Ted Williams: A True American"A man must have goals, for a day, for a lifetime, and this was mine, to make people say, "Here's Ted Williams, the greatest "hitter who ever lived" ("My Turn At Bat" 128). Theodore Samuel Williams was born on August 30, 1918 in San Diego, California. His father, a photographer, named him after the late President Teddy Roosevelt. His mother was a salvation worker of Mexican origin ("My Turn At Bat"15). His parents, whom he later began to resent, were poor and worked constantly ("My Turn At Bat"16). This left Ted with a lot of free time. So he attended diamond baseball and developed a hitting stroke that would become legendary. After graduating from Herbert Hoover High School, Williams' talent landed him a contract with a minor league baseball team in San Diego ("My Turn at Bat" 26). . His progress was very rapid and two years later Williams was the starting left fielder for the Boston Red Sox. In the two decades he played, Ted Williams was a baseball icon. His first season was extraordinary. As a rookie in 1939, Williams hit .327 and hit 31 home runs on the walls of Fenway, giving Red Sox fans a taste of what they would see for years to come. He was quickly nicknamed The Splendid Splinter and The Kid attracting attention as a natural hitter (Wikipedia). He had one of the game's standout seasons in 1941, hitting for a .406 average at age twenty-three. He is the last player to accomplish this feat. However, he lost the Most Valuable Player Award that year to Joe DiMaggio, who had snapped his 56-game hitting streak that same year. He most likely lost this MVP award due to his disrespect and arrogance towards many sports writers and media, who are the ones who vote for the winner (Nightingale). Williams responded by going out the following season and winning the triple award. crown. He led the league in hits, home runs and runs batted in (Wikipedia). Despite the Boston fans' praise, Williams would hear their boos loudest. After making a mistake that caused a roar of boos, he vowed never to raise his hat to fans in appreciation again, and he never has. Boston writers attacked him in print as arrogant and ungrateful ("My Turn At Bat" 88).