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My Turn at Bat: The Story of My Life
Now available for the first time in years, My Turn at Bat is Ted Williams' own story of his spectacular life and baseball career.
An acclaimed best-seller, My Turn at Bat now features new photographs and, for the first time, Ted's reflections on his managing career and the state of baseball as it is played in the 1980s. It's all here in this brilliant, honest and sometimes angry autobiography -- Williams' childhood days in San Diego, his military service, his unforgettable major league baseball debut and ensuing Hall of Fame career that included two Triple Crowns, two Most Valuable Player awards, six batting championships, five Sporting News awards as Major League Player of the Year, 521 lifetime homeruns and a .344 career batting average. And Williams tells his side of the controversies, from his battles with sportswriters and Boston fans to his single World Series performance and his career with the declining Red Sox of the 1950s.
My Turn at Bat belongs in the library of everyone who loves Ted Williams, baseball, or great life stories well-told.
Red Barber proclaimed My Turn at Bat to be: "One of the best baseball books I've ever read." John Leonard of The New York Times said My Turn at Bat was "unbuttoned and wholly engaging...the portrait of an original who is unrepentant about being better than anyone else."
An acclaimed best-seller, My Turn at Bat now features new photographs and, for the first time, Ted's reflections on his managing career and the state of baseball as it is played in the 1980s. It's all here in this brilliant, honest and sometimes angry autobiography -- Williams' childhood days in San Diego, his military service, his unforgettable major league baseball debut and ensuing Hall of Fame career that included two Triple Crowns, two Most Valuable Player awards, six batting championships, five Sporting News awards as Major League Player of the Year, 521 lifetime homeruns and a .344 career batting average. And Williams tells his side of the controversies, from his battles with sportswriters and Boston fans to his single World Series performance and his career with the declining Red Sox of the 1950s.
My Turn at Bat belongs in the library of everyone who loves Ted Williams, baseball, or great life stories well-told.
Red Barber proclaimed My Turn at Bat to be: "One of the best baseball books I've ever read." John Leonard of The New York Times said My Turn at Bat was "unbuttoned and wholly engaging...the portrait of an original who is unrepentant about being better than anyone else."
320 pages, Paperback
First published June 23, 1969
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
October 26, 2016
4. When I first laid my hands on “My Turn at Bat” by Ted Williams I thought it was going to be just like any other simple biography you pick out for anyone, but I was definitely wrong. This biography of Ted Williams, written by himself, goes beyond what I expected for what I thought would be a simple biography of a baseball player or anyone in general. The book was well written, organized from start to finish in an easy timeline. What I like about the biography itself is how detailed it went into his life. The book didn’t just include his baseball career, it gave extensive detail of his childhood, his life as an avid fisherman, his daily life, and his time in the military as a pilot. In the book Ted Williams also goes into detail of what it takes to be a great baseball player in a kind of life lesson form as if he was your own father speaking. Before reading this book I just knew Ted Williams as a Boston icon who just did everything effortlessly, but after reading “My Turn at Bat” I learned of the major struggles in life both on and off the field as well as even learning that the Boston writers of his OWN city hated him to the bone and did everything they could to ruin his career, but failed.
5. As I read “My Turn at Bat” by Ted Williams I felt like I was being taught life lessons throughout the book not only for baseball, but for life general. I felt inspired by how he grew in fame in baseball and left as a legend even with all the immense challenges he faced throughout his life. These challenges included; the Boston writers just absolutely despising him, the draft in two wars, his social life, his continuous injuries, and much more. Although Ted Williams continuously faced these problems head on he still pushed on and strived in what he was doing. One example was in the early 1950’s when the Red Sox were so close to winning the World Series multiple times, but loss at the last minute. Although he had to face this issue himself he would still do extremely well in this period to the point that he started winning awards such as the Most Valuable Player Award. My recommendation for this book, besides baseball fanatics and players obviously, would be for anyone that loves dramatic stories with action and up and downs throughout a book. I would also suggest it for anyone that needs some inspiring in any form, because this book holds countless inspiring stories and lessons for everyone to enjoy.
