A Tribute to Ted Williams

Giclee Print on Mounted Canvas
Edition of 100 S/N
Image: 13″ x 38″
$300

I was a pretty lucky kid. My grandfather Ernie was a Major League ballplayer and he began teaching me the game before I was five years old. Although he died at an early age when I was just twelve, we went to quite a few games together, along with my father and brother. I met people like Connie Mack, Joe Sewell and Casey Stengel (a teammate of my grandfather’s in 1924). It didn’t mean much to me then; it does now.

One of my earliest memories goes back to a game between the Philadelphia A’s and the Boston Red Sox at Shibe Park (later Connie Mack Stadium) in Philadelphia. Ernie pointed to a skinny kid in a Red Sox uniform wearing number 9. Ernie said, “You watch him; that’s Ted Williams. He is the greatest hitter to ever play this game and there will never be anyone better.” A few minutes later that skinny kid ripped a line drive into the right field seats that was still climbing when it cleared the fence. That was more than fifty years ago and I still believe that there has never been a better pure hitter than Ted Williams.

This piece pays tribute to Ted. The stuff in the painting is pretty obvious, but I have been asked quite often why the miniature Marine is in the painting. He is there because Ted did two tours as a Marine aviator, during WW II and the Korean War, which were during the prime of his career. Can you imagine his numbers if he hadn’t missed those years?