Rating: 
Summary: disappointing
Review: Ever since my Little League-youth, when my grandfather used to regale us with tales of the Splendid Splinter, I've always considered Ted Williams my favorite of the Greats. So I was excited to see this book released but found it disappointing.Montville tries to be too artsy with his style: one-word sentences, one-word paragraphs, lots of repetition. For the most part, the prose is readable, but it clashes with the book's subject, who was many things, maybe even a bit of a rebel, but not artsy. Worse, for a book that approaches 500 pages of text, it is surprisingly superficial. Williams's World War II service gets a chapter, as does his more eventful Korean War experience; both chapters are thin and barely scratch the surface. Even the 1941 season (.406!!) gets lean treatment. I like the parallel he tries to draw with Joe DiMaggio (The Streak!!)--Montville writes, "Edge: DiMaggio" or "Edge: Williams"--but I wish he would have explored it more. Before the book is halfway through, Williams retires from playing (the chapter on his last game is probably the book's best; Montville nicely captures the atmosphere of The Kid's famous last at bat--and no tip of the hat), and the book then focuses on his marriages, his fishing, his work for Sears, as well as a fair amount of gossip-type stories. The main character of the second part is Ted's son John-Henry. At times, Ted drops out entirely as Montville recounts the life and despicable behavior of the son, who used his father as a money-making machine. I finished knowing more about John-Henry than Ted. Too often, Montville lets his sources speak for themselves rather than crafting a narrative from his interviews. The end result is a very distant portrait of Williams; we see him mostly and explicitly through other people's eyes. I'll stick with My Turn at Bat.
Rating: 
Summary: Fantastic biography!!
Review: I enjoyed this book so much! I have always been a fan, but this book taught me about the man. Where are the Ted Williamss today?
Rating:
Summary: I Want Montville to Write My Biography
Review: I picked up this book shortly after the Red Sox improbable comeback against the Yankees and their World Series victory more our of curiosity than any great love of Ted Williams. After all, Williams played before I was born. What I had read before of him was interesting and being a fan of baseball I realized that there are few people who rank higher in baseball lore.
This biography changed many of my opinions. It takes an exceptional writer to captivate the interest of a reader when the reader is somewhat ambivalent about the subject. After the reading the book, I can now say that I'm better informed about Williams (Both good and bad), understand the basis for his legend as a hitter, and am interested in reading more about him from other sources.
The bottom line is that I would recommend this book along with Montville's biography of Dale Earnhardt as well. Montville makes dull subjects interesting and interesting subjects fascinating.
My only quibble with the book is that he fails to mention a Sports Illustrated Article in the mid 1980's that Peter Gammons wrote about a meeting that Williams had with Wade Boggs and Don Mattingly. The article was a recounting of a night when the three great hitters talked about the science of hitting. I was only 12 or 13 years when I read that article, but it always stuck with me because at one point Williams claimed that on rare occaisons when you hit the ball perfectly, you can actually smell a burning or smoke smell from the bat. Until I read this book, it was the best thing I ever read about Ted Williams but Montville, a former Sports Illustrated writer never refers to it in the book.
Nevertheless, it's a great baseball book that makes great reading.
Rating:
Summary: A Truly Great Baseball Biography
Review: It's all there- subtantial detail about all the good and bad of this tremendously talented, very famous, interesting and complex man. The book is well written and very entertaining. I couldn't put it down and finished it in 3-4 days. It covers all stages of Williams' life. I liked the fact that it covered a lot of his post-baseball life. I especially liked the interviews with and anecdotes from many of the players from Williams era, as well as his friends, ex-wives and associates. I grew up in the 50s, so I could relate to many of these players and their comments. The only negative is that it could have had less detail on the intracies of fishing- since I'm not a fisherman. The book is probably the best baseball biography I've ever read.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: Leigh Montville digs deep into the life of Ted Williams to discover what it takes to become the best. As we find out Williams' case, it was at the expense of his family and Montville gives an honest portrayal of a true baseball icon. Ted Williams was larger than life -- but he was still human and Monville isn't afraid to show the flaws. Williams was a complicated man for people to understand and mostly because he wasn't going to conform to what he was 'supposed to do'. This book is a must if you're a sports fan and even if you're not its good story of success against the odds.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Biography of an American Icon
Review: Leigh Montville's biography of the late , great Boston Red Sox slugger Ted Williams is certainly the most up-to-date as well as one of the better researched books available about this American icon. Taking us from Ted's unhappy childhood right up to the last sad chapter involving his death and the public battle over his remains waged by his children, Montville provides an engrossing and comprehensive portrait of a very complex and often mystifying man. This book provides an excellent companion piece to David Halberstam's "The Team Mates", which provides,I believe, a more insightful glimpse into the private life of Wiliams as revealed by some of his closest baseball friends, Dom DiMaggio, Johnny Pesky and Bobby Doerr. Reading both Montville's book as well as Halberstam's will provide any reader with a great overall portrait of the immortal Williams.This is an excellent book for any Red Sox fan or lover of baseball. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Great Read
Review: Love him or hate him, (who could possibly hate him), Ted Williams was a man's man. he lived his life the way he wanted. We all may not approve of all of it but he led a full life. The stories are great within the book. It lets us in on all the outside pressures he faced and some of the unfair treatment he received. I loved the book and it gave me an even more profound respect for his ability. Nothing comes easy or without a price. It also teaches me to have an ironclad will. Ted may not have had the sophistication of a Joe DiMaggio but after this read you'll respect Williams a hell of a lot more than Joltin Joe. You'll love this book
Rating:
Summary: The Whole Man -- Heroism, Infantile Behavior and All
Review: Sports biographies are usually the weakest version of that otherwise interesting genre, the celebrity biography. The weakness can usually be found in three areas. The subject didn't do much more than play a sport well. The biographee is a thoroughly loathsome person. The author didn't do his or her homework to talk about much other than sports. Even when all of those weaknesses are overcome, the book can still disappoint because the author is really just another sportswriter with starts in her or his eyes.
