Peter Gammons on a Hall of Fame Tennis Match

From Peter Gammons at the Baseball Hall of Fame’s website on March 3:

There are condominiums where the Ramada Inn once stood in Winter Haven, Fla. There are a couple of new fast food restaurants, and a strip mall with a Chili’s is across the street where orange trees once stood back in 1974.

In the back of that Ramada Inn was a single tennis court, and in March 1974, a good three dozen fans watched an unusual match. On one doubles team was Ted Williams; on the other, Carl Yastrzemski.

Ted was 55 and already a Hall of Famer for seven years. Yaz was 34 and very much an active member of the Red Sox. Some of the spectators were in the Red Sox organization at the time, some were in the media, some were just fans who heard about the game.

Read the full article here: http://baseballhall.org/news/history/rites-spring



Originally published: March 3, 2011. Last Updated: March 3, 2011.