A Tribute to Ted Williams
July 23, 2002
Ted Williams remembered as Jimmy Fund's 'all-time all-star'
Although it seemed like just another Friday when chosen beforehand, the July 5 trip by some 60 Jimmy Fund Clinic patients and their families to watch the Boston Red Sox take on the Detroit Tigers at Fenway Park couldn't have come on a more appropriate — and poignant — date.
Red Sox legend Ted Williams had died of cardiac arrest at age 83 that morning, and a pre-game ceremony was held to honor the Hall of Famer's passing. This allowed the clinic contingent and some 33,000 other fans to pay tribute to a man who, in addition to being a baseball and war hero, raised countless dollars for cancer research and treatment at Dana-Farber during a half century of public appeals.
The clinic group's seats even overlooked the left-field locale where Williams played for nearly 20 years, now marked by a gigantic "9" (honoring his uniform number) mowed into the grass.
And when the public-address announcer listing Williams' athletic, military, and other accomplishments mentioned his work for the team's official charity, a cheer resounded from this spot — a collective "thank you" from the Jimmy Fund's beneficiaries to their all-time all-star.
No three individuals played bigger roles in the explosive growth of the Jimmy Fund in the 1950s than (left to right) Ted Williams, Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey, and Sidney Farber, MD. (The Brearley Collection)
"Ted signed on for life to the Jimmy Fund, helping make it the best-loved charity in New England," says Jimmy Fund Chairman Mike Andrews, a former Red Sox second baseman. "His name is synonymous with our battle against all forms of cancer."
When the Red Sox announced that the celebration of Williams' life held at Fenway July 22 would benefit the Jimmy Fund, it seemed only fitting. Institute founder Sidney Farber, MD, was the medical mind behind the fund's 1948 formation, and Einar "Jimmy" Gustafson was the 12-year-old cancer patient whose moving radio interview sparked its initial fundraising drive, but it was the man known as "the Splendid Splinter" who spread the word to the masses through countless personal appearances.
In the fund's early years and beyond, baseball's premier hitter constantly used his celebrity status to aid Dr. Farber and his staff in their cancer research and treatment efforts.
Williams would travel everywhere and anywhere, no strings or paychecks attached, to support the cause — Little League games, American Legion banquets, houses of worship, department stores for autograph sessions, even cookouts on Boston Common.
Although some of these trips were publicized by the media, he insisted that the numerous visits he made to children in the Jimmy Fund Clinic and Children's Hospital Boston be kept out of the newspapers.
After the Jimmy Fund/ Variety Club Theatre Collections Program began in 1949, Williams helped assure that canisters passed among movie audiences were filled by venturing to theaters and drive-ins and speaking to audiences himself. He was also among the early celebrities to appear in a trailer film for the program, which remains the charity's longest-running annual fundraiser.
Starting a tradition
Williams' single greatest day of work for the Institute may have been on Aug. 17, 1953, shortly after his return from a stint as a Marine combat pilot in the Korean War.
Approached about being the guest of honor at a "Welcome Home, Ted" dinner, he told then-Jimmy Fund Chairman Bill Koster: "If you make it make it $100-a-plate [the equivalent of $2,500 today], with the proviso that everybody, and I mean everybody, has to pay, and all the proceeds go to the Jimmy Fund, I'll be there."
Koster complied, and the resulting event at Boston's old Hotel Statler — which included a speech from the honoree — took in more than $125,000 for the charity.
Elected an Honorary Trustee for Life at Dana-Farber in 1954 and a Jimmy Fund general chairman two years later, Williams spent these same years routinely making unsolicited visits to the bedsides of young Dana-Farber patients. Tales abound of kids waking up to find "the Kid" standing over them, or parents learning at check-out time that "Mr. Williams has taken care of your bill."
It is well documented that Williams hit a home run in his final major league at-bat in 1960, but a far lesser-known story is that after the previous day's game, he had gone to visit a sick boy at the Jimmy Fund Clinic and then driven to Rhode Island for four separate Jimmy Fund appearances. The boy, who was able to give Williams a belt he had made for him, died a few days later.
Former Sox pitching ace Jim Lonborg, himself a long-time friend of the charity, recalled on the day of Williams' death that Ted "probably started the tradition of Red Sox athletes taking time out of their lives to help Dana-Farber and the Jimmy Fund. When I first came to the [Fenway] clubhouse in '65, the first thing I saw was a 'support the Jimmy Fund' sign. It's fitting that so many people from Dana-Farber are at the game today."
'Hello, Jimmy baby'
No matter how many years passed, says Andrews, any Jimmy Fund promotion or event connected to Williams was sure to be a hit.
In 1995, for instance, Dana-Farber started a giving club bearing Williams' name to support basic and clinical research in pediatric oncology. Dubbed the Ted Williams 406 Club — in honor of the slugger's since-unmatched 1941 batting average of .406 — the club raised more than $2 million to fund a member of the Pediatric Oncology staff working as the Ted Williams Senior Investigator.
"To me, Ted Williams was a role model of sorts, a man of enormous focus and dedication," says Alan D'Andrea, MD, the current Williams Investigator. "He was a guy who practiced hitting until his blisters bled, and then practiced some more. As a scientist, I try to bring at least some of this intensity to the research laboratory every day."
Williams autographs a Disney mural depicting "Casey at the Bat" during his 1999 return to the Jimmy Fund Clinic.
At no time was Williams' special place in Dana-Farber history more apparent than in July 1999, when the already-ailing legend made a final trip to the Institute while in Boston to throw out the first ball at the major league All-Star Game.
His highly publicized visit included a tour of the Jimmy Fund Clinic, where he talked individually with dozens of young patients and also met Gustafson, who had emerged from 50 years of anonymity (and presumed death) the previous year.
"Hello, Jimmy, baby!" Williams bellowed as he grabbed his fellow Dana-Farber icon in a bear hug. "This is the highlight of my trip right here."
Despite six batting titles and four home run championships, Williams always said he was proudest of his military service in World War II and Korea and his work for the Jimmy Fund.
And although he was famous for not tipping his cap to fans during his playing career, this proud, stoic superstar shared his true feelings on the subject a few years back:
"I have this confession, and it's the truth," he told a television reporter. "I have tipped my cap a thousand times in my heart to the people of New England for their generosity, their concern, and their support of this great fund called 'Jimmy.'"
— Saul Wisnia
Saul_Wisnia@dfci.harvard.edu
