All-Star, a two-time MVP and Triple Crown award winner, and an inductee into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1966 . . . all while serving his country in World War II and the Korean War.

Far from a conventional biography, Facing Ted Williams aims to offer a different perspective with testimonials from teammates and opponents alike on how Williams was regarded among his peers. See Ted Williams through the eyes of pitchers struggling to put a fastball past his bat, the infielders and outfielders adjusting their positions in the hopes that they can fill the hole where a frozen rope might land, and the catchers as they strategize a Williams at-bat, pitch-by-pitch. Facing Ted Williams provides riveting insights from many baseball legends, including:

Bob Feller
Mudcat Grant
Bobby Richardson
Don Larsen
Bob Friend
And many more!
Whether you’re a Red Sox fanatic, a casual baseball fan, or perhaps just an admirer of the fabled war hero and slugger, this book is sure to be a fresh and compelling look at this classic baseball icon. Much like Williams himself, Facing Ted Williams is sure to be a home run for all walks of baseball fandom, so don’t swing and miss!

Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Sports Publishing imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in sports—books about baseball, pro football, college football, pro and college basketball, hockey, or soccer, we have a book about your sport or your team.

Whether you are a New York Yankees fan or hail from Red Sox nation; whether you are a die-hard Green Bay Packers or Dallas Cowboys fan; whether you root for the Kentucky Wildcats, Louisville Cardinals, UCLA Bruins, or Kansas Jayhawks; whether you route for the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, or Los Angeles Kings; we have a book for you. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781613217986
Publisher:	Sports Publishing LLC
Publication date:	03/03/2015
Series:	Facing
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	320
File size:	5 MB
Age Range:	12 - 18 Years

About the Author

Dave Heller spent six years as a freelance writer in Cincinnati, while also appearing in several newspapers (Washington Post) and magazines. He recently spent five years as the lead editor at CBS SportsLine.com and is currently a sports web producer for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and a contributor at Seamheads.com.

Wade Boggs is a former baseball player who spent eighteen years in the big leagues with the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, and Tampa Bay Devil Rays (now known as the Rays). On August 7, 1999, he became just the twenty-third player to record 3,000 hits for a career and the first to do so with a home run. He retired in 1999, finishing his career with 3,010 hits (currently twenty-sixth all-time), a .328 batting average (currently thirty-third all-time), and was elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2005.

Bob Wolff is the longest-running sportscaster in television and radio history, now in his ninth decade behind the microphone. He is the only broadcaster in history to call the play-by-play championships of all four major pro sports, including Don Larsen’s perfect game in the 1956 World Series. He’s enshrined in the baseball and basketball halls of fame, the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame, as well as numerous others. In 2009, the broadcast booth at Nationals Park in Washington was named in his honor.

Table of Contents

Foreword 1

Introduction 9

Section 1 Pitchers 13

Charlie Beamon 15

Ted Bowsfield 18

Dick Brodowski 21

Bob Bruce 23

Art Ceccarelli 25

Gene Conley 28

Glenn Cox 30

Bud Daley 32

Jim Derrington 36

Bob Feller 37

Don Ferrarese 42

Bill Fischer 45

Paul Foytack 49

Bob Friend 53

Ned Garver 57

Jim "Mudcat" Grant 70

John Gray 73

Dick Hall 77

Jack Harshman 80

John James 88

Bob Kelly 90

Russ Kemmerer 93

Marty Kutyna 98

Don Larsen 100

Ralph Lumenti 104

Morrie Martin 106

Bill Oster 109

Duane Pillette 112

Tom Qualters 115

Hal Raether 118

Phil Regan 122

Marv Rotblatt 123

Bob Shaw 132

George Spencer 135

Dick Stigman 139

Wes Stock 140

Virgil Trucks 144

Ozzie Van Brabant 151

Vito Valentinetti 153

Jerry Walker 157

George Zuverink 160

Interviews: 163

Chuck Churn 165

Jerry Davie 166

Sonny Dixon 168

Bubba Harris 170

Don Johnson 171

Don Lee 173

Bob Savage 175

Carl Scheib 177

Bobby Shantz 180

Dave Sisler 183

Section 2 Catchers 185

Del Crandall 187

Hal Keller 190

Hal Naragon 192

Neal Watlington 197

Interviews: 199

Bob Oldis 201

Red Wilson 203

Section 3 Infielders 205

Dr. Bobby Brown 207

Tom Carroll 211

Jerry Coleman 216

Billy DeMars 223

Gail Harris 224

Grady Hatton 225

Randy Jackson 226

Charlie Kress 229

Don Leppert 235

Al Naples 238

Herb Plews 240

J. W. Porter 242

Bobby Richardson 245

Art "Dutch" Schult 246

Jerry Snyder 249

Chuck Stevens 253

Wayne Terwilliger 264

Interviews: 267

Bob Kline 269

Ted Lepcio 270

Gene Verble 271

Section 4 Outfielders 273

Chuck Diering 275

Joe Hicks 277

Jim Landis 278

Wally Westlake 281

Interviews: 283

Joe Durham 285

Jim McAnany 286

Roy Sievers 288

Afterword 291

Acknowledgments 299

Index 301

Editorial Reviews

Now we have something new: A series of reminiscences from the players who battled the great No. 9. . . . In Facing Ted Williams, Dave Heller did yeoman’s work tracking down a range of players, from perennial all-stars to guys whose cup of coffee in the Show was more like a shot of Joe. . . . [A] worthy accessory to the Williams portion of the baseball shelf.”
—Boston Globe

