Paul O’Neill Book Excerpt: A Memorable Chat With Ted Williams

I knew my sister, Molly, a reporter for The New York Instances, was scheduled to interview Ted about meals, fishing, and clearly, somewhat baseball, too. When Molly instructed me about this, I used to be in awe that my older sister was poised to talk with one of many best hitters of all time. I jokingly instructed Molly that I used to be struggling and that she ought to inform Ted I wanted some recommendation. Nonetheless, I by no means anticipated Molly’s go to to Ted’s house would lead to him contacting me. This all introduced me again to being the boy whose proud father had instructed him his swing was paying homage to Williams’s swing. I couldn’t match Williams’s swing or his accomplishments, however I used to be giddy about speaking to the person himself.

To this present day, even with my sister’s connection and her mild or forceful nudging, I’m nonetheless amazed that Ted was keen to name me. I used to be much more amazed when Ted stated, “I wager you’re not hitting the ball the opposite approach.” That remark gave me goose bumps as a result of it confirmed that Ted knew the way in which that I needed to hit to be productive. To achieve success, I wanted to search for pitches on the center or exterior a part of the plate and hit the ball to the alternative area. So, the legendary Ted Williams — a pull hitter who was additionally gifted sufficient to regulate and hit the ball up the center or the alternative approach — knew my strategy.

“You realize what?” I replied. “You’re proper. I’ve been getting out on my entrance aspect too shortly.” A minute into the dialog, I used to be already making an attempt to course of how surreal it was that Ted Williams — the Ted Williams — was evaluating me as a hitter. Ted received six batting titles, two M.V.P.s, made nineteen All-Star groups, was the final man to hit over .400 (in 1941), and completed his phenomenal profession with a .344 common, 521 homers, and an all-time file .482 on-base share. He was the hero who additionally paused his profession twice to serve our nation in World Warfare II and the Korean Warfare. And he was speaking to me about hitting! It was such an inspirational and nerve-racking name as a result of I used to be absorbing each phrase Ted uttered. However I additionally felt like there have been 100 questions I wanted to ask earlier than the voice of God hung up. I didn’t wish to interrupt him, so I let him information the dialog and, certain sufficient, Ted stated one thing that made me smile and made me really feel like I had achieved one thing proper as a hitter.

“Don’t let anyone change you,” Ted barked.

As a lot as any hitting recommendation I’ve ever obtained, these phrases resonated with me as a result of they aligned with how I at all times felt. A cussed and severe hitter, I used to be devoted to my strategy of swinging degree and elevating right into a slight uppercut to hit line drives. I believed in that swing and nonetheless consider in it. Listening to Williams say a hitter shouldn’t let anybody change him was one of many highlights of the decision and was one thing I may have listened to all day.

Actually, I ought to have anticipated Ted to emphasise that as a result of it’s what he had written in “The Science of Hitting,” his seminal ebook during which he dissected essentially the most tough factor to do in sports activities: hitting a baseball. I don’t bear in mind the primary time I picked up the ebook, however I do bear in mind being enamored with it. There’s an image of Ted on the quilt, his entrance foot barely lifted, his eyes centered on the baseball, and physique language that screams, “I’m about to crush this pitch.” Ted wrote that Lefty O’Doul, who hit .349 in his profession, instructed him, “Son, no matter you do, don’t let anyone change your model. Your model is your personal.” Ted obeyed. So did I.