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TED
WILLIAMS |
"THE GREATEST HITTER THAT EVER LIVED"
STEPS UP TO THE PLATE ...
Ted Williams makes his Fenway Park Debut
April 21, 1939
... The Red Sox opened the 1939 season at Fenway Park with a great deal of enthusiasm. The Sox easily won the game 9-8 behind Jim Bagby, but 76 year old Connie Mack stole the show. After Governor Saltonstall threw out the first pitch, Mack
walked from the governor's box to take his usual perch on the bottom step of the visitor's dugout at the start of the contest. It seemed that every person in the park arose to applaud the grand old man on every step of his walk.
The buildup for Ted
Williams had been tremendous. He received a larger ovation than any
of the established players when he was introduced. The fans shouted
his name every time he came to the plate.
Ted made the first putout of the
game by gobbling up A's rookie Joe Gettenbein's fly ball to him in
right field. He got his second hit of the season and first at
Fenway off southpaw Ed Smith. It was an RBI single in the sixth
inning, his only hit in five times up. |
