The Kid: The Immortal Life of Ted Williams (129 page)

 
15
.
Time
file.

 
16
. Ibid.

 
17
. Prime and Nowlin,
Ted Williams,
28.

 
18
.
San Diego Tribune,
June 8, 1966.

 
19
. Williams with Underwood,
My Turn at Bat,
41.

 
20
. Linn,
Hitter,
53.

 
21
. In return for one dollar and “other good and valuable considerations,” Williams signed a contract with Hillerich & Bradsby on April 21, 1937, giving the company his trademark rights for twenty years in return for an unlimited supply of bats, paid for by his team. Jack Hillerich, who retired as the bat company’s CEO in 2003, said Williams would be given new golf clubs annually as well as other sweeteners. “Whatever he wanted, he got.”

 
22
. Sampson,
Ted Williams,
28.

 
23
. Robinson,
Ted Williams,
33.

 
24
. Prime and Nowlin,
Ted Williams,
14.

 
25
.
Baseball Digest,
April 1950.

 
26
. Associated Press, April 11, 1939.

 
27
.
San Diego Evening Tribune,
May 4, 1937.

 
28
. Swank,
Echoes from Lane Field,
25.

 
29
. Nowlin,
The Kid,
123.

 
30
. Ibid., 124.

 
31
.
San Diego Union,
August 11, 1936.

 
32
.
Boston Sunday Advertiser,
July 13, 1941.

 
33
.
Time
file.

 
34
. Interview with Johnny Pesky, October 7, 2002.

 
35
.
Boston Sunday Advertiser,
July 13, 1941.

 
36
. Hirshberg,
From Sandlots to League President,
117.

 
37
. Nowlin,
The Kid,
124.

 
38
.
San Diego Union,
October 5, 1941, as cited in Nowlin,
The Kid,
91.

 
39
. Nowlin,
The Kid,
126.

 
40
. Williams with Pietrusza,
Ted Williams: My Life in Pictures,
17.

 
41
.
Time
file.

 
42
.
San Diego Tribune,
June 8, 1966.

 
43
. Swank,
Echoes from Lane Field,
26.

 
44
. Nowlin,
The Kid,
89 and 90.

 
45
.
Boston Globe,
September 8, 1946.

 
46
. Swank,
Echoes from Lane Field,
19 and 20.

 
47
. Ibid., 29.

 
48
.
Boston Globe,
August 13, 1948.

 
49
.
Baseball Digest,
July 1948.

 
50
.
San Diego Evening Tribune,
January 7, 1937.

 
51
.
Boston Daily Record,
February 19, 1948.

 
52
. Interview with Dominic DiMaggio, October 2, 2002.

 
53
. Williams with Underwood,
My Turn at Bat,
42 and 43.

 
54
.
Boston Evening American,
July 16, 1941.

 
55
. Bill Swank, “Ted Williams, Earl Keller, and the 1937 San Diego Padres,” 2003 research paper, 16, 17, and 23.

 
56
.
Boston Globe,
September 8, 1946.

 
57
.
San Diego Evening Tribune,
September 1, 1937, as cited in Swank, “Ted Williams,” 23.

 
58
.
San Diego Evening Tribune,
September 2, 1937, as cited in Swank, “Ted Williams,” 23.

 
59
.
Boston Globe,
December 7, 1937.

 
60
.
Collegiate Baseball,
April 7, 1995.

 
61
. Sampson,
Ted Williams,
13–20.

 
62
.
Christian Science Monitor,
August 11, 1958.

 
63
.
Boston Globe,
March 26, 1954.

 
64
.
Boston Evening American,
July 17, 1941.

 
65
.
San Diego Evening Tribune,
December 8, 1937, as cited in Swank, “Ted Williams,” 27.

 
66
. Williams with Underwood,
My Turn at Bat,
43.

 
67
. Ibid.

 
68
.
Boston Evening American,
July 18, 1941.

 
69
.
Boston Sunday Advertiser,
February 28, 1948.

