FanHouse Ted Williams

The Red Sox have a storied history of long-term, very popular left fielders patrolling the grounds in front of the Green Monster at Fenway Park.

Ted Williams spent 16 years in left field for Boston, Carl Yastrzemski lasted 11 and Jim Rice played 12 years. If you add the eight years of Mike Greenwell's tenure and seven from Manny Ramirez, those five players have spent 54 of the 69 years since Williams' first year in 1940 playing left field for the Red Sox.

Now, that's job security.

You knew this was going to end badly. Most severed head stories do.

You just didn't suspect the Ted Williams saga to be quite so gruesome and tacky and thoroughly unbecoming of the man.

All he wanted was a simple departure from this earth and for his remains to be cremated and scattered over the deep waters of the Florida Keys. Instead, his wacky children had him frozen and his head was cut off.

It turned a war hero and one of baseball's greatest hitters into a national punch line, which was bad enough. And now this.

It's a little more than 10 years to the day since Ted Williams bid his informal adieu to Boston and baseball fans. The all-time great Red Sox left fielder died three years later in 2002 after numerous health complications, but his appearance at the '99 All-Star Game at Fenway Park was one of his final in public, and the one that left the most indelible mark.

Even with the backdrop of Mark McGwire crushing chemically-enhanced blasts over the Green Monster during the Home Run Derby, and Pedro Martinez's maestro act at the height of his prime a night later in the All-Star Game, Williams' farewell was the defining moment of a seminal Midsummer Classic.

FanHouse continues its 2009 MLB Preview with a look at the Minnesota Twins.

Last year was supposed to be the season in which the Minnesota Twins finally had to deal with reality. They traded Johan Santana to the Mets because they couldn't afford him any longer, and the heart and soul of the team, Torii Hunter, left for the glitz and glamor of Los Angeles. Then the Twins went out and won 88 games and were one run shy of making the playoffs after losing to the White Sox in a one-game playoff for the Central title. This is just what the Twins do. They defy everyone's expectations but their own, and odds are they're going to do it again this season.

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups

Arizona Diamondbacks (20-8) vs. New York Mets (14-12) - 9:40PM Est.

There's no doubt about it, if Sloth from The Goonies weren't a fictional character and lived in the real world, his favorite baseball player would be Diamondbacks pitcher/slugger Micah Owings. Owings has only been in the bigs for a little over a year now, but he's already garnering comparisons to the legendary Babe Ruth.

Obviously, the comparisons are extremely immature, but it's easy to see why they're being made. After all, not only is Owings 4-0 on the season with a 3.48 ERA, but he may be the best hitter on the Diamondbacks as well. In 79 career big league at bats, Owings is hitting .354/.373/.671 with five homers and 18 runs driven in. In the entire history of baseball, of players who have had 75 career at bats, there are only four who have a higher career OPS than Owings' current 1.044: Barry Bonds, Lou Gehrig, Ted Williams, and of course, Babe Ruth.

Hall of Famer Willie Mays was a guest on ESPN's Sunday Conversation with Peter Gammons this weekend. Amongst other notable topics, Gammons asked Mays whether he thought he could have hit 800 home runs if he hadn't played so many games in the windy and spacious Candlestick Park. Here was Mays' response:

No, not that. I think the Army, if I didn't have to go into the Army, which I had to go for my country, I would've hit 800 home runs or more. Let's say I played the schedule of 110 games in the Army, that's like 40 home runs a year. So you take that and you add it on to the 660, I think I would've been way ahead of everybody.

Well let me just say this -- Wilie Mays is full of crap. I don't know if he's senile in his old age or what, but he only missed one full season, and most of a second. Not even two full seasons. Being generous -- and I mean very generous -- I'll give Willie 100 home runs in the games he missed because of the Army. That still only gives him 760 home runs, which last time I checked, wasn't quite 800. But considering Mays only had four home runs in 34 games during the 1952 season, when he left for the military, it would be a stretch to say he would've even hit 40 on the year. And considering Mays won the MVP in 1954, his first season back, the argument that his skills diminished while he was in the Army does not hold much water.

While Willie's career accomplishments are impressive, his service time in the Army is not a reason why he did not reach 800 home runs. Now if you want to see someone whose career numbers were seriously impaired because of military service time, check out Ted Williams. Man, he missed five seasons during his career for World War II and Korean War service, and as Matt Watson pointed out, Williams didn't even skip a beat upon his return either time.

UPDATE: The Lineup Card examined some data regarding park factors that suggest Mays could have hit over 800 home runs. Looks like Gammons was on-point with his question, while Mays was off-base with his answer.

Barry's World is the FanHouse's look into the season that is Barry Bonds

In Sunday's LA Times, Barry's agent, Jeff Borris, let out a belligerent declaration:

"Barry better be unanimous, 100%, first ballot," Borris said. "If the Hall of Fame is what it stands for, how can the greatest player ever to play the game not be a unanimous selection?"

I understand that Borris is Bonds' agent, meaning his job is to best represent his client's interests, but seriously Borris, don't you think that edict is a little out of order?

Consider this, no player has ever been a unanimous selection to the Hall of Fame. Not the Babe, not Hank Aaron, not Mantle, not Mays, nor DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Nolan Ryan, none of them. On the 2007 ballot, Cal Ripken Jr. and Tony Gwynn received the 3rd and 7th highest percentages in history, 98.5% of the vote for Ripken, and 97.6% for Gwynn. Ripken had the iron-man streak, 2 MVPs, 19 All-Star games, a Rookie of the Year, and two Gold Gloves. Gwynn has eight batting titles, five Gold Gloves, and 15 All-Star games. They both played in what's considered the fringe of the steroid era and neither of them received a unanimous selection. Why would things be any different for Bonds? Especially consider that the Baseball Hall of Fame has a morals clause wherein character, sportsmanship, and integrity are all heavily weighed. Wouldn't that be enough to keep Bonds from garnering 100% of the vote?

There are more questions that must be asked: Is Barry the greatest player ever? Should Bonds be the first player to receive the unanimous distinction? Will voters snub him of a first-ballot Hall of Fame vote because of all the Game of Shadows allegations that surround him? Lastly, is there any player worthy of a unanimous selection to the Hall of Fame? These are all questions you must ask yourself and try to come up with the answer.