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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.357092
EAN num: 9780767913201
ISBN number: 0767913205
Label: Broadway
Manufacturer: Broadway
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 560
Printing Date: March 15, 2005
Publishing house: Broadway
Release Date: March 15, 2005
Sale Popularity Level: 53883
Studio: Broadway
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He was The Kid. The Splendid Splinter. Teddy Ballgame. One of the greatest figures of his generation, and arguably the greatest baseball hitter of all time. But what made Ted Williams a legend – and a lightning rod for controversy in life and in death? What motivated him to interrupt his Hall of Fame career twice to serve his country as a fighter pilot; to embrace his fans while tangling with the media; to retreat from the limelight whenever possible into his solitary love of fishing; and to become the most famous man ever to have his body cryogenically frozen after his death? New York Times bestselling author Leigh Montville, who wrote the celebrated Sports Illustrated obituary of Ted Williams, now delivers an intimate, riveting account of this extraordinary life.
Still a gangly teenager when he stepped into a Boston Red Sox uniform in 1939, Williams’s boisterous personality and penchant for towering home runs earned him adoring admirers--the fans--and venomous critics--the sportswriters. In 1941, the entire country followed Williams's stunning .406 season, a record that has not been touched in over six decades. At the pinnacle of his prime, Williams left Boston to train and serve as a fighter pilot in World War II, missing three full years of baseball. He was back in 1946, dominating the sport alongside teammates Dominic DiMaggio, Johnny Pesky, and Bobby Doerr. But Williams left baseball again in 1952 to fight in Korea, where he flew thirty-nine combat missions—crash-landing his flaming, smoke-filled plane, in one famous episode.
Ted Willams's personal life was equally colorful. His attraction to women (and their attraction to him) was a constant. He was married and divorced three times and he fathered two daughters and a son. He was one of corporate America's very first modern spokesmen, and he remained, nearly into his eighties, a fiercely devoted fisherman. With his son, John Henry Williams, he devoted his final years to the sports memorabilia business, even as illness overtook him. And in death, controversy and public outcry followed Williams and the disagreements between his children over the decision to have his body preserved for future resuscitation in a cryonics facility--a fate, many argue, Williams never wanted.
With unmatched verve and passion, and drawing upon hundreds of interviews, acclaimed best-selling author Leigh Montville brings to life Ted Williams's superb triumphs, lonely tragedies, and intensely colorful personality, in a biography that is fitting of an American hero and legend.
Amazon.com Review:
Leigh Montville's Ted Williams: The Biography of an American Hero is the definitive biography that baseball fans have been waiting for. Montville, who was a sports columnist for the Boston Globe and then a senior writer for Sports Illustrated is an admitted Red Sox and Williams fanatic, and his passion for his hero rings clearly from every page, along with his clear baseball expertise. But Montville does not hide Williams's flaws. The young Williams was temperamental and justified bad behavior with batting prowess that could excuse just about anything. Quick to anger, 'the Kid' had a gift for foul language, too.
Montville's study offers insides accounts of Williams's obsessive development as a hitter and his constant struggle to perfect his swing (mistakenly called 'natural' by sports writers with little understanding of his extensive preparation). The chapter on 1941, perhaps the greatest year in his career, draws on research and interviews never before published. Montville lets whole passages stand uninterrupted--from Williams's manager, Joe Cronin, from his teammate Dom DiMaggio, and from other players and baseball officials who tell the story of Williams's quest for a .400 batting average. The tale of the final day of the season (when he refused to be benched and went six for eight in a double header to jump from .39955 to his final total, .406) is as pulse-pounding as any thriller.
Alongside its essential focus on Williams's baseball life, the book also delves into his military service during both World War II and the Korean War, his passion for sports fishing, and his commitment to helping children through the Jimmy Fund. Finally, Montville devotes a chapter to the controversy after Williams's death, exposing the back-and-forth among Williams's heirs in the bizarre decision to freeze his body in a cryogenic warehouse in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Montville's biography makes a good case that Williams was, if not the greatest hitter ever to play the game, certainly among them. For his focused, scientific approach to hitting, Williams is unmatched in the history of the game. His life, marred perhaps by a temper and occasional immaturity that soured his reputation in Boston, is one of true sports greatness. Early in the book, Montville argues that Williams is less appreciated yesterday than he might be because he played out most of his 19-year career in the era before televised highlights. But with Montville's efforts to capture first-hand accounts of Williams's achievements, The Splendid Splinter's legacy is assured. --Patrick O'Kelley
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Rated by buyers 
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Ted was one of my childhood heros. I wanted to know more about him, and this bio served that purpose well. It deals thoroughly with his baseball history, and less thoroughly with other parts of his life. For instance, I would have liked to know a lot more about his fishing trips. Nonetheless, this is a satisfying book, and I enjoyed the read very much.
Rated by buyers 
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I tip my hat to Leigh Montville in his historical biography of Ted Williams which should remain as a classic in the chronicles of Baseball History.
From Ted's humble childhood in San Diego to his exploits at Fenway Park to his heroism as a Marine fighter pilot are scenarios of legend.
In Baseball, he took the art of hitting and made it a science. His exploits of 1941, when he became the last Major Leaguer to bat over 400 was indeed incredible. He really is the only player to do this in the live ball era. Hitters such as Ty Cobb were only Punch and Judy hitters of the Dead ball Era.. The only batsman to hit a ball both for power and average during the Dead Ball Era was Joe Jackson. In summation Ted Williams represents the epiphany of the modern day slugger.
