Hey everyone, Ellie here, wishing you a happy Friday.

Welcome back from the Thanksgiving break, and it's now, believe it or not, it is December.

We are officially in the final month of the year.

We are officially in holiday season.

And in that spirit, we're going to try something a little different today just for fun.

Interested to hear what you think.

As always, send us your thoughts, questions, or comments to Letters atcafe.com.

Welcome. Welcome to my Carol Hardy moment.

In 1960, during a late-season game against the Baltimore Orioles, Ted Williams came to the plate for the Boston Red Sox.

The splendid splinter, as Williams was known, had established himself as the greatest hitter in baseball history, and he arguably still holds that distinction now, six decades later.

During his first at bat in that game, Williams fouled the ball hard off his leg, and he limped

out of the batter's box in disgust, surely cursing in that charming, old-timey way that baseball

players used to curse. He called out to Hardy, some otherwise forgettable kid on the bench,

to grab a bat and get in the game. Thus, Carol Hardy became the first and only person ever

to pinch hit for the great Ted Williams. Preet's fine. He hasn't sustained any bone or tissue injuries,

as far as I know. But this week, I'm going to grab a bat and step in for the Faraz Poor Flash,

the emperor of Eton Town. You see, our loyal cafe readers and listeners send dozens of great

questions into Preet every week, but he can only answer two or three per podcast. So as a little holiday time special, I went through the list, and I picked out a few of your

questions that intrigued me. There's lots of good ones in there that he wasn't able to get to.

Back in 1960, when Hardy Pinch hit for Teddy Ball Game, he hit into a double play.

This, by the way, is about the worst thing any hitter can possibly do in baseball.

Let's hope I fare better. The bar is low.

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