5. As I read “My Turn at Bat” by Ted Williams I felt like I was being taught life lessons throughout the book not only for baseball, but for life general. I felt inspired by how he grew in fame in baseball and left as a legend even with all the immense challenges he faced throughout his life. These challenges included; the Boston writers just absolutely despising him, the draft in two wars, his social life, his continuous injuries, and much more. Although Ted Williams continuously faced these problems head on he still pushed on and strived in what he was doing. One example was in the early 1950’s when the Red Sox were so close to winning the World Series multiple times, but loss at the last minute. Although he had to face this issue himself he would still do extremely well in this period to the point that he started winning awards such as the Most Valuable Player Award. My recommendation for this book, besides baseball fanatics and players obviously, would be for anyone that loves dramatic stories with action and up and downs throughout a book. I would also suggest it for anyone that needs some inspiring in any form, because this book holds countless inspiring stories and lessons for everyone to enjoy.
April 5, 2011
The best baseball autobiography ever printed, bar none. Sorry, "Ball Four" fans, but this one is better.
October 6, 2015
Ted Williams was his own man. No apologies from Ted. Reading this book gives you insights into a hard-working, no nonsense baseball player. You don't hit over .400 by just being lucky. He outworked most all of the players of his era and that's how he succeeded and the proof is in his Hall of Fame statistics. And he loved to fish almost as much as he loved baseball and hated ties almost as much as the reporters that covered him. Almost.
November 4, 2020
He was a great hitter and a complex personality — driven, irascible, prickly, often lacking tact, a bearer of gripes and grudges that are aired thoroughly in this book, generous, friendly with occasional strangers, a lifelong friend to closer associates, and down-to-earth. He had a less than ideal upbringing with parents who spent most of their days and nights away from home, but gratefully recalled neighbours and youth baseball coaches who gave him companionship and direction. Some of his tips for effective hitting remain bedrock approaches that coaches still try to impress on young players. The book is plainspoken and direct. It's all presented without varnish. By the last page you feel like you've met the real person.
September 23, 2011
Stream of consciousness, probably believable, in fact, sometimes painfully so, adding to its credibility. Williams was probably somewhere on the autism spectrum, just very lucky that his passions were useful to someone else.
March 8, 2015
An excellent autobiography. Although it is one of those "as told to" books, Ted Williams' voice resonates firmly throughout. This book makes you realize that it's good to be outspoken when you have something thoughtful to say. Full of great baseball stories and observations.
April 29, 2013
Tough childhood, military hero, knew how to hit a ball and hit for average and power. Outstanding fisherman.
June 25, 2025
3.75
Ted Williams was one of the greatest hitters baseball has ever known and this memoir includes enough interesting anecdotes, analysis, and criticism to be worth reading. The style can be a bit off-putting as there are four parts (chapters) and no breaks within those parts. The organization is mostly chronological, but Williams does skip around a bit and the book sometimes seems like stream-of-consciousness. At its best, it is conversational.
The original edition was copyrighted in 1969, but this 1988 edition is clearly an update. It includes references to some players from the 1980s (Boggs and Mattingly, for example) and even notes the HR explosion of 1987. However, it basically ends with his years managing the expansion Washington Senators after the original team departed for Minnesota. Williams managed for one year (1972) after the team moved to Texas. He talks mostly about the first year (1969) and his efforts to help Frank Howard hit (and draw walks), but does not mention that the team's winning percentage declined every year under his leadership. He does note that he disagreed with some management trades.
I mention the copyright because the memoir includes some material that Jim Bouton was criticized for when he wrote Ball Four -- unfavorable comments about teammates and opponents, very negative stories about sports writers, etc. Williams had a reputation for not getting along with the press in Boston and there is very little here to disparage that thought.
