 07/05/2002 7:31 pm ET
Williams esteemed by players
Hitter happy to share insights with others
By Tom Singer / MLB.com
Of the countless indelible memories forged by Ted Williams, the last and most lasting occurred three summers ago.
It came at the 1999 All-Star Game, of course, in Fenway Park. Williams, already cheated of much of his vitality by three strokes, was back on his former stage to get the 70th Classic under way. And in the midst of the first-pitch ceremonies, a love-in broke out, as the modern All-Stars embraced, literally as well as figuratively, one of their pioneers.
Bob Brenly watched from the TV booth. "One of the most touching, emotional things I've ever been involved in," Brenly, now Arizona's manager, said Friday night. "I could barely speak."
The display of unabashed love and respect from contemporary ballplayers, so often criticized, and justifiably so, for being peer-centric and oblivious to history, was genuine, and fitting.
"He wanted to be known as the greatest hitter who ever lived," reflected Jeff Bagwell, a New England native and one-time Red Sox farmhand. "I think all the players feel that he was.
"Even the Hall of Famers. As strongly as they feel about their own careers, I really believe they all thought he was the greatest hitter that ever lived."
Smoking balls into the right-center gap, Williams knew all about that.
But all he knew about the generation gap was how to bridge it, with kind words and encouragement his heirs never forgot.
Receiving Williams' compliment on their swings was the equivalent of a papal blessing for young hitters. Among the latter-day players to have received this benediction are Dale Murphy, Darryl Strawberry, Wally Joyner.
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