Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu

Ted Williams, circa 1955 

Photograph from Getty

It was 57 years ago today that the great--though enigmatic--Ted Williams took his final swing on a baseball field.  It was only fitting that he would put the finishing touches on his playing resumé in the form of his 521st career home run.

John Updike's brilliant piece, Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu, chronicled the events of that day, and first appeared in the October 22, 1960 issue of The New Yorker. It is one of the great pieces of long-form sportswriting ever produced.

Like a feather caught in a vortex, Williams ran around the square of bases at the center of our beseeching screaming. He ran as he always ran out home runs—hurriedly, unsmiling, head down, as if our praise were a storm of rain to get out of. He didn’t tip his cap. Though we thumped, wept, and chanted “We want Ted” for minutes after he hid in the dugout, he did not come back. Our noise for some seconds passed beyond excitement into a kind of immense open anguish, a wailing, a cry to be saved. But immortality is nontransferable. The papers said that the other players, and even the umpires on the field, begged him to come out and acknowledge us in some way, but he never had and did not now. Gods do not answer letters.

Read the whole piece here. It's long, but it's worth it.

A Little More Magic

That's Aledmys Díaz in the front in the red hat.
And that's José Fernández in the yellow hat.

(Photo courtesy: Nelson and Rigoberto Díaz) pic.twitter.com/v7O9G2p0kv

— Baseball Tonight (@BBTN) September 28, 2016

Aledmys Diaz grew up down the street from Jose Fernandez. The two were teammates and boyhood friends in Cuba, Diaz's father introducing Fernandez to baseball and his uncle teaching him how to pitch. So when Fernandez tragically died early Sunday morning, perhaps no player in MLB was more personally impacted than Diaz.

After spending the day Monday back in Florida with his family and Fernandez's mother and grandmother, Diaz returned to St. Louis. In his first game back (and on the heels of Dee Gordon's magical moment), Diaz created some magic of his own. With the Cardinals trailing the Cincinnati Reds in the game and clinging to hopes of a wild card playoff berth, Diaz honored his late childhood friend by doing this...

First career grand slam for Aledmys Diaz. #STLCards pic.twitter.com/L3gdJFsDew

— All STLCards (@AllStlCards) September 28, 2016

A Touching Tribute

In the early hours of Sunday morning, Miami Marlins star pitcher Jose Fernandez tragically died in a boating accident at the age of just 24. The Marlins' game later that day was cancelled.

Monday night, when the Marlins subsequently took the field for the first time, their leadoff hitter was Dee Gordon. The same Dee Gordon who had hit ZERO home runs all season long.

Just amazing, @FlashGJr. #JDF16 pic.twitter.com/Tgg03ZSJlt

— MLB (@MLB) September 26, 2016