 
70
.
San Diego Evening Tribune,
February 16, 1938, as cited in Nowlin,
The Kid,
158 and 159.

 
71
. Eddie Collins confirmed to Boston columnist Austen Lake in the February 28, 1938,
Evening American
that he had settled the dispute by giving Sam and May $2,500. “My purpose in visiting the Coast was to settle the Ted Williams affair,” Collins told Lake. “His parents felt they were entitled to part of his purchase price. I handed them a check for $2,500 and it tickled their hearts.”

Chapter 3: Sarasota and Minneapolis

 
1
. Interview with Bobby Doerr, October 14, 2002.

 
2
. Williams with Underwood,
My Turn at Bat,
45.

 
3
.
Boston Evening American,
March 21, 1960.

 
4
.
Boston Herald,
March 10, 1938.

 
5
. Linn,
Hitter,
79.

 
6
.
Boston Herald,
March 10, 1938.

 
7
.
Collier’s,
June 24, 1939.

 
8
.
Boston Post,
March 10, 1938.

 
9
.
Boston Evening American,
March 14, 1938.

 
10
. Associated Press, March 18, 1938.

 
11
.
Boston Post,
March 12, 1938.

 
12
. Harold Kaese notes, the Harold Kaese Collection of the Boston Public Library. (Kaese was the leading Boston baseball writer of his era and covered Williams for the
Boston Transcript
and
Boston Globe
from 1938 to 1960 and beyond.)

 
13
. Interview with Bobby Doerr, October 14, 2002.

 
14
.
Boston Herald,
January 24, 1959.

 
15
. Golenbock,
Fenway,
116.

 
16
. Williams with Underwood,
My Turn at Bat,
47.

 
17
. Ibid.

 
18
.
Boston Evening American,
March 21, 1960.

 
19
. Golenbock,
Fenway,
118.

 
20
.
Boston Traveler,
August 16, 1938.

 
21
.
Minneapolis Journal,
March 21, 1938.

 
22
.
Minneapolis Star,
March 24, 1938, as cited in Nowlin,
The Kid,
165.

 
23
.
Minneapolis Journal,
March 25, 1938.

 
24
. Jocko Conlan and Robert W. Creamer,
Jocko
(Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1967), as cited in Prime and Nowlin,
Ted Williams,
22.

 
25
.
Boston Globe,
December 7, 1959.

 
26
.
Minneapolis Star,
March 29, 1938.

 
27
.
Minneapolis Journal,
April 3, 1938.

 
28
.
Minneapolis Star,
April 11, 1938.

 
29
. Williams with Underwood,
My Turn at Bat,
52 and 53.

 
30
.
San Diego Sun,
May 5, 1938.

 
31
. Seidel,
Ted Williams,
36.

 
32
.
Minneapolis Tribune
and
Minneapolis Journal,
April 22, 1938.

 
33
. Thornley,
On to Nicollet,
69 and 70.

 
34
.
Minneapolis Journal,
April 30, 1938.

 
35
. Ibid.

 
36
. Interview with Sid Hartman, June 3, 2005.

 
37
.
Minneapolis Star,
May 10, 1938.

 
38
. Williams with Underwood,
My Turn at Bat,
53 and 54.

 
39
. Interview with Jack Bean, September 22, 2005.

 
40
. Prime and Nowlin,
Ted Williams,
25.

 
41
. Interview with Jim Kallas, January 24, 2003.

 
42
.
Princeton Union-Eagle,
July 11, 2002.

 
43
. Interview with Frank Weisbrod, July 16, 2004.

 
44
. Dennis Tuttle, “Still Slingin’: The Sammy Baugh Story,” unpublished manuscript, as cited in Prime and Nowlin,
Ted Williams,
20 and 21.

 
45
.
Boston Evening American,
March 8, 1939.

 
46
. Interview with Bill “Lefty” LeFebvre, November 12, 2002.

