Ted Williams in Two Wars
DennisO
Baseball buffs don't beat me up over this, but some people believe
that Ted Williams would have been the greatest hitter in history
if he could have played his whole career. I think he hit 528 homers
in a shortened career and once hit 407 for a season.
He was a pilot in WWII and Korea.
Can anyh one give a brief summary of his military career?
Thanks,
DennisO
Jerry,Roberta, and Phil
Ted Williams entered the Marine Corps aviation program in 1943.
He never flew combat in WWII and served as an aerial gunnery
instructor. However, during Korea he was recalled and flew
F-9F Panthers with the Marine Corps. His wingman was a guy
name John Glenn. He received 3 air medals. He was almost
killed on his first mission when his aircraft was damaged. He
didn't know that he was on fire until after he landed.
By the way, Glenn Ford served a year in Viet Nam.
Regards Jerry Goldblatt
TIMOTHY GUEGUEN
Jerry,Roberta, and Phil (aup...@ix.netcom.com) wrote:
: Ted Williams entered the Marine Corps aviation program in 1943.
: Regards Jerry Goldblatt
Wouldn't Glenn Ford have been a bit old to serve a year in Viet Nam?
tim gueguen ad...@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca
corky Scott
In article <32056C...@azstarnet.com>
DennisO <d...@azstarnet.com> writes:
> Baseball buffs don't beat me up over this, but some people believe
> that Ted Williams would have been the greatest hitter in history
> if he could have played his whole career. I think he hit 528 homers
> in a shortened career and once hit 407 for a season.
>
> He was a pilot in WWII and Korea.
One of the reasons for Williams's amazing batting prowess and a
characteristic many fighter pilots shared was his amazing eyesight. In
the book "The Umpire Strikes out" the author, umpire Ron Lucianno,
overheard Williams, who was coaching the Washington Senators at the
time, mention that he could not only see the seams of the ball as it
came in thus letting him know if it was a slider of curve ball or fast
ball, he could also see where on the ball his bat connected when he hit
it.
Lucianno didn't believe it and Williams, infuriated at being called a
liar, demanded that Lucianno come to the field early the next time
rotation pulled them into town and he'd prove it. Lucianno had hoped
that Ted would forget about it because he didn't want to see him
embarrassed and was unhappy when Ted called him at his motel the night
before a game in Washington reminding him to come to the field early.
Lucianno duly showed up early and Williams took a few pitches with
Lucianno behind the catcher watching. Williams had painted his bat all
the way up with pine tar so that when the bat hit it, it would leave a
mark. Remember, Williams was in his mid to late fifties at this time.
The first pitch came in an Williams lined it out into the outfield.
Lucianno was just happy the guy had hit it, and right sharply let alone
picked out where the bat had hit the ball. But Williams turned to him
and said, "1/4 inch above the seam". The ball was relayed in from the
outfield, and chucked to the catcher who turned it over to Lucianno and
Williams. Sure enough, the mark centered about 1/4 inch above the
seam. Williams kept hitting balls and calling the marks and was right
on about 75% of the time as I recall. A remarkable example of what
eyesight can do for hitting.
There was another guy Chuck Yeager flew with over Germany whom Yeager,
who had amazing eyesight of his own, said was nicknamed "Radar". The
guy's eyesight was so good he often spotted German fighter formations
before anyone else did and Yeager used his vision to gain initial
position on the Germans for a surprise bounce.
Corky Scott
Jerry,Roberta, and Phil
Nope. Check his bio. Glenn Ford certainly did serve a tour
in Vietnam
Regards Jerry Goldblatt
Mary Shafer
On 7 Aug 1996 21:55:07 GMT, "Jerry,Roberta, and Phil" <aup...@ix.netcom.com> said:
J> Nope. Check his bio. Glenn Ford certainly did serve a tour in
J> Vietnam
Kris Kristopherson was a Captain in the Marines in Vietnam.
--
Mary Shafer NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, CA
SR-71 Flying Qualities Lead Engineer Of course I don't speak for NASA
sha...@ferhino.dfrc.nasa.gov DoD #362 KotFR
URL http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/People/Shafer/mary.html
For personal messages, please use sha...@ursa-major.spdcc.com
Jerrold Goldblatt
sha...@ferhino.dfrc.nasa.gov (Mary Shafer) wrote:
>On 7 Aug 1996 21:55:07 GMT, "Jerry,Roberta, and Phil" <
>
>
>--
Regards Jerry Goldblatt
Ken_Zio...@transarc.com
Teddy Ballgame was a Marine aviator.
He served as a flight instructor during most of WWII and
was in Hawaii awaiting transfer to a combat unit when the
war ended in August of '45.
He was recalled to active duty in ~51 and flow Panthers
in a recon unit in Korea. He flew ~40 missions, including
one where his plane tooks some hits during a low level pass
and he crash landed the plane back at his base. He didn't
want to eject as he was afraid that, since he was so tall
(6'3''), his legs wouldn't clear the instrument panel.
At one time during his Korean duty, his wingman was none
other than John Glenn.
Ken
Lee Russell
The way I heard it, Ted was so big, and was wearing so much stuff,
including an anti-exposure suit over all kinds of winter flying gear, that
the only way he could get in the plane was to have his crew chief jump up
and down on him to really pack him into his ejection seat. Having to trust
his seat to undo all of this at once was a risk he didn't want to take and
he decided to try to get back to base and ride it in.
Ted was a Great American.