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1969 • Baseball Clip • Ted Williams Radio Interview · Retro Sports Radio: Classic Games from History

• 0:00
  This is Retro Sports Radio. Visit RetroSeasons.com for more sports history.
• 0:07
  This is Tim Tmaras of Sports Illustrated. My guest is manager Ted Williams of the Washington Senators.
• 0:12
  Ted, with what you've seen of the pitching today, how do you feel you'll do against some of the pitchers now?
• 0:17
  Well, I've got to be perfectly honest and tell you that I've seen some good pitching for sure.
• 0:21
  But I've also seen a lot of pitchers in the last 30 games, which comprises spring training in the season.
• 0:27
  I've seen a lot of pitchers that are pretty hittable.
• 0:30
  And so I think the overall is not that much different one way or another.
• 0:34
  I think that there's pitchers just like when I played that were extra tough,
• 0:37
  and pitchers that I hit against then that were pretty nice.
• 0:40
  And I think the same thing applies today.
• 0:42
  How many players do you feel live up to their potential,
• 0:44
  and how much do you feel a player could improve my intense practice and concentration?
• 0:48
  Well, I think that it's safe to say that the majority of players don't live up to their potential.
• 0:55
  And I think that probably all of such a high percentage would look back after their career is over and say,
• 1:01
  boy, I missed a boat, some more than others, of course.
• 1:05
  And so I think that there's just plenty of players that are not living up to their potential.
• 1:12
  Ted Williams, how do you think you will feel when you step onto the field at Fenway Park for the first time in a foreign uniform?
• 1:17
  Well, I'm going to feel kind of mixed.
• 1:21
  I can assure you one thing, we're going to try to beat them.
• 1:25
  And I have a tremendous amount of friends in New England and Boston,
• 1:29
  and I suppose that maybe some of them might be a little bit doubted to really hear the root for,
• 1:36
  but it will be great to be in Fenway.
• 1:38
  My fondest moments and fondest memories are with Boston,
• 1:45
  and it will just be great to be up there again.
• 1:49
  Your life has been such that your main associations have been with baseball, the military, and fishing.
• 1:54
  In which of these three areas have you found the strongest personal relationships?
• 1:58
  Well, that's a tough question. I really don't know.
• 2:01
  But I think that when everything's said and done,
• 2:04
  that baseball has to be certainly the most important thing that ever happened to me.
• 2:09
  I'm sure that, and probably the thing I enjoy the most, because it just meant everything to me,
• 2:15
  everything that I've seen, everything I've done, everything I've been able to do, including fishing,
• 2:20
  baseball is responsible.
• 2:22
  Well, Ted Williams, I've known you for about 15 years now.
• 2:24
  We've been great friends, and I'm glad to see you back in baseball.
• 2:26
  Thank you very much, Keith. I appreciate that.
• 2:28
  This is Keith Morose of Sports Illustrated.