My Times With Ted
Posted on June 7th, 2009
It was a great honor to have this man as a friend. I spent lots of time around Ted Williams over the years and was able to know him in ways you don’t read in books. For example: nobody really talks about how funny he was. He had a great sense of humor. I thought here at the camp site and also on the Ted Williams League website I might be able to bring a smile to someones face with some stories of my times with Ted. So here is my first time with Ted…
I’m 8 years old on the streets of Boston throwing balls up and down the hot summer asphalt with my older brother Rick. We used to play in the school yards and a place called the Blakey. Which was a patch of grass big enough for little kids to play pick up baseball. It featured (and still does) a statue of William Blake from Dorchester, Massachusetts who fought bravely in the Cival War. William Blake later was very helpful and admired in politics.
I didn’t like baseball that much then it was too slow. I would much rather climb stuff and ride my bike. But Rick liked it and was always recruiting me for games with his friends. To make along story short I went to Sears & Roebuck with my parents who were shopping. Rick and I went off to the sporting goods department and started looking at stuff to kill time. I remember seeing Ted’s signature on everything bats, gloves, balls, tents, weights, fishing stuff and hunting stuff too. I remember asking my brother who Ted Williams was? I had no idea who Ted Williams was! Ted Williams was completely off my radar.
Rick’s response (though I can not remember it exactly) was that I was stupid and that I smell. (This was Rick’s response to most my questions.)
Today I have a saying… there is life in what you don’t know.
by Steve Ferroli
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