Ted Williams On Minneapolis Millers (1938)
Picture From Baseball-Fever |
Early Life Theodore Samuel Williams was born on August 30, 1918 in San Diego California to father Samuel Stuart Williams and mother May Venzor. Both of Ted's parents had an army affiliation in some way, his father was a soldier for the army and his mother was a soldier for the salvation army. Ted also had a sickly younger brother named Danny. Not much is known about his childhood other then his baseball talent started early. He threw his first baseball at the age of eight to his uncle Sual Venzor. Sual was a semi-professional baseball player who pitched to some of the all-time greatest baseball players such as Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. Williams attended Hubert Hoover High School where he became quickly an elite athlete. He was a star athlete who not only batted and fielded well, he also pitched. Such athleticism did not go unnoticed however as Williams received offers from the New York Yankees and The St. Louis Cardinals, but his mother felt that he was too young to leave home. She then convinced him to sign with the local minor league team the San Diego Padres. With the Padres he batted .291 with 23 home runs witch turned heads from the Boston Red Sox General Manger. He was traded to the Red Sox in 1937. With the minor league Millers, he hit for an astronomical .366 with 46 home runs earning him The minor league triple crown but just fell short in MVP voting. He earned a call up to the big leagues in 1938 thus starting his legendary baseball career.
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