Fitzpatrick: Philly SABR chapter re-creates the ‘Ted Williams Walk’
From Frank Fitzpatrick at the Philadelphia Inquirer on September 27, 2016, with mention of SABR member Seamus Kearney:
On Tuesday, some local baseball pilgrims celebrated the most meaningful walk of Ted Williams’ career.
Not among the 2,021 listed on the late Hall of Famer’s impressive statistical resumé, it instead was a 1941 walk that, on the eve of his greatest accomplishment, Williams took through Philadelphia’s crowded streets.
“Planning this walk just seemed a nice way to commemorate some Philadelphia baseball history,” explained Seamus Kearney, the event’s organizer and a member of the local chapter of SABR (Society for American Baseball Research).
Wednesday will mark the 75th anniversary of one of this city’s great sports moments, the day Williams, his .3995 batting average teetering on the brink of history, went 6 for 8 in a season-ending Shibe Park doubleheader to finish at .406. No one has hit higher than .390 since.
Nearly as interesting as what Williams did on Sept. 28, 1941, however, was what happened the night before. That Saturday, obsessed by the next day’s challenge and haunted by self-doubts, the Boston Red Sox star roamed downtown Philadelphia for hours in a trancelike state.
Read the full article here: http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/20160928_The_night_in_Philly_before_Ted_Williams_hit__406.html
- Related link: “The Day Ted Williams Became the Last .400 Hitter in Baseball,” by Bill Nowlin (The National Pastime, 2013)
Originally published: September 27, 2016. Last Updated: September 27, 2016.