Sport: Old Faces

When he was hitting, it never occurred to anybody to give Boston’s big, bad Ted Williams any batting advice. But when he hit a slump, everybody had a helpful idea. Someone suggested that he back away from the plate a few inches more. Snarled Williams: “I get all that sort of advice from newspapermen who can’t hit, from pitchers and from .250 hitters. I’m not changing my position at the plate.”

His slump began in last year’s World Series, and a winter’s brooding about it didn’t help. Before the 1947 season was well along, American League pitchers, who once quivered at the sight of Ted and his big bat, confidently fed him inside pitches —the kind he used to pull into right field for singles and doubles. His smashes dropped harmlessly into the gloves of fielders, shifted into a solid defense wall to the right every time Williams came to bat.

He tried bunting down the unprotected third-base line, then reasoned correctly that Boston’s Red Sox were not paying him $75,000 a season to bunt. He tried hitting to left field, and managed to poke three home runs over the left-field wall, but confessed, “It didn’t feel natural.” To make matters worse, Rival Joe DiMaggio was having a big season, and such talented johnny-come-latelies as Ralph Kiner and Jackie Robinson were making the headlines.

In mid-June, Williams’ average sank to .286, which was no figure for the best batsman in baseball. Then, as suddenly and inexplicably as he had slumped, Ted Williams began to hit again. He got most of his hits the hard way—squarely through the massed opposition, bouncing line drives off the fences, spraying singles to the few unoccupied spots in right field.

Last week, with the season’s end in sight, Ted Williams led the league with a .337 average. He was also out front in the American League in about every other batting department: home runs (29), extra bases (136), runs batted in (94), bases-on-balls (145).

Another champion was acting the part last week, after a slow start. Rapid Robert Feller won No. 17 for the season, as many as any American League pitcher. Cleveland Indian Owner Bill Veeck (rhymes with neck) celebrated the occasion by giving Feller a $40,000 bonus. Added to his regular salary, this will bring 28-year-old Bobby Feller’s 1947 pitching earnings well over $80,000—the highest Babe Ruth ever made in one year.