[zeprock]

Last year I read The Kid: The Immortal Life of Ted Williams on the recommendation of DrMitchJ. It was more than 800 pages but I learned a lot about Ted Williams as a person and not just as a ballplayer. Man, was he surly. He came across as a narcissistic jerk to the press and many of his own admirers but then again he would sneak into children's hospitals and spent hours with sick children and slip out unnoticed, discreetly paying their entire medical expenses in the process. His son, who I actually met on one occasion related here in an earlier post on this thread, was a bit of a jerk too and took full advantage of Ted in his later years all in an effort to pad his own inheritance. All that set aside, "The Splendid Splinter" was Boston's baseball hero and self-proclaimed greatest hitter who ever lived. A two-time MVP, two-time Triple Crown winner and six-time Batting Champion, Ted finished his career with a .344 batting average and 521 home runs even though he lost several prime years to military duty. I've got 383 Beckett recognized cards of Ted in my collection and I've already posted up scans of a lot of my vintage Ted cards but I went through my collection and here are nine more.

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1958 Topps #321 Sluggers Supreme/Ted Kluszewski/Ted Williams (Ted shares this card with fellow slugger, Cincy's Ted Kluszewski.)
1958 Topps #485 Ted Williams AS
1959 Fleer Ted Williams #70 T.Williams/J.Thorpe (Here his is pictured with the great athlete Jim Thorpe.)

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1959 Fleer Ted Williams #75 Williams' Value to Sox (Here he's pictured with Hall of Famers Eddie Collins and Babe Ruth.)
1959 Fleer Ted Williams #79 Where Ted Stands (He's in Bangor, Maine standing next to Paul Bunyan. Bunyan is a legend here in Maine due to our lumbering history. There is a huge statue of Paul Bunyan in Bangor that you can find photos of online. My brother, a friend and I sat on Paul's foot one night watching a parade of blue lights on Main Street until the police came and questioned us until they were convinced that we had no clue what was going on and were just watching.)
1961 Nu-Card Scoops #439 Ted Williams/(Hits .406)

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1970 Topps #211 Ted Williams MG UER
1971 Topps #380 Ted Williams MG (The next year Ted became the first manager in Texas Rangers history.)
2005 Zenith Epix Purple Moment #20 Ted Williams