The Splinter’s Last Game

Color film surfaced of Ted Williams last major league game:

Bill Murphy, a 19-year-old student at an art college in Boston, skipped class on Sept. 28, 1960, and bought a $2 ticket to Fenway Park. Ted Williams was playing his last game in the major leagues.

Even more auspiciously, Murphy brought his 8-millimeter color film camera with him.

…

A few days after the game, Murphy developed the film. There was Williams, one of the best hitters to ever play the game, clouting the last of his 521 home runs for the Red Sox in his fabled final at-bat. Murphy showed the film to his father and a few friends then tossed it into a desk drawer where it has remained since, all but hidden.

The film recorded the ceremony honoring Williams before the game, and each of Williams four plate appearances. We even get to see one of his twisted foot swings. The park was not close to being sold out, very different from the day Carl Yastrzemski retired. Murphy was able to walk around the stands and get different camera angles of Williams hitting. We can see bot how little and how much Fenway changed in the intervening 59 years. I liked the circle of brown grass in leftfield where Williams stood. I don’t think he shifted very much. The video is four minutes long, well worth the look.

from baseballmusings.com https://ift.tt/2zOgR3S