Customer Reviews

My Turn at Bat: The Story of My Life (Fireside Sports Classics)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

First, a quick qualifier: the four stars is for "My Turn at Bat" as a baseball book. Unlike "The Boys of Summer," for example, it is not also a literary gem, nor, I suspect, was it intended to be.

That said, Williams and his collaborator, the fine writer John Underwood, achieve a peppery tone in the book that one certainly heard in Williams's voice when he spoke out after his baseball life. Williams's language is rich and funny and-especially when he speaks about baseball writers-sometimes bitter.

The book paints a vivid picture of Williams's childhood in San Diego which, he says, included countless hours playing ball in backyards and city parks. Ted is at pains later in the book to point out that his enormous success as a hitter came from this constant practice, not as a result of his keen eyesight, which was the subject of much legend.

The book also brings to life the storied Yankees-Red Sox rivalry, which of course produced a lopsided advantage in favor of the New Yorkers during Williams's career. You feel his frustration when he discusses the final-game loss to the Yankees in 1949 that ended the Red Sox season and the team's subsequent decline over the remainder of his career. That loss came after his poor showing in the 1946 World Series-the only one of his career-and a season-ending playoff loss to the Indians in 1948.

These frustrations and his vicious battles with the press bring out the human side of Ted, important because as a hitter he seemed to most in a world of his own. To his credit, he doesn't dwell unduly on his achievements, but to ignore the magnitude of them is impossible: only one season below .300, 521 career home runs, an incredible on-base percentage, and so on. The humanity is also revealed in his description of his final at-bat (which resulted in a home run). Despite his emotion, he was unable, he says, to acknowledge the crowd (famously commented on in an essay by John Updike) despite its clamoring and the urging of his teammates to take an extra turn in the spotlight. Not my way, the Splendid Splinter says.

A final section of the book is also very interesting for Williams's comments on the secrets of hitting and his recommendations for improving the game. Some of the latter are timely for the game today: he urges hitters and pitchers to work more quickly, and he advocated before its adoption the use of a designated hitter. Personally I don't find that to have been one of baseball's shining ideas, but he certainly was foresighted.

If you're looking for much on Ted's personal life, look elsewhere, but as a fine read for the student of baseball, "My Turn at a Bat" should get a turn with the reader.

I read this autobiography many years ago, and recently, decided to give it another look. Mr. Williams pulls no punches in this very honest, entertaining, and well-written story of his life in and out of baseball. Unfortunately, due to the strange circumstances surrounding his recent death, many fans will forget his tremendous achievements in our national pasttime. Along with the fact that Mr. Williams lost five or six prime years of his career due to his military commitments. He was a true patriot, and his war anecdotes are entertaining, educational, and provocative. He flew planes with the same focused determination as hitting a baseball.

Reading the book again also brought back a childhood memory. Mr. Williams owned a baseball camp in Lakeville, MA that is mentioned in this book. When I was young, I attended this camp. It was run with military precision, and even as a child, you were treated as an adult. Coaches never berated you in front of your teammates as was customary in the Little Leagues or Boy's Clubs. The whole atmosphere and environment were conducive to promoting your best efforts. The presence of Mr. Williams was felt everywhere. On rainy days, we used to watch countless films about the science of hitting.

This book is an excellent story, and for many of us, will take us back to our youth. But young baseball fans also can benefit from this tale of one of our greatest athletes and patriots.

Thank you for the opportunity to review this book.

"My Turn at Bat" is a biography of the late Ted Williams, slugging left fielder for the Boston Red Sox from 1939-1960. MYB is very pleasant and easy reading. The tone is conversational, as if there were no ghostwriter. The reader might almost believe Ted is present in the room. There are few surprises. The tale unfolds in linear fashion from TWs childhood through his career-ending homer against young Jack Fisher of the Orioles. The reader of "a certain age" will be reintroduced to some old friends both on the Bosox and other teams: Del Baker, Joe Cronin, Lou Boudreau, Dom Di Maggio, Bobby Doerr, Billy Goodman, Pinky Higgins, Jim Tabor and TWs favorite manager, Marse Joe McCarthy are all here. TW makes his love for fishing quite clear. Those salmon in New Brunswick's Miramichi River must be wonderful! There are some negatives: The spacing of the paragraphs makes reading a challenge and the chapters are oddly sequenced. MTB has a patched together undertone. These flaws are not fatal; they are listed here for the record. There is also a sense of melancholy to MTB. This reviewer always thought TW gave that vibe in his final years. It seemed TW would leave a game early for no apparent reason. In fact TW lost the 1954 and 1955 batting titles due to insufficient times at bat and he never did achieve 3,000 hits. Something was going on there. Perhaps it was the 5 (!) seasons lost to military service. If TW had those seasons back, he would own the record book. The final word on MTB remains positive. The only major warning label might be that the potential audience is limited. Fans with little curiosity concerning the TW era may be disappointed. Hardcore Bosox fans or those who remember Ted from the good old days should pounce.

So much of this book makes you reflect to a time when the simple pleasures in life revolved around an old leather glove and a dinged up ole bat. It brings to light how maybe we too as young kids chose to escape personal tragedies by going out and dreaming of playing " The Game". Ted Williams will have you reflecting on that boy you once knew so eager and dedicated to playing baseball, that he just lost sight of everything else. I am on my third round in reading this book(1975, 1977, 1998). A must for any young kid aspiring to play "The Game".

