Subbing for Wolfe in Center Field: Ted Williams

Some stories gain their power not from what happened, but from what almost happened. My father's tale of being replaced in center field by baseball legend Ted Williams during World War II perfectly captures this truth.

As an exceptional athlete who earned athletic scholarships during the Depression, my father's promising career was interrupted when he volunteered for the Navy the day after Pearl Harbor. While stationed in Pensacola, Florida, he played center field on a Navy baseball team managed by Herman Franks (who later managed the Chicago Cubs). When deployment orders came, Franks informed my father that Ted Williams would be taking his position—promising to introduce them before departure and to send box scores comparing their performances. Williams was away fishing (his famous obsession), and those promised box scores never arrived in the war-torn South Pacific.

Send me a message, pretty please.

Memories eStore
Get your Memories swag on! Or don't. Your choice, right?

HFTM's Choice For Its eStore Fulfilment
Printful is the on-demand printing and fulfillment company I use for my eStore! 'Nuff said!!

Listen Notes: "Podcast Search Engine"
"The Best Podcast Search Engine." With over 200 million episodes, let the podcast rabbit hole begin!

Logos Bible Software
Logos Bible Software is a digital library application. It is designed for electronic Bible study.

Descript: Audio Production At Its Finest
All-In-One Editor: Remove filler words & noise. Clone your voice. Use the power of AI. Free trial.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Support the show

Here For the Memories

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Here for the memories thought-provoking audio memoir
shorts filled with stories,humor, anecdotes and commentary
on social, cultural, businessand religious issues.
Whatever Lyndon remembers andthinks will entertain, challenge
and inform is a possiblesubject.

(00:20):
The collection of memoriesabout one's life allows for the
development and refinement of asense of self, including who one
is, how one has changed andwhat one might be like in the
future.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
Greetings and salutations.
This is Lyndon Wolfe, and youhave had the good fortune of
finding my audio memoir here forthe memories.
Again, not a podcast, just someexcerpt from my life.
As opposed to writing a memoir,which probably would have been
quite boring, I'm sharing it inan audio format for those that

(00:58):
know and love me, small crowdthough it may be, so that when I
leave this planet they'll knowsomething about my life, my
opinions, my experiences, mystories.
I have a lot of stories andmost of them are true.
Maybe I should say many of themare true.
This one is true.
It's a story not about me, butmy father.

(01:18):
My father was an exceptionalathlete.
He was so good that even in theDepression he was able to get
an athletic scholarship in twosports baseball and basketball
at Lincoln Memorial Universityin Harrogate, Tennessee.
He, of course, did not completehis career there because World

(01:41):
War II happened and the dayafter the bombing of Pearl
Harbor, congress went to war.
The day after we went to war,he was in line as a volunteer to
serve in the Navy and off hewent.
Before he shipped overseas, hespent time in San Diego and

(02:06):
Pensacola, Florida.
There in Pensacola he was partof a team, they had a league and
they had some exceptionalplayers.
One of the players on his teamwas a man by the name of Cal
Stoll, who became the headfootball coach at the University
of Minnesota.
In their heyday, many collegebaseball players and

(02:29):
professional baseball playerswere on these teams.
Later on, my father did playbriefly in minor league baseball
, but it wasn't lucrative backthen.
Matter of fact, it's notparticularly lucrative right now
.
So he decided to become asemi-pro baseball player in Oak
Ridge, tennessee, at the OakRidge National Laboratories,

(02:51):
famous for its participation andwork in the Manhattan Project,
which produced the nuclear bombsthat eventually were dropped on
Hiroshima and Nagasaki, japan.
Back then, big companies hadtheir own baseball teams.
It was a big deal.
They had these leagues, therewas a lot of pride, there was a

(03:13):
lot of investment.
So my dad was hired as aninspector of cabinetry, but in
fact he was a baseball playerand sometimes he played on the
company basketball team as well.
That's actually where he met mymother.
Anyway, back to Pensacola, he'splaying on this team and his

(03:35):
manager is a guy by the name ofHerman Franks.
Herman Franks spent his entirecareer in professional baseball.
As a matter of fact, briefly,he was the manager of the
Chicago Cubs.
I used to watch on TV.
We only got to channels where Icould watch professional
baseball, and one was TBS inAtlanta and I would watch the

(03:58):
Braves and the other was WGNChicago and I would watch the
Cubs.
And Dad would point out whenHerman Franks was the manager,
as he would waddle out to themound to change pitchers.
He was a pot-bellied gentleman.
Dad would say that's HermanFranks and he was my manager in
the Navy in Pensacola, and Dadwas extremely good even at that

(04:23):
level of competition.
Well, it came time for him toship out ship from Pensacola to
San Diego and then on to theSouth Pacific where he was in
heavy combat, decorated If theNavy had a Purple Heart he would
have received it.
He, in my estimation, was a warhero.
But before he shipped, hermanFranks went to my father and

(04:47):
said Moe, my dad's name was Elmo, he called him Moe.
Moe, guess who's replacing youin center field?
He said who?
He said Ted Williams.
The Ted Williams.
Yes, and I'm going to make surebefore you ship out, you two
are introduced.
Well, it came time for Dad toleave and he had not met Ted

(05:11):
Williams yet, and so he went toHerman Franks and said hey,
franks, I would like to meet TedWilliams.
Where is he?
And he said he's been fishingand anyone who knows anything
about Ted Williams?
He was obsessed with fishing.
So Franks said it's not goingto happen, but what I'll do is I
will save the box score fromtoday's game where you're in

(05:34):
center field and that I willsave the box score from
tomorrow's game where TedWilliams is in center field.
Dad said well, that'll work ifthat's the best you can do, and
off.
My dad went to fight in theSouth Pacific.
Well, I'm sure Hum and Frank'sdid it.
The fact of the matter is themail system to the South Pacific

(05:56):
was so poor my dad neverreceived those.
But the story became almostfolklore and later on in my
father's life he was interviewedalong with several other
veterans that were in their 80sabout their experience in World
War II.
There weren't many left thatwere veterans and they

(06:16):
interviewed them.
And, of course, what do theywant to know about Dad?
They wanted to know the TedWilliams story.
Now he was decorated war hero,injured, essentially a purple
heart, and yet all they wantedto do was talk about Ted
Williams and the Ted Williamsstory.

(06:37):
Well, as it turns out, he neverdid meet Ted Williams, but for
the rest of his life he toldeveryone that Williams came off
the bench to replace him.
What a beautiful story, soclassic, of my father.
I certainly miss him, and I'mnot sure whether or not I regret

(07:02):
the fact that he did not meetTed Williams, because it makes
the story that much moremeaningful.
I'm Lyndon Wolfe, and this ishere for the Memories.
Today we've had a story aboutmy father, and a story about my
father is my story, because he'smy father and I'm his son, and

(07:24):
a part of him goes with meeverywhere.
One of these days I'm going togo to Fenway Park and I'm going
to peer around and I'm going toimagine that it's Ted Williams
in center field that day andthat the day before my father
was the starting center fielder.

Speaker 1 (08:03):
God bless for the memories Much appreciated.