The Kid: The Immortal Life Of Ted Williams (2013) - Plot & Excerpts
A friend of mine suggested that I should read about the legendary baseball player, Ted Williams. I'm not into the sport at all and reading about athletes or celebrities doesn't interest me. I'm not a media hound and can careless about stats, but reading about "The Kid" immediately caught my interest. I managed to finish the book in six days, while my friend has been pacing along for four months. Of course I'm getting the information in audio, but that is still over 35 hours of listening and paying attention. Ted Williams could be the most interesting man in the world besides being the best player in baseball. I pretty much fell asleep when Ben Bradlee Jr. laid out his baseball career and stats, but I was so interested in his life. Like how he fought in two wars and became a pilot in the Korean War. He was a very generous to strangers, charities, and especially kids with Cancer and forming the Jimmy Fund, but he was a bastard with his wives and children. His behavior is not uncommon with superstars even today. They treat strangers better than their own family, maybe it's a sense of pride or being in the public, but Ted Williams was a modest man when he gave so much to others in need.The death of Ted Williams is a weird story. Unlike his wishes, the family decided to freeze his head in a cryogenics lab. He is frozen in time and maybe the Kid will be back and will be teaching on how to play ball. Maybe we will see him on a phone application and his mind will still be coaching.At the end of his life, I couldn't help feeling sorry for the guy. His estate was ruin by his son, John Henry, which later died from leukemia. John Henry took advantage of his father's wealth and fame and tarnish his name, but like the great baseball player that his father once was, many fans will always see Ted Williams as "Splendid Splinter."I highly recommend this book, even for those who doesn't like baseball like myself. As another season of MLB just started, I wished that I was more involved with the sport, but I never had any interest in sitting through nine innings or keeping stats on my favorite player. I didn't even collect baseball cards when I was a kid, but I'm really glad that I read about Ted Williams way beyond the diamond. There is one major flaw in the audiobook. If you decide to download this book from Audible, you can't download the pdf companion. I've contacted Audible and Hachette Audio and they haven't resolved this issue yet. The audiobook does not reference back to the pdf file, but it would been nice to see what was missing. In this extremely well researched biography, Mr. Bradlee gives us a warts and all look at one of Baseball’s iconic figures. This is not just a baseball book; the author gives a complete look at his life starting with Williams' childhood, growing up in San Diego and for all practical purposes abandoned by his parents. His mother was a Salvation Army worker and all her time and effort was spent saving souls, not raising her two children and his father was a drunk and often worked out of town. Bradlee continues the story through his death and the controversy surrounding the disposition of his remains looking at the good in the man as well as the bad.In telling the story of Williams life Bradlee shows how he grew as a ball player and in many ways did not grow as a person. All his life Ted had an explosive temper that he really never learned to control. Bradlee gives countless examples of this. It fueled his legendary feuds with the Boston sports writers and his at times rocky relationship with the Red Sox fans. His temper also greatly affected his relationships in his personal life, both friends and family. Bradlee quotes Williams in his late life admitting to his temper and saying he didn’t know what to do about it.The author also looks at the extensive charity work that Williams did, demanding that his role remain anonymous. He was always available to visit dying children in the various hospitals around Boston, always coming at night when he would not be noticed. He was also very generous with his money. Bradlee sites several instances where Williams picked up or offered to pick up the Hospital Bill for people in his life. He is depicted as very upset when his offer was turned down, because it was covered by insurance or the people had money to pay. Williams’ always kept this very low key.In looking at his military service, Bradlee tells the story of Williams’ attempts to stay out of the military, both in WW II and Korea. When Williams was first evaluated for the draft before WW II, he was rate 3A (Sole support of this family). When he was rating was changed to 1A he appealed it to the highest authority. When all his appeals were exhausted, he did accept his induction and became a fighter pilot and was on his way to a combat assignment when the war ended. When he was discharged after WW II, he thought he had a deal with the Marines that he would not be recalled if he stayed in the Reserves. When he was recalled in 1951 he exploded and again tried to get out of it. He was not successful and this time actually flew combat. He was such a tall man that he barely fit in the cockpit of the plane he was flying (F-9 Panther). The story is that his crew chief has push down on his shoulders so that his canopy would close. This affected his decision to eject when his aircraft suffered battle damage. He was afraid that if he ejected he would break both knees and ruin his baseball career. All that said he became very proud of his service.In looking at his personal life, his temper greatly affected his relationship with his wives and children. While his children claimed he was a good father, he was not around, both during his baseball career and after and all three of them are quoted as to his temper and how they didn’t know which Ted would show up. He was also very hesitant about revealing his Mexican heritage, his mother was Mexican American. For many years he denied it and it seems he was never really comfortable discussing it.The story of the last years of his life is especially tragic. His son seemed to be the stereotypical rich kid. Daddy will get me out of any trouble I get into (Williams did) and eventually his son used his father’s name to try and get rich with various schemes, often with disastrous results financially. In Williams’ will it was stated he wanted to cremated and have his ashes strewn over his favorite fishing spot in the Florida Keys. His son became fascinated with the cryonics movement and decided that is what he wanted to do with Ted’s remains. He seems to have gotten Williams to agree to the plan just before he passed away. This caused a rift between his three children and a court case. The case was decided in favor of the son and Teddy Baseball is resting in a Cryonics vault in ArizonaIn summary this is a complete look at Williams tumultuous life, both good and bad and is a must read for any baseball fan.
What do You think about The Kid: The Immortal Life Of Ted Williams (2013)?
A bit long and depressing but interesting learning so much behind the legend.
—babyjfranyo
Perhaps the best baseball biography ever! Remarkably well written!
—camila
