Prior to his participation in World War II, The Splendid Splinter won the famed triple crown (1942) by hitting .356 with 36 homers and 137 RBIs. He also led the league in on-base percentage, slugging percentage, runs, total bases and walks. The guy was a fantasy geek’s dream a half century before fantasy baseball was even thought of.
Williams, for those who don’t know, was also a world-class outdoorsman and fly fisherman as you can read more about it here .
That's right, one of the greatest hitters the game of baseball has ever known was also one of the country's finest fly fishermen (on top of being a soldier!). He was even inducted into the International Game Fish Association's Fishing Hall of Fame in 2000. I mean seriously, what didn't the guy do?
I had the chance to talk to an old friend of Williams after his death in July 2002 for a story in The Tribune. And I think George Lindsey, who grew up with Williams on the sandlots in San Diego, probably summed it up best when he said:
"He was something special," said Lindsey, whose voice begins to quiver slightly when he speaks of Williams , who died at the age of 83 on July 5. "I absolutely knew he would become the world's champion that he was. There was no doubt that we'd be mentioning him in the same breath as the Babe. You could see it the first time you saw him hit." Here's that rest of that story on "The Kid."
