The Kid: The Immortal Life of Ted Williams

THE KID                                                    BEN BRADLEE JR.
Posted:  Aug. 21, 2014

From the catalog: At long last, the epic biography Ted Williams deserves – and that his fans have been waiting for. Ted Williams was the best hitter in baseball history. This Red Sox legend's batting average of .406 in 1941 has not been topped since, and no player who has hit over 500 home runs has a higher career batting average. Those totals would have been even higher if Williams had not left baseball for nearly five years in the prime of his career to serve as a Marine pilot in World War II and Korea. He hit home runs as far as or farther than any player before him – and traveled a long way himself, as Ben Bradlee, Jr.'s, grand biography reveals. Born in 1918 in San Diego, Ted would spend most of his life disguising his Mexican heritage. During his 22 years with the Boston Red Sox, Williams electrified crowds across American–and shocked them, too: His notorious clashes with the press and fans threatened his reputation. Yet while he was a God in the batter's box, he was profoundly human once he stepped away from the plate. His ferocity came to define his troubled domestic life. While baseball might have been straightforward for Ted Williams, life was not. "The Kid" is biography of the highest literary order, a thrilling and honest account of a legend in all his glory and human complexity. In his final at-bat, Williams hit a home run. Bradlee's marvelous book clears the fences, too.

HUBBY'S REVIEW:
This is one of the most through books about a person that I have ever read. The author starts with Mr., Williams, childhood the neighborhood he grew up in, his home where his mother left him and his brother alone to the point a neighbor would take them in when they got home from school until the mom got home late at night. When he finally made it to the majors he would have that same neighbor come to Boston to see him play in his first game there. He paid for his air fare, hotel and food expenses. He thought of that man as close as his father as anyone. For after his father left he did not see him for many years until he made it to Boston. It goes into his time spent in the service during WWII and Korea. His many relationships with women and the marriages he had. His lack of getting along with the press even the ones who started out to like him. He even disliked fans once he pissed them off or thought he did from then on he wanted nothing to do with them. He do charity things but he made sure it did not get in the papers he did not want publicity he felt he just wanted to play baseball and fish and then to be left alone. The friends he did have he was friends with them for life and they got to know not to bring the press around or talk to them or he would cut them off. At times he seemed to be a hard man and at other times he was just a regular guy. He was always being compared to other players of that time and being put down for not performing big the one time they made it to the World Series. I don’t know even if he would have gotten any credit. He is still the only ball player to win the Triple Crown and not win the MVP for that year. He had some other years when he was tops in most categories and still would not get to many votes. He always said that because the sports writers were voting he would not win and to him it did not matter. He would win two MVP awards and 6 batting titles to name just a few. This is book goes into every part of his life and even looks into the fight after he passed away with the court battle. A good book and a very in depth look into a great baseball player. I got this book from net galley.