I have always been a huge fan of the game of baseball, the greatest game in sports. To tell you the truth, I didn't know much about Ted Williams. All I knew was that he was some great hitter in his time, nothing more or less. Of course, Ted Williams played in his prime decades before I even entered the world so I felt there was no reason to know who he was. I was more interested and knowledgable about stars like Griffey and Bonds, Maddux and Schilling. However, after the tragic and recent death of The Kid, I became interested, too late of coarse. I read articles written by Sports Illustrated and the like and then I picked up My Turn At Bat. Let me tell you this, Ted Williams is not just a great hitter, he is an American hero. So, to make a long story short, Ted Willaims writes about all his troubles with the press in Boston, his quarrels with fans, his military service, his fishing and hunting passion, and of cousrse everything else that a legend writes about in his autobiography, all from his side of the story. The funny thing about My Turn At Bat is that it doesn't feel like you are reading a book. Instead, it is more like you are in small conversation with The Splendid Splinter on a cool summer night. Ted Williams was the man that Hollywood has tried for years to duplicate. But he is no John Wayne or James Bond. He was America's true hero on and off the field, something that no baseball player today can become. There are a lot of great ballplayers out there today, A-Rod, Chipper, Ichiro, etc., but there are none that can come close to Teddy Ballgame. If you are a fan of the game of baseball, the way it should be played, I strongly recommend this book. In Mr. Williams words, "Put it in capital letters and run it on page one."

Ted Williams reveals a lot about his personality and lifestyle that the media failed to recognize. His style of writing makes it seem as though Ted is speaking directly to the reader; it was the kind of book that made you think that you were listening to him talk to YOU. "My Turn at Bat" is a journey that anyone, baseball fan or not, can enjoy.

This has to be one of the best books of all time. From the begginning of the book I felt like I was in a room with Ted Williams and we were just talking baseball and talking about particular successful and disappointing times in his career. If you are interested in baseball and the historic legends in the game then I suggest that you pick up this book. The further I got in the book the more I felt like I personally new Ted. In this book there are great pictures of him and other great players to help put some faces with the stories he tells. I will guarantee that once you pick up this book, it will be very hard for you to put it down.

The story is an entertaining look at Williams' career as a ballplayer, fisherman and ex ball player. It talks about his strange career with the Red Sox fans that would boo him in spite of his brilliant hitting. His study of the game, especially batting and dedication to being a near perfect hitter is a pretty good insight into why the booing bothered him so much and led to some bad displays of resentment by him to the fans. The spitting incidents and the time he accidentally threw a bat into the stands and hit a lady spectator on the head are well covered. His resentment toward most sportswriters is a continuation of his reaction to the reception he received in Boston. It's a large contrast to the welcome given to Joe DiMaggio in New York and the rivalry between Williams and DiMaggio is covered too. In later years, Williams mellowed and so did the fans so that their relationship was a good one. One wonders what kind of statistics Williams would have had if he had not missed five years in the military service, being a pilot in World War II and in Korea. One of his statistics that I don't often see mentioned is the fact that he is one of only two players to win the Triple Crown twice.

Besides being a "Hall of Fame" ball player, Ted Williams was also a hall of fame fisherman and there is a lot of fishing talked about in the book.

Ted Williams was definitely one of Baseball's greatest hitters and an individualist, plus being quite a character. This book gives a good insight into these things in his "own words". It should be a must for any baseball fan.

This book, in Williams' own words, is a biased, yet largely honest appraisal of his life and career as a player. Written in 1970, approximately one decade after he retired as a player and shortly after he re-entered the game as a manager, Williams was still young enough to be assertive about his role in the game. He shows no repentance for his actions, time has not yet mellowed Williams, a fact that helped lead to his dismissal as a manager shortly after the book was published.
There is much to speculate about what Williams would have accomplished had be not been called into military service twice, in both World War II and in Korea. He lost four and a half seasons due to his service, all of which were in the prime of his career. Had he been exempted, even if only for Korea, it is possible that when he retired he may have owned every significant batting record.
Williams mentions this, how deeply bitter he was about the call up for Korea and yet how he kept from complaining. He saves most of his invective for the baseball writers, as there was a mutual dislike between Williams and some of the press that covered the sport. Ted Williams was a great baseball player, while he had the potential to be the greatest circumstances intervened to prevent it. Off the field and to ordinary people, Williams was also a great person, he exhibited a kindness to others that many players never exhibit. In this book we see all sides of Williams, from his arrogance to his humility.

In its original printing, "My Turn at Bat" was a real eye opener for those seeking the real story of Ted Williams. Continuously battered by negative media attention throughout his playing days, myth and scandal seemed to terrorize Williams. While Williams may not have always made the best public relations decisions through his career, he may in fact be the greatest hitter in baseball history. This is his story in his own words.

Though some biographies go into greater detail about Williams' life, this is a very personal version. At times, one must realize that he is creating a positive image of himself. I suspect more often than not, he is being completely accurate. The matter of fact story telling seems as though it is coming right from the mouth of Ted Williams. This creates the one major problem with the book. The chronology of the story seems to jump all over the place. It really takes away from the story.

The book is also advertised to be an explanation of Ted Williams' theory and practice for hitting. Yet in reality, there are only a few pages. But the brief thoughts are still valid today. Today's hitters would be well served to follow his theory.

Fans of Ted Williams will enjoy this book, particularly if you can find an older copy like I did. It is a treasure.