PBS film explores hidden heritage of baseball great

ALBQUERQUE, N.M. — Ted Williams is the last Major League Baseball player to hit over .400.

The Boston Red Sox slugger captivated millions with his dazzling swing and towering home runs throughout the 1940s and ’50s in competition with New York Yankees hero Joe DiMaggio.

Beneath the smiles and happy trots around the bases, however, was a man consumed with rage. For years, the baseball legend shunned his ethnic heritage and kept his family’s past a secret. Only when he would begin to speak out on behalf of African-American players would he begin to slowly reveal his connections to his Mexican-American Southern California family and the experiences that shaped him.

A new PBS “American Masters” documentary — “Ted Williams: The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived” — explores the life of Williams and his volatile relationships with his family and the press. Using rare footage and family interviews, the film — premiering Monday night — paints a picture of an entangled figure who hid his past while enjoying the admiration of adoring fans.

Williams was followed closely by sportswriters, thanks to his superb slugging skills and John Wayne-like persona as a foul-mouthed outdoorsman. But the future Hall of Famer regularly clashed with critical journalists and had public spats with his many wives. The slugger also lost prime years because of service in World War II and the Korean War — something that angered him.

“He was so complicated and so full of contradictions and rages,” director Nick • The documentary “Ted Williams: The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived” will premiere at 9 p.m. Monday on PBS, including WOSU (Channel 34).

Davis said. “Where did it all come from?”

The San Diego-born Williams played 19 years as a left fielder for the Boston Red Sox, winning two American League Most Valuable Player Awards and twice securing the triple crown (batting average, home runs and RBIs). He finished his career with a .344 batting average and 521 home runs, both of which rank among the best in baseball history.

Although Williams’ professional accomplishments and personal clashes were widely known, Davis said few knew about Williams’ ethnic background until Ben Bradlee Jr.’s book “The Kid: The Immortal Life of Ted Williams” (2013).

Williams was born to Samuel Stuart Williams and May Venzor, a MexicanAmerican Salvation Army devotee who often volunteered in Tijuana, Mexico, leaving Williams and his brother to fend for themselves with their alcoholic father, Bradlee said. His Mexican family ended up in San Diego as tension simmered before the Mexican Revolution began in 1910.

Williams concealed that past until near the end of his life, said Bradlee, who was among those interviewed for the film. “He was ashamed,” he said.

In the film, daughter Claudia Williams said she would sometimes ask her father about his mother but that he refused to talk about her or his past.

Williams was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame as soon as he became eligible in 1966.