Author: @keeneauthor

The World Series – A Season for Heroes

Posted by | Oct 26, 2018 | , ,

“It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.” – Babe Herman Ruth. In a world disrupted by hurricanes, recessions, politics and war, baseball is the constant that gives us heroes. Every fall, the World Series connects the generations. Fathers and sons come together; neighbors unite; strangers root for the same team as millions partake in the tradition that defines America. In a world starved for heroes, baseball’s Fall ritual reminds us of players like Ted Williams, the greatest hitter who ever lived who fought in two wars as a Marine combat pilot. We remember miracles, like the “shot heard round the world” when Bill Mazeroski won the championship in 1960 with one swing of the bat. During this year’s Series, we hold our breath, spellbound by the raw and fearless talent of players like Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez as they go to bat for the Boston Red Sox. In a world that loves storytellers, one of the game’s most beloved muses was Ernie Harwell, the Hall of Fame Major League Baseball sportscaster who enraptured generations of fans with the saga of our past time. In this 1981 induction (SPEECH LINK) delivered on the porch of the Hall of Fame Ernie tells us what we love about baseball in a world where our diamond heroes help us battle hurricanes, recessions, politics and war. Here are a few of...

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JOHNNY PESKY AND TED WILLIAMS: AN UNTOLD STORY BEHIND A RED SOX WINNING STREAK

JOHNNY PESKY AND TED WILLIAMS: AN UNTOLD STORY BEHIND A RED SOX WINNING STREAK

Posted by | Sep 28, 2018 | ,

When “106 Win” lit up the Green Monster scoreboard this week, breaking the franchise record, Boston Red Sox fans set their sights on a World Series championship. It was 1946, the last time the Red Sox achieved their 100th milestone victory, when they headed to the World Series. Ted Williams, Johnny Pesky, Bobby Doerr, Dom DiMaggio, and Boo Ferriss had returned from the service. They were changed men—bound by their fierce allegiance to country and friendships that lasted a lifetime. Though the St. Louis Cardinals clinched the World Series that year with a 4-3 victory in game seven, Johnny...

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Johnny Pesky and Ted Williams: An Untold Story Behind a Red Sox Winning Streak

Posted by | Sep 27, 2018 |

http://gty.im/517326280 When “106 Win” lit up the Green Monster scoreboard this week, breaking the franchise record, Boston Red Sox fans set their sights on a World Series championship. It was 1946, the last time the Red Sox achieved their 100th milestone victory, when they headed to the World Series. Ted Williams, Johnny Pesky, Bobby Doerr, Dom DiMaggio, and Boo Ferriss had returned from the service. They were changed men—bound by their fierce allegiance to country and friendships that lasted a lifetime. Though the St. Louis Cardinals clinched the World Series that year with a 4-3 victory in game seven, Johnny Pesky did something extraordinary for Ted Williams that slipped under the radar of the press. Until now, this story has largely remained untold, and it serves as an example of the unshakable bond that cements winning teams. Pesky’s Secret Telephone Call Before Game Five Midway through the 1946 Series, Pesky made a secret telephone call to an old Navy buddy to lift Williams’s spirits when he was discouraged and hurting from a badly swollen elbow after being smacked by an errant pitch. That friend was not a major-league player, nor a man who circulated in the most powerful baseball circles. His name was George Donald Kepler, the former Lt. Commander who taught fighter pilots how to survive on land and sea after bailouts and crash landings over jungles and...

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Passion – Ted Williams’s Gift to America and Baseball

Passion – Ted Williams’s Gift to America and Baseball

Posted by | Aug 31, 2018 | ,

The national celebration of Ted Williams’s birth a century ago proves that Americans long for their old-fashioned baseball heroes. Though the hitter’s .406 mark may never be eclipsed, some of the least-known periods of Williams’s military training reveal the core values and work ethic of the greatest hitter who ever lived. During the Second World War hundreds of major-league baseball players paused their athletic careers to serve in the military. In today’s world, imagine if Mookie Betts, J.D. Martinez, and most of the Red Sox joined the service. By their side would be managers, coaches and staff who run...

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75 Years Ago Today – When Ted Met Babe at Fenway Park at the July 12, 1943, Military All-Stars Game

75 Years Ago Today – When Ted Met Babe at Fenway Park at the July 12, 1943, Military All-Stars Game

Posted by | Jul 12, 2018 |

The Story Behind the Picture, a Conversation with a Player Who Was There Seventy-five years ago, two of the world’s greatest hitters met in person for the first time at Fenway Park when the U.S. Navy granted Ted Williams leave to play on an armed forces team managed by Babe Ruth. The Fenway Park exhibition, where Ruth’s “All-Stars” faced Casey Stengel’s Boston Braves, was arranged to purchase eye glasses, leg braces and artificial limbs for war victims along with milk and food benefiting underprivileged kids. Other military stars on Babe’s team included former Boston Red Sox “Dom” DiMaggio, a...

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