The 1960 Orioles Bid The Kid Adieu

[scOtt]

I have a short bit of video of Ted's HR. At the beginning of "The Play".

<embed width="600" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullscreen="true" allowNetworking="all" wmode="transparent" src="http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf" flashvars="file=http://vidmg.photobucket.com/albums/v340/if6was9/Brooks-THEplay.mp4&title=">

[Il BuonO]

I have a short bit of video of Ted's HR. At the beginning of "The Play".

<embed width="600" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allownetworking="all" wmode="transparent" src="http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf" flashvars="file=http://vidmg.photobucket.com/albums/v340/if6was9/Brooks-THEplay.mp4&title=">

No video here.

[weams]

I have a short bit of video of Ted's HR. At the beginning of "The Play".

<embed width="600" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullscreen="true" allowNetworking="all" wmode="transparent" src="http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf" flashvars="file=http://vidmg.photobucket.com/albums/v340/if6was9/Brooks-THEplay.mp4&title=">

Real good. Thanks.

[Il BuonO]

Another thought on The Kid was his role in race relations in the game. It was part of who he was and the idea that "sports do not ask what a man's color is" and he made remarks to that effect during his speech at Cooperstown when he was inducted into the HOF.

"The other day, Willie Mays hit his five hundred and twenty-second home run. He has gone past me and he is pushing ahead, and all I can say to him is,'Go get 'em, Willie.' Inside this building are plaques to baseball men of all generations, and I'm privileged to join them. Baseball gives every American boy a chance to excel-not just to be as good as someone else but to be better than someone else. This is the nature of man and the name of the game, and I've been a very lucky guy to have worn a baseball uniform; to have struck out or hit a tape measure home run. And I hope that someday, the names of Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson in some way can be added as a symbol of the Negro players that are not here only because they were not given a chance."

Said Buck O'Neil who was in attendance when Ted entered the Hall,"He really got the ball rolling....We all knew it needed saying by someone like him. Regardless of how much we black ballplayers were saying it, it didn't mean much. He said it because it's the way he felt."

[TonySoprano]

No video here.

Here's another video

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lN0uD8F3-QQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Il BuonO]

Here's another video

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lN0uD8F3-QQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>

Classic. Head down, quickly around the bases, touch home plate and into the dugout. Even the handshake at home plate was a no-no according to Bradlee, but on deck hitter Jim Pagliaroni broached protocol and extended his hand. Williams was his idol.

[Il BuonO]

Ted would have loved this.

http://www.hardballtimes.com/optimizing-the-swing-part-deux-paying-homage-to-teddy-ballgame/

[weams]

Ted would have loved this.

http://www.hardballtimes.com/optimizing-the-swing-part-deux-paying-homage-to-teddy-ballgame/

Outstanding.

[Frobby]

My daughter bought me The Kid for Christmas, and I'm looking forward to reading it.

[Il BuonO]

My daughter bought me The Kid for Christmas, and I'm looking forward to reading it.

Bradlee doesn't romanticize The Kid and as I consider him a baseball icon that made parts of it difficult to read. He's completely thorough in his investigation into Williams' life and the scope that encompassed.

I was struck by many things I'd never heard and of course many I had, maybe most surprising was he considered his season batting .388 as a 39 year old more an accomplishment than when he hit .406 early in his career.

Even more gratifying was reading about how few people knew him to be a kind and charitable person because they often saw his tirades on the field or read about them in the newspaper. His charity often was without any fanfare.

One of the better books on a sports figure I've ever read by an entirely capable author.