Williams would be rooting for Arraez
Picked-up pieces while waiting for a Fenway official scorer to give somebody an error . . .
■ Ted Williams would be rooting for Miami Marlins star Luis Arraez to hit .400. Ted supported Rod Carew when Carew batted .388 in 1977, boosted George Brett when Brett finished at .390 in 1980, and cheered for Tony Gwynn when San Diego’s hit machine closed at .394 in the strike-shortened season of 1994.
Williams had zero old-guy bitterness toward players of any new generation. He once told me, “That [Paul] Molitor kid in Milwaukee reminds me of Joe DiMaggio. He’ll be in the Hall of Fame someday.”
Teddy Ballgame remains the last big leaguer to hit .400 (.406 in 1941), and he’d be encouraging Arraez in 2023.
Arraez was in Boston this past week and I couldn’t resist the opportunity to speak with a kid with a chance to be baseball’s first .400 hitter in 82 years.
The Marlins have played more than half their season and Arraez left Fenway batting .392.
Does he know anything about Ted Williams?
“To be honest, no,” said the soft-spoken Venezuelan. “But I’m starting to learn who he is. I know Ted Williams now because everybody talks about him. That guy could hit a lot and he played for the Boston Red Sox. Rod Carew talks to me about him.”
Hall of Famer Carew, who was born in Panama, posed with Williams on the cover of Sports Illustrated in the summer of ’77. SI’s cover headline was “Ted Williams Analyzes Rod Carew,” and the subhead read, “The last .400 hitter and maybe the next.”
Fast-forward 46 years and it still hasn’t happened. Arraez spent the first nine years of his pro career in the Twins system, where Carew is a longtime special assistant.
“He is like my grandfather,” said Arraez. “He’s an amazing man. He helped me in Minnesota and said, ‘Just try to put the ball in play. Try to hit the ball to left field when you can and the hits will come.’ ”
When you flirt with .400 this far into a
season, folks never stop reminding you. And the pressure grows.
“Everybody shows me my numbers,” said the 26-year-old infielder. “I go to my social media and they post everything, but I don’t want to see it all the time. If I start paying attention to my numbers, I start thinking too much.’’
Does he believe he can do it? “It’s hard, but it’s not impossible,” said Arraez. “I just try to get a hit every day and then let’s see what happens.”
I told him the story about Ted going into the final day of the 1941 season. Boston’s savant slugger was batting .39955 and was offered a chance to sit out the season-ending doubleheader in Philadelphia. He was assured he’d have been declared a .400 hitter.
No, thanks, said Williams. He played the doubleheader, went 6 for 8, and finished at .406.
Arraez was impressed.
“He’s right,” said the Miami kid. “I’ve got to play every day and let’s see what happens.”
■ Quiz: Name the five pitchers this century with the most starts in which they gave up zero earned runs (answer below).
■ In New York, Mets owner Steve Cohen freely talks to media and fans about the mess that is his team — a team he broke the bank to assemble. Cohen had a major press conference Wednesday and said, “It’s on the players,” while taking ownership for how badly their season has gone. “I’ll take my responsibility,” he said. “I’m the owner.”
Here in Boston, we have nothing from Red Sox/Globe owner John Henry since he engaged in selective Q-and-As on e-mail with a couple of outlets in February. All we got this past week was Tom Werner pushing Fenway Sports Group’s exciting new virtual golf venture.
■ Speaking of Werner, it might be time for the chairman to scrub his lofty bio in the Red Sox press guide. Werner made his bones in the television industry on the strength of “The Cosby Show” and “Roseanne.” Bill Cosby and Roseanne Barr have emerged as American pariahs in this century, and it keeps getting worse. Barr most recently sarcastically denied the Holocaust and said “six million Jews should die right now.”
■ The Wall Street Journal noted that The Athletic’s NBA guru Shams Charania is also paid by FanDuel and delivered a draftnight tweet to his two million-plus followers that dramatically shifted the betting line on G League guard Scoot Henderson.
Charania’s tweet indicated that Henderson was “gaining serious momentum” to be picked by Charlotte at No. 2 overall. Charlotte wound up taking Alabama forward Brandon Miller, and according to the WSJ, “Charania’s tweet upended betting markets and set off a frenzy in gambling circles.”
According to the Journal, Charania didn’t return messages seeking comment for his obvious conflict of interest.
■ Dennis Rodman claimed this past week that Larry Bird would be unfit for the NBA if he played today. On something called “VladTV,” Rodman said, “If Larry Bird played in this era, I think he’d be in Europe . . . I think the kid from Denver is way better than him.”
