So one night the president of the United States goes to the Lincoln bedroom in the White House.
He wants to show his guest something. They walk to a room next door and stop in front of two dressers with large mirrors and stacks of drawers.
There the president pulls open a drawer to reveal a cache the contents of which are so unexpected that his guest, even years later, would say of that moment, "Geez, I was just startled."
What Ted Williams saw, that night by Lincoln's bedroom in the White House, were hundreds of a fishermen's flies: "Salmon flies and English flies. Flies 250, 200 years old." His voice is hushed and dramatic, the thrilled whisper of a man afraid to speak loudly lest he end the dream.
"These flies have been the basis for tons and tons of flies. Their names are Jock Scott, Durham Ranger, Silver Doctor and on and on. And they're all beautifully tied. Married wings, which means duck orange, green, yellow and red. Goose feathers, jungle cock crests, seal's fur, jungle cock eyes. Had to be $5,000 worth of flies in that drawer."
"It's the middle of the night in Lincoln's bedroom and we're looking at flies, and then he took me to another place, another big drawer. Now he has Orvis reels, Hardy reels, every big classic reel that's made. Much more than he needs to fish the way he does because he's fishing little trout, he fishes with shrimp, spinning in the Keys. But he loves to fish. Geezohboy."
What a wonderful sound, Ted Williams spinning a fish story. He doesn't see well, and he walks with a wobble, the results of a stroke nine months ago. The good news is that at 76 he still is animated in conversation, bright and booming, sassy and passionate. He wanted to talk about the Hitters Hall of Fame and the 20 men he has chosen as charter members. He did that, and he talked about George Bush's cache of precious flies, and he answered every question fabulously ...
Al Simmons? "Big guy. Gorilla with a bat in his hand." Jimmy Foxx? "I was envious of his power." Joe Jackson? "Everybody I talked to about Joe Jackson went into hysterics about how good he was. Eddie Collins played with the Black Sox and Joe Jackson. Eddie, when he signed me for the Red Sox, told me, 'Ted, the first time I watched you in batting practice, all I could see was Joe Jackson.' " Lefty Grove? "Beautiful." Tony Gwynn? "They ought to extend this season into next year, 162 games, before they say he didn't hit .400. I was rooting for him."
No World Series this year? "I'm damned disappointed and disgusted. These owners are supposed to be smart people. How can they jazz up anything that badly? And the players, they've won every situation for years and they're in such an enviable position I can't believe it. I can't fight against the players. But they gotta bend over to be reasonable."
To pick the 20 best hitters, Williams started with a statistical formula that he won't reveal. With those numbers as foundation, he then made subjective judgments based primarily on his half-century of observation. As for men he never saw play, Williams depended on history's accounts and the opinions of old-line baseball men.
No greater proof of subjectivity is needed than the absence from the list of Ted Williams. His numbers are mighty. Given weight for power and on-base percentage, as they should be, those numbers are second only to Babe Ruth's. But when questioned about his absence, the list-maker himself says, "Who cares if I'm on the list?" End of debate.
The top 10: Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmy Foxx, Rogers Hornsby, Joe DiMaggio and Ty Cobb, Stan Musial, Joe Jackson, Henry Aaron and Willie Mays.
Then: Hank Greenberg, Mickey Mantle, Tris Speaker, Al Simmons and Johnny Mize, Mel Ott, Harry Heilmann, Frank Robinson, Mike Schmidt and Ralph Kiner.
The presence of the .279-hitting Kiner may be as mysterious to some as the absence of Pete Rose, the self-proclaimed Hit King who broke Cobb's record for hits.
But Kiner in 10 years had 369 home runs; Rose in 24 had 160. And although Rose hit .303 lifetime, 3,215 of his 4,256 hits were singles. His total-base average of .469 is nearly 150 points below the list's average. Kiner's TBA is .621.
Happily, the Williams roster includes Shoeless Joe Jackson, banned from Cooperstown for having done business with gamblers. Williams: "These are the 20 greatest hitters. The Black Sox scandal's got nothing to do with it." End of that debate.
As for that old fisherman and first baseman, George Bush, Ted Williams has plans.
"Hell of a good guy. Down to earth as can be. I was ready to go a fishing trip with him in Labrador before I came down with this thing."
"Funny, he used to talk about his hitting at Yale. He says, 'Y'know, I was a lousy hitter.' So I kid him all the time. Anytime I get close to him and they're going to take a picture, I say, 'Two great hitters.' "
It was Whitey Ford, the sly one, who pointed out that he and Mickey Mantle combined for 539 home runs, all of them by Ford except for 536.
"That's what I'll do," Williams says, his voice a conspiratorial whisper. "I'll find out what the president did hit at Yale. Then I'll add my lifetime and his lifetime and announce: 'Lifetime between us: .326.' We'll take a great picture of two great hitters."
9- A wonderful sound, Ted Williams laughing.
TED'S TOP 20
The top 20 major-league batters of all time, according to Ted Williams, the last man to hit .400, who refused to include himself:
TOP TEN
* Babe Ruth
* Lou Gehrig
* Jimmie Foxx
* Rogers Hornsby
* Joe DiMaggio
* Stan Musial
* Ty Cobb
* Joe Jackson
* Henry Aaron
* Willie Mays
SECOND TEN
* Hank Greenberg
* Tris Speaker
* Johnny Mize
* Harry Heilmann
* Mike Schmidt
* Mickey Mantle
* Al Simmons
* Mel Ott
* Frank Robinson
* Ralph Kiner