'The Splendid Spitter'

[DOUGHBOYS]

A friend of mine called me and asked if I'd heard the news about Ezekial Elliot. I knew that he had a' personal' interest at stake, since he had drafted Elliot in many drafts already for the upcoming football season.
I could also detect in his voice, that he was aggravated with his news.
"SIX WEEKS! SIX WEEKS! THAT IS BULLSHIT!"

I asked if it was bullshit because he had drafted him in many drafts or bullshit because he believes it is ok to hit girls.
He knew the answer. I knew the answer.
He had invested in Elliot. He knew the risks.
Still, he didn't blame himself or Elliot. He blamed the NFL.
"Why does the NFL take so long? Why can't they take care of business in a normal amount of time?"
I had to agree with these points.
Still, his aggravation is like that of Jerry Jones and a lot of modern day parents-
They believe in punishment....As long as it doesn't involve MY CHILD.

So, what does this have to do with baseball?
I thought you'd never ask!
Times were different in sports back in the day.
Long investigations were not needed when a wrong was done.
They were either summarily dismissed as was the Martin, Mantle, Ford, Bauer brawl at the Copacabana in New York or they were dealt with swiftly.

Ted Williams is known as 'The Splendid Splinter".
There was a time, however, when he was known as "The Splendid Spitter".
Williams was a splendid hitter. Not so much with a glove.
In fact, Williams was chaztized for practicing his swing while in the outfield.
He was not paid for his glove, he was paid for his bat, he would grumble.

One day in 1956, the Red Sox were playing the hated Yankees.
In a 0-0 game in the eleventh inning, Williams dropped an easy fly ball off the bat of Mickey Mantle.
He was booed.
Williams did not like getting booed.
Hated it.
Yogi Berra drove a ball to Williams at the wall and this time Williams caught it.
Inning over. Sorta.

Fuming on his way to the dugout, Williams turned towards the box seats close to the field and spit.
Then, upon reaching the dugout, he looked up at the press box and spit again.
Back in that day, spitting was the ultimate in defying folks.
Think of it as a double mid finger salute.
Most folks, were horrified.
Fate and the baseball Gods were not done with Williams that day.
The Red Sox rallied and loaded the bases with two outs and I think you can figure out who was up.
He went to bat among a mixture of cheers and boo's.
The boo's were for Ted's acts of unkindness.
The cheers because no matter what one of our players does...losing to the Yankees is worse.

Williams dug in. He wanted to show everybody that no matter what more than 30,000 fans saw with his glove, he knew he could make things right with his bat.
He didn't.
Or more right, he couldn't.
He walked.
Disappointed at the walk, Williams flipped his bat high in the air and made the jog to first base.
In the meantime, his teammates and fans shouted for joy as they had beaten their hated rival.

Williams knew he would get punished.
He didn't factor in how much or how swiftly justice would be meted out.
Williams was fined $5,000 by the Red Sox (yes, in those days, the team usually assigned the penalty)
This was harsh.
One twentieth of Williams salary.
Equal to Albert Pujols paying over a million dollars for a fine today.
And Williams was informed of the fine a mere 90 minutes after the completion of the game.
When a reporter asked Williams if he were showing up to the game the next day, Williams replied, 'Well yeah, I can't afford another $5,000.'

[whale4evr]

No Player's Union back then.

[Deadheadz]

Great recounting of the story.

No one ever remembers the pitcher tho.
It even took the (failing?) New York Times over 12 years to give that pitcher the headline he deserved.

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#FakeNews

[DOUGHBOYS]

No Player's Union back then.

So true.
In many ways, better.
In many ways, worse.