This is an I-Heart podcast.

Guaranteed Human.

This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories, the show where America is the star and the American people, coming to you from the city where the West begins, Fort Worth, Texas.

The man who's been called the greatest hitter in baseball history carried a secret, one he was told to bury.

Ted Williams was called the John Wayne of Sports. He was the last player to bat 400.

Here to tell his story is Ben Bradley Jr., a former Boston Globe reporter,

an author who wrote The Acclaimed Biography, The Kid,

The Immortal Life of Ted Williams.

Let's take a listen.

This is from the introduction.

Ted was an original, not a traditional, modest, self-effacing hero, but brash, profane, outspoken, and guileless.

Self-taught and inquiring, he excelled as a marine fighter pilot and became one of the most accomplished fishermen in the world.

For better and worse, he was always his own man, never a phony, characteristics that helped him

outlast his critics and win widespread affection and admiration as he aged. He had three favorite

songs which he played in his mind to help him fall asleep.

The Star-Spangled Banner, The Marines Hymn, and Take Me Out to the Ball Game.

You know, I closed my eyes at night, and I've done this for 50 years.

And I hear this take me out to the ball game, and I get chills.

The only other song that makes me ever feel that way, the

national anthem, and the halls of Montezza. On visits to Boston long after he retired, Williams

was struck by how people fawned and fussed over him, puzzled that he seemed more popular

in retirement than he was during his playing days.

...