Ted Williams -- The Biography of an American Hero has none of those problems. As a result, I cannot recall a biography about a sports star that is nearly as good as this one.
But what can you say that is new about Ted Williams? It turns out that there's quite a lot that can be said because Mr. Montville went to the trouble to unearth much material that was previously unpublished. I could tell that I was in for a treat when the section on Mr. Williams's youth in San Diego included a detailed description of his family home based on a recent tour by the author. It also turns out that what people had to say about Mr. Williams was often so tough and painful that the material was suppressed until after he died . . . lest a lot of hard feelings follow. So you have pages and pages of things you've never read or heard about Ted Williams.
Mr. Montville also takes us into the room with Mr. Williams . . . both when he was on his good behavior . . . and when he was not. You get a sense of what it was like to be his friend, his teammates . . . or his enemy. Most painfully, you get a sense of what it was like to be in his family -- something you probably wouldn't wish on your worst enemy.
Most biographers have some big theory about their subject and skew their arguments and examples to make those points. Mr. Montville does you the honor of letting you decide. He sneaks up on you. Suddenly, when you least expect it (as happened at the time), wham you find out something new . . . such as during Mr. Williams's Hall of Fame speech. Mr. Montville then goes on to explain and elaborate on what it meant, including reactions of others. It's a very fine way to present the material. Nice job!
Ultimately, we have a problem understanding the sports successes of those who mostly labored before the days of televised games. There are few objective measures of what they did. Mr. Montville painstakingly tries to sort that out. For example, did you know that there was no sacrifice fly statistic when Mr. Williams batted over .400? If there had been, his performance would have been measured at a much higher number.
The bulk of the book covers the previously hidden side of Mr. Williams's life, which he sought to keep private. That is certainly right, and makes this a great biography.
Like many heroes (his was deserved for his war-time service and his devotion to helping those in need), Mr. Williams had feet of clay. Mr. Montville doesn't try to cover up for that. In fact, he finds a reasonably inoffensive way to remind you of Mr. Williams's appalling language and behavior throughout the book. Mr. Williams had rabbit ears, a hair-trigger temper, and kept grudges. You see how those weaknesses often related to his inherent intelligence and perfectionism which caused him to be too hard on others . . . and himself.
I came away feeling like I understood who Mr. Williams was . . . and why he was that way. That's more than I can say from most biographies I read . . . whether the subject is a sports star or a former president of the United States.
But ultimately, I think I came away feeling that Mr. Williams was blessed in many ways -- not least of which was by who his biographer turned out to be. I have enjoyed Leigh Montville's columns in The Boston Globe and Sports Illustrated for decades, and have always considered him to be a writer first . . . and a sportswriter second. In this book, that gap has widened even further in favor of the writer. I hope he will favor us with many more biographies in the future.
The book includes Mr. Montville's famous SI obituary of Mr. Williams and Mr. Montville's recollections of when he met Mr. Williams in person. I thought the latter was an especially nice touch since it helped put his role as observer in perspective.
"Didja hear about the alligator?"
Rating:
Summary: A Flawed Hero
Review: Ted Williams was a crude, vulgar, womanizing, reluctant father who would give you the shirt off his back if he saw you were cold. At the end he was exploited by his son and wound up a late night comedy joke in death. This is not some cotton candy or tear down the icon report on his life, Leigh Montville presents Ted Williams in all aspects of his life on and off the field. An engrossing read!
Rating:
Summary: "Get a Good Pitch to Hit!"
Review: Ted Williams was the greatest hitters in baseball history. But there is so much more to him than baseball. Leigh Montville's biography is comendable on many levels, though far from perfect. Four and a half stars would be more adequate rating than I gave the book. Still the book is worth the price.
The books starts out jumping all over the place, making the story hard to follow. But once it begins the chronological story of his life, the book is well written. Montville plainly writes of the childhood neglect that influenced Williams life. The absence of his parents is largely the reason he behaved so immaturely early in his career. He was not used to living with rules, so the structure of professional baseball was an adjustment that caused a talented player to spend an extra year in the minors. Ted's only focus was baseball during his youth and career. He always picked people's brains, learning from anywhere he could about hitting. His dedication made people take notice. It is also how he developed his philosophy of hitting. Winning triple crowns and hitting .400 were among his great achievements. He would have hit .400 more than once if batting average were figured as it is today with sacrifices and walks not hurting the average. John Wayne was an actor, but Ted Williams lived the role. He served his country during World War II and the Korean War. Had Williams not sacrificed those years for his country, we would surpassed Ruth's home run record and no doubt other records as well. Yet he is still recognized as the greatest hitter in baseball history.
During his career the media gave the public the impression that Williams was a bad apple. But during his late career and in retirement, the public saw otherwise. Williams did have a foul mouth. His works of charity tell where his heart was. Knowing the good human being he was, it is unfortunate to read how his final years were spend. The way his son manipulated him is beyond shameful.
Despite the somber note most biographies end with, Montville had a different approach. He ended the book with an epilogue that is a collection of humorous antidotes with Williams as the star. It is wonderful that the book did not end on the same note as Ted's life.
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