Did Ted Williams inspire any folk songs?

Subject: Did Ted Williams inspire any folk songs?
From: GUEST,Nomar G.
Date: 08 Jul 02 - 03:46 PM

Did Ted Williams inspire any folk songs? I know Bob Dylan immortalized the late Catfish Hunter with his song "Catfish". Certainly Paul Simon's brilliant "Where Have You Gone, Joe Dimaggio" lyric resonates in everybody's head for all eternity. There was a great number called "Willie, Mickey, and The Duke" that came out a few years ago.

Did ol' Teddy Ballgame ever inspire the folksinger's muse?

Subject: RE: Did Ted Williams inspire any folk songs?
From: GUEST
Date: 08 Jul 02 - 03:52 PM

Neither "Catfish" or "Mrs Robinson" are folk songs

Subject: RE: Did Ted Williams inspire any folk songs?
From: Fortunato
Date: 08 Jul 02 - 03:52 PM

I don't know about Ted Williams, but Jeff Dietchman wrote a great song about Shoeless Joe Jackson.

Subject: RE: Did Ted Williams inspire any folk songs?
From: SharonA
Date: 08 Jul 02 - 04:16 PM

Well, if Williams's life wasn't enough to inspire a folk song, perhaps his after-death story will be, especially as it involves his children, one of whom is named John Henry...


From the Associated Press:

FREEZING FEUD Ted Williams' Kids Battle Over Whether to Freeze Baseball Great's Body
By Jimmy Golen, The Associated Press

B O S T O N, July 8 — The daughter of baseball great Ted Williams says she is fighting with her half brother to keep her father's body from being frozen in a cryonics lab. Bobby-Jo Ferrell, Williams' daughter with his first wife, said she plans to "rescue" her father's body from an Arizona cryonics company.

Ferrell said over the weekend that someone at Hooper's Funeral Home in Inverness, Fla., told her that Williams' body had been moved on Friday to Scottsdale, Ariz. She would not identify the person. Ferrell said her half brother, John Henry Williams, had her father's body moved from the funeral home to Alcor Life Extension Foundation, where bodies are frozen after death. Ferrell accused her half brother of planning to freeze and preserve their father's DNA, perhaps to sell in the future.

"I will rescue my father's body," she told The Associated Press late Saturday night. "Me and my attorney are working on that." Ferrell told the Sunday Boston Globe that she planned to seek a restraining order today to prevent her father's body from being preserved at Alcor....

No funeral will be held according to [Ted Williams's] wishes. Two memorial services are planned on July 22 at Fenway Park in Boston. Ted Williams' attorney, Eric Abel, did not return a phone call Sunday, but had previously refused to confirm or deny that cryogenics was a possibility....

Ferrell said her brother brought up the idea of freezing their father's body, or a part of it, after his health took a turn for the worse last year. She said she told him it was immoral and against her father's wishes.

Copyright 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Subject: RE: Did Ted Williams inspire any folk songs?
From: GUEST,Cryonics Boy
Date: 08 Jul 02 - 06:03 PM

Wow. That's eerie. Is there life after death?

Subject: RE: Did Ted Williams inspire any folk songs?
From: catspaw49
Date: 08 Jul 02 - 06:35 PM

I've been following the story of Williams' after death experience and it's a mess as you can tell from the above. But of Ted Williams himself? No song I recall although I would have thought if he wanted he could have had one written.......the lad did have an ego.

On the other hand, he was probably the purest hitter baseball ever saw. He was in both WWII and the Korean War and so lost a total of 7 years out of the prime of his career. With those years added back and based on other performances, the .400 hitter would likely have held almost all of the hitting records. His swing was faultless and he was capable of putting the ball where he wanted it to go. You don't get a hit almost 4 times out of every 10 unless you have great bat control. He had a charisma that was a bit different and he never felt he owed much to the fans although many still loved him. Both before and after his retirement he was also able to gain very lucrative endorsement deals, probably the first ballplayer to get such big bucks for his name. He may well have been one of the very first, if not THE first to see baseball as a business and not a game.

His attitude though often turned many off, myself included, and he lacked that spirit that kids saw back then in someone like Mickey Mantle. He refused to tip his hat to the crowd after hitting a home run in his last at bat......Mickey would have rolled on the ground and danced around in glee.   All the same though, he was a wonder to watch with a bat. Goodbye Ted, but I'll not tip my cap to you either.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Did Ted Williams inspire any folk songs?
From: gnu
Date: 09 Jul 02 - 06:46 AM

The first time I met Ted, I was fishing a pool on the Main Southwest Miramichi and when I saw him coming through the reeds, I finsished working the pool and sat down for lesson in casting. I had watched Ted from the other side of the river many times and he was a vision with a fly rod which few could equal.

He said that I needn't stop on his account. I replied that I was a beginner and would like to watch him work the pool in order to try pick up some of the technique to improve my casting. He said he had been watching me while coming down the trail and figured that might be a good idea. Yeah, it hurt a little, but it was the truth.

He went back up the bank to make his way to the head of the pool and fell on the slippery trail. Yes, he could hit and, yes, he could cast a fly, but, man oh man, could he swear. He issued forth profanity which was akin to poetic for nearly a whole minute and never once repeated himself. By the end of the day I was casting, and swearing, much better.

Subject: RE: Did Ted Williams inspire any folk songs?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 09 Jul 02 - 10:08 AM

The only thing I recall from hearing his obits is that the reporter was surprised that people didn't recognize his greatness at the time, but of course it wasn't until now that we could tell that his record stood!