Second his service to his Country in World War II and the Korean War shows a man of determination and resolve. He never really got into combat in World War II but did serve as a Marine pilot.
Later when he was called to service in Korea he saw his share of combat. As I see Ted Williams, he was more of a John Wayne than John Wayne. He served and didn't complain. His brother Major Leaguer Bob Feller was of the same ilk!
Upon his return he continued to do what he did best. He hit the baseball. With all his service to his country he still was able to hit over 500 home runs. His batting average was still remarkable. In fact it remains the 3rd highest in the history of baseball.
He took on the responsibilities of being a major league manager with the Washington Senators. He found that his prow ness as a batter didn't translate into a manager of great aptitude.
In life after baseball he became a Hall of Fame fisherman. His exploits in his married life were a failure. His love of Country and the game of baseball stayed with him throughout his life. In the end he was a true American Hero!!
Rated by buyers -
Leigh Montville paints a brilliant portrait in words of the man who wanted to be remembered as the greatest hitter who ever lived. Ted Williams deserves to be on the short list of baseball's greatest hitters, and he easily deserved his hall of fame induction, where he was the very first prominent white man to publicly call for recognition for negro leaguers Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson.
Ted WAS a great hitter, and he had many other desirable qualities as well, giving generously of his time and money to charity and serving his country TWICE during the peak of his baseball powers, losing five major league seasons to WWII and Korea. We can only speculate how many more hits and homers Ted might have had if not for those lost years.
But Montville shows us the warts as well. We see an arrogant young Ted who cared ONLY about hitting and only took the field because that got him his turn at bat. He considered pitchers contemptuously and Montville gives several examples where the great hitter gave priority to HIS individual achievement over less important matters, such as his team winning.
Gifted with an extraordinary mind, Ted was nonetheless minimally educated and when he had opportunities to "get away with things" because of how well he could hit, Ted took every opportunity.
I agree with another reviewer who wrote that Ted's career is not chronicled as well as his later years. The last hundred pages are about the pathetic final years of the great hitter's life when son John Henry used his father's name and money to finance one failed business venture after another. After Ted's death Montville describes John Henry's nearly desperate efforts to have Ted frozen at a cryonic center in Arizona, for the speculative reason that there might still be another buck in it for John-Henry. In a cruel twist of fate, John-Henry was stricken prematurely with leukemia and joined his father in frozen perpetuity.
To present a biography of such a man is a daunting task, and Montville succeeds admirably. No doubt some of the unwieldy nature of this volume comes as a result of the volumes of research done by the author and an unwillingness to pare the passages that could use a prune.
Universally acknowledged yesterday as one of baseball's greatest - the last man to hit over .400 and one of the small number of players with over 500 home runs - before steroids and with five years lost to the Marines, Ted nonetheless had the personality that made baseball writers, for example, choose Joe Gordon as MVP in 1942, even though Ted won the triple crown, leading the league in batting average, home runs and runs batted in. How ticked off would the writers have to be to give such an award to someone else when you've led the league in EVERY major hitting category? Ted Williams did that to some people.
A baseball hero - but a cautionary tale also of a man who was often not a role model.
Rated by buyers -
Leigh Montville's biography of Ted Williams is exhaustive in its analysis of one of baseball's greatest hitters. At times childish and self-absorbed, but always focused upon his art, Ted Williams emerges as a troubled genius in this wonderful book. Some of the anecdotes about Williams' intensity evoke a character who loves a few things in life to obsessive delight while ignoring almost everyone and everything else. An absolute master in the science of hitting a baseball, Williams loves his talent and nourishes it in a way that illuminates how beautiful, powerful, and fragile is the human desire to achieve greatness. A must for baseball fans.
Donald Gallinger is the author ofThe Master Planets
Rated by buyers -
From the beginning, Ted Williams was a larger than life personality - a great player on the field, the last baseball player to hit over .400 - and a player off the field as well, married three times, but never to the true love of his life. His antics on and off the field were legendary, as were his breaks from baseball to serve in both World War II and Korea. And, of course, his relationship with his children, especially son John Henry, led to headlines long after his career and life were over.
"Ted Williams: The Biography of an American Hero" by Leigh Montville is a wonderfully written look at the colorful Williams. Montville covers all aspects of Williams's life, from his childhood and troubled relationship with his parents (especially his mother), his career in Boston, his tumultuous relationship with Boston sports writers, his life after baseball, his troubled relationship with his children, and of course his controversial freezing after his death. Williams was a complex man and Montville does his best to show what made Williams tick. It's not an easy task, Williams was prickly and had two sides to his personality - the public Ted and the private Ted. By the end of the book you will both love and hate Williams - you'll love the public Ted that associated so well with fans (at least off the field and especially the young ones - Williams was instrumental in helping the Jimmy Fund, which supports young cancer patients, get off the ground) and hate the private Ted, who made life difficult for those around him.
For the most part, Montville is objective in his writing, treating both the private Ted and public Ted even-handedly and making no excuses for his behavior. But his objectivity slips near the end of the book when he discusses Williams's son John Henry. It's clear that Montville doesn't like John Henry. As much as your feelings for Ted may waver throughout the book, by the end you can't help but feel sorry for him and the way his family treated him the last few years of his life.
"Ted Williams: The Biography of an American Hero" is an interesting look at a complex man.
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