 
47
. Williams with Underwood,
My Turn at Bat,
49.

 
48
. Golenbock,
Fenway,
121.

 
49
. Johnson and Stout,
Ted Williams,
15.

 
50
. Williams with Underwood,
My Turn at Bat,
48.

 
51
. Undated 1955 Sid Hartman column in the
Minneapolis Tribune;
and the
Boston Globe,
June 8, 1955.

 
52
.
Minneapolis Journal,
September 5, 1938.

 
53
. Linn,
Hitter,
91.

 
54
. Williams with Underwood,
My Turn at Bat,
49–50.

 
55
. Ibid., 50.

 
56
. Ibid., 49.

 
57
.
Boston Globe,
December 7, 1959.

 
58
.
Minneapolis Morning Tribune,
January 29, 1958.

 
59
. Unpublished interview with Donie Bush by
Time
’s Ed Ogle, March 27, 1950.

 
60
. Linn,
Hitter,
92.

 
61
. Williams with Underwood,
My Turn at Bat,
55.

 
62
. Ibid., 55 and 56.

 
63
. Nowlin,
The Kid,
180.

 
64
. Linn,
Hitter,
92 and 93.

 
65
. Interview with Bill “Lefty” LeFebvre, November 12, 2002.

 
66
. Linn,
Hitter,
92 and 93.

 
67
. Undated 1955 Sid Hartman column in the
Minneapolis Tribune.

Chapter 4: Big Time

 
1
.
Boston Herald,
March 8, 1939.

 
2
. Ibid.

 
3
.
Boston Post,
March 7, 1939.

 
4
.
Boston Evening American,
April 14, 1939.

 
5
.
Boston Evening American,
March 8, 1939.

 
6
. Harold Kaese notes, the Harold Kaese Collection of the Boston Public Library.

 
7
. Unpublicized Cramer–Williams brawl. The Cramer–Williams fight was witnessed by the late Charles Caliri, then a Boston high school baseball standout who was attending a tryout staged by the Red Sox for local prospects. As related in an interview with Caliri’s brother, Victor Caliri, on September 12, 2007.

 
8
.
Boston Globe,
March 10, 1939.

 
9
.
Boston Daily Record,
March 15, 1939.

 
10
. Dawidoff,
The Catcher Was a Spy,
119.

 
11
. Ibid., 98 and 105.

 
12
.
Boston Transcript,
March 22, 1939.

 
13
. Associated Press, July 13, 1939.

 
14
.
Boston Evening American,
March 22, 1960.

 
15
.
Boston Globe,
April 2, 1939.

 
16
.
Boston Globe,
April 3, 1939.

 
17
. Williams with Underwood,
My Turn at Bat,
60.

 
18
. Interview with Phil Wilkinson, March 2, 2005.

 
19
. Interview with Bettye Roberts, October 29, 2005.

 
20
. Interview with George B. Daniels, November 1, 2005.

 
21
.
Boston Globe,
April 6, 1989.

 
22
. Interview with John Harrington, April 7, 2005.

 
23
. Interview with Ralph Ford Jr., November 1, 2005. (Ford died on February 7, 2008.)

 
24
. Interview with John Harrington, April 7, 2005.

 
25
. Interview with Wallace Hampton Lawrimore, November 7, 2005. (Lawrimore died on May 4, 2009.)

 
26
. Williams with Underwood,
My Turn at Bat,
60 and 61.

 
27
. Undated Williams interview with Dick Hackenberg of the
Minneapolis Star,
the winter after the 1939 season.

 
28
. Williams with Underwood,
My Turn at Bat,
61.

 
29
.
Boston Globe,
April 22, 1939.

 
30
.
Boston Herald,
April 23, 1939.

 
31
.
Boston Evening American,
April 27, 1939.

 
32
. Interview with Elden Auker, July 14, 2005.

 
33
. Williams with Underwood,
My Turn at Bat,
75.

 
34
. Ibid.

 
35
. Ibid., 76 and 77.