Swell. Rodman tried this during the 1987 playoffs and managed to get Isiah Thomas in trouble.
In an unrelated matter, Rodman’s daughter, Trinity Rodman, is a member of our Women’s World Cup team and earns $280,000 playing for the Washington Spirit in the National Women’s Soccer League. Trinity Rodman told the WSJ that she has little contact with her dad: “He goes through so much, and throughout his career, he’s had a very hard time . . . And right now, our relationship is not really there.”
■ There’s been some local fan push for the Celtics to retire Marcus Smart’s No. 36. The only two Celtics with retired numbers who did not win a championship for Boston are Ed Macauley (traded for the pick that brought Bill Russell to Boston) and Reggie Lewis, an All-Star who died in the summer of 1993.
■ Hope you all saw the story of Belgium shot putter Jolien Boumkwo, who volunteered to run the hurdles in the European Team
Championships when two hurdlers were injured and the Belgian team needed to enter someone to avoid disqualification. Boumkwo finished last, but her participation temporarily prevented her team from demotion in the event.
■ Gymnast Simone Biles is returning to competition at the US Classic Aug. 5. It’ll be her first event since the Tokyo Olympics of 2021.
■ If Bill Buckner missed Mookie Wilson’s grounder at Fenway in 2023, it no doubt would be ruled a hit.
■ Going into the weekend, the Yankees were 14-17 without Aaron Judge and 31-19 when Judge plays.
■ A reader points out that the Boston Red Sox have become the Minnesota Twins. Middle-market team. Middle-market payroll. Little star power. Forever .500 or worse. Chaim Bloom’s anonymous roster didn’t register a blip in All-Star fan voting.
■ Speaking of All-Star players (every team gets at least one on the roster), the New York Times fears that the 2023 All-Star box score may have zero Yankee names. Judge (injured) and Gerrit Cole might be the only Yankees on the American League team, and there’s a good chance Cole won’t pitch.
Zero Yankees in an All-Star box score has happened only twice, last time in 1991 when Scott Sanderson was their only All-Star and he did not pitch.
■ Really unfortunate that the Reds got in and out of Boston before the arrival of Elly De La Cruz, one of the most dynamic rookies in baseball in a long time.
■ Jim Davis, one of the greatest sports photographers of all time, has wrapped up his full-time gig at the Globe. Wishing him well in retirement and hoping he comes back to shoot some freelance stuff for us.
■ Just learned that NBC Sports Boston anchor Amina Smith is married to Kansas City Chiefs safety Deon Bush. I reminded her not to let Deon show his Super Bowl ring to Vladimir Putin.
■ Reading recommendations: Christine Yu’s “Up to Speed — The Groundbreaking Science of Women Athletes,” and “How Baseball Saved Itself,” a cover story in the July/August Atlantic, by Newton native Mark Leibovich.
In the Atlantic piece, baseball commissioner Rob Manfred goes out of his way to make sure Theo Epstein doesn’t get too much credit for the widely applauded rules changes that have made the game more watchable in 2023. The commish tells Leibovich that the “quarterback” of the project is Morgan Sword, MLB’s 38-year-old executive vice president of baseball operations. “Not Theo, okay?” emphasized Manfred.
■ This nugget from Kate Storey’s excellent new book, “White House by the Sea”: On the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas in 1963, the president’s mother, Rose, and former Red Sox outfielder Jimmy Piersall played the 15th hole together at the Hyannisport Club.
Piersall was perhaps best known as the subject of “Fear Strikes Out,” a motion picture starring Anthony Perkins and Karl Malden.
■ In his new autobiography, “The Last Miracle,” original Met Ed Kranepool is rough on former Mets manager Yogi Berra, blaming Yogi for mismanaging the 1973 World Series vs. the Oakland A’s.
■ Other than high-rolling VIP ticket holders, there will be no availability to purchase alcoholic beverages at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Mon Dieu!
■ Sorry to hear that Padma Lakshmi is stepping down after two decades with “Top Chef.” Back in 2014, Padma, Dennis Eckersley, and yours truly were at a table for eight in front of the Green Monster sampling foods prepared by a stable of contestants at Fenway Park. She told me she’d been asked on dates by several Yankees players (a couple of high-priced shortstop talents came to mind), but would not name names.
■ Quiz answer: Clayton Kershaw (104), Zack Greinke (92), Justin Verlander (89), Max Scherzer (84), Jon Lester (80).