“The value of [Facing Ted Williams] is in the unabashed discussion of Williams’ passion for the game....The result is a fast-paced yet not superficial discussion of the National Pastime’s best hitter. [Facing Ted Williams is] essential for baseball fanatics, [and] should also be perused by fans of all ages.”
—Library Journal, Starred Review)

“There's a neat book out called 'Facing Ted Williams' that's worth checking out if you're a Red Sox fan, Williams fan or just a fan of players talking about baseball from the old days...a fun project by Heller, something different than the standard biography.”
—David Schoenfield, ESPN.com

“What was it like to pitch to the greatest hitter who ever lived? Now we know.”
—Dan Shaughnessy, New York Times bestselling author of Francona: The Red Sox Years

“...the soul of Facing Ted Williams is the stories, and those, like the sweet swing of a Ted Williams’ home run, are delightfully satisfying.” —New York Journal of Books

“A very enjoyable and revealing view—both literally and figuratively—of perhaps the greatest hitter of all time. Even ‘The Splended Splinter’ probably would have been impressed by Dave Heller’s prodigious amount of research.”
—Jack Cavanaugh, author of Tunny, Giants Among Men, and Season of '42

“In this ambitious and engaging project, Heller set out to get the truth straight from the players’ mouths. . . . What also emerges through Heller’s dogged efforts is a scrapbook-style look at the way the game was played in the 1940s and '50s...”
—Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

“As the author of several books on Ted Williams, with a couple of more in the wings, Facing Ted Williams is an idea I wish I’d had.”
—Bill Nowlin, author of So You Think You're a Boston Red Sox Fan? and co-author of Red Sox vs. Yankees

“A penetrating inside look at the 'Splendid Splinter' from those who played against him. Facing Ted Williams is a must-have for fans of baseball’s Golden Age.”
—Glen Waggoner, former editor for ESPN: The Magazine and author of Baseball by the Rules

From the Publisher

A penetrating inside look at the 'Splendid Splinter' from those who played against him. Facing Ted Williams is a must-have for fans of baseball’s Golden Age.

Glen Waggoner

As the author of several books on Ted Williams, with a couple of more in the wings, Facing Ted Williams is an idea I wish I’d had.

Bill Nowlin

In this ambitious and engaging project, Heller set out to get the truth straight from the players’ mouths. . . . What also emerges through Heller’s dogged efforts is a scrapbook-style look at the way the game was played in the 1940s and '50s…

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A very enjoyable and revealing view—both literally and figuratively—of perhaps the greatest hitter of all time. Even ‘The Splended Splinter’ probably would have been impressed by Dave Heller’s prodigious amount of research.

Jack Cavanaugh

…the soul of Facing Ted Williams is the stories, and those, like the sweet swing of a Ted Williams’ home run, are delightfully satisfying.

New York Journal of Books

What was it like to pitch to the greatest hitter who ever lived? Now we know.

Dan Shaughnessy

There's a neat book out called 'Facing Ted Williams' that's worth checking out if you're a Red Sox fan, Williams fan or just a fan of players talking about baseball from the old days…a fun project by Heller, something different than the standard biography.

David Schoenfield

Now we have something new: A series of reminiscences from the players who battled the great No. 9. . . . In Facing Ted Williams, Dave Heller did yeoman’s work tracking down a range of players, from perennial all-stars to guys whose cup of coffee in the Show was more like a shot of Joe. . . . [A] worthy accessory to the Williams portion of the baseball shelf.

Boston Globe

Teddy Ballgame rightly deserves his self-selected title as the “Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived.” Fans still debate what his lifetime stats might have been had he not lost thousands of at-bats while serving in two wars. His greatness has resulted in many books devoted to his career, notably Ed Linn’s Hitter: The Life and Turmoils of Ted Williams, and countless in-depth articles including many negative ones. The value of this new book is in the unabashed discussion of Williams’s passion for the game, beginning with Wade Boggs’s foreword and culminating with an afterword by veteran sportscaster Bob Wolff. In between, Heller (sports web producer, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) arranges the content by position, with an array of pitchers offering their thoughts, followed by catchers, then infielders and a small number of outfielders, all of whom responded to his call for contributions. Great pitchers such as Bob Feller and memorable players such as Yankees’ third baseman Bobby Brown discuss Ted’s well-known determination not to bunt or hit to left field to defeat the famous shift. Along with contributions by the big names are reminiscences of players who enjoyed the proverbial “cup of coffee in the bigs.” The result is a fast-paced yet not superficial discussion of the National Pastime’s best hitter.
VERDICT Essential for baseball fanatics, this should also be perused by fans of all ages.—Gilles Renaud, Cornwall, Ontario

(c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Library Journal