Williams began play in 1939 when Gehrig and DiMaggio were teammates (Gehrig was very near the end) and he played until 1960, when integration had changed the game. Williams doesn't discuss integration directly, but he has all sorts of favorable things to say about Willie Mays and some other black stars and he used his Hall of Fame induction speech to call for the inclusion of Negro Leagues stars. It seems like Williams was interested in competing against the best players and he admired talent regardless of skin color.
As is well-known, Williams missed much of 1943 to 1945 because he was trained as a pilot in World War II and he was called to serve in Korea in 1952 and 1953. He flew combat missions in the latter war and there is a harrowing story about an incident when his plane was struck by enemy fire, caught fire, and was essentially destroyed by the time he landed (p. 180).
I read a DiMaggio biography a couple of years ago, who was the main star American League rival for Williams, and that book had many more cultural references than this one. DiMaggio played in NY, owned a restaurant, and married Marilyn Monroe, so that difference was perhaps inevitable. Here we learn that Williams read Hemingway's Old Man and the Sea (p. 94) and he quotes John Updike's famous New Yorker essay about Williams's last game (when he hit a HR in his final at bat). Williams claims that he liked to see movies when he was not playing (p. 75) but there is almost no discussion of them. He liked John Wayne westerns.
There is not much here about politics either, though Williams said he agreed with the Korean and Vietnam wars -- though he opposed the way the draft was selectively taking some Americans and not others.
Williams demonstrates a reasonable level of humility and generosity though he does recognize and approve of his status among the game's great hitters. He was not jealous, or says he was not, when other players won MVP awards despite his own tremendous performance. He even exhibits a measure of self-deprecation, especially when talking about his defense, running speed, and social skills. He preferred hunting and fishing to the banquet circuit.
On the personal side, there is a little bit about his multiple marriages and children, but not enough to learn anything, really. We read that he cried after losing the World Series in 1946 (p. 118) and after former manager Joe McCarthy died (p. 153). Williams talks frankly about his salary (very high for the era) and notes his eventual interest in stocks and reading the Wall Street Journal. Williams definitely builds an image of a pragmatic man who knew his own strengths and weaknesses.
The book was produced "with" John Underwood and I don't know why the latter didn't ask Williams to clarify some points. On multiple occasions Williams says he was typically among the last to leave the clubhouse after a game (pp. 8, 153), but on p. 111 Williams said he would typically shower and leave quickly -- that behavior resulted in him missing a locker room celebration in 1946. Williams does say that the last 5-6 years of his career he left early, but that would not have been 1946.
Ted Williams was one of the greatest hitters baseball has ever known and this memoir includes enough interesting anecdotes, analysis, and criticism to be worth reading. The style can be a bit off-putting as there are four parts (chapters) and no breaks within those parts. The organization is mostly chronological, but Williams does skip around a bit and the book sometimes seems like stream-of-consciousness. At its best, it is conversational.
The original edition was copyrighted in 1969, but this 1988 edition is clearly an update. It includes references to some players from the 1980s (Boggs and Mattingly, for example) and even notes the HR explosion of 1987. However, it basically ends with his years managing the expansion Washington Senators after the original team departed for Minnesota. Williams managed for one year (1972) after the team moved to Texas. He talks mostly about the first year (1969) and his efforts to help Frank Howard hit (and draw walks), but does not mention that the team's winning percentage declined every year under his leadership. He does note that he disagreed with some management trades.
I mention the copyright because the memoir includes some material that Jim Bouton was criticized for when he wrote Ball Four -- unfavorable comments about teammates and opponents, very negative stories about sports writers, etc. Williams had a reputation for not getting along with the press in Boston and there is very little here to disparage that thought.
Williams began play in 1939 when Gehrig and DiMaggio were teammates (Gehrig was very near the end) and he played until 1960, when integration had changed the game. Williams doesn't discuss integration directly, but he has all sorts of favorable things to say about Willie Mays and some other black stars and he used his Hall of Fame induction speech to call for the inclusion of Negro Leagues stars. It seems like Williams was interested in competing against the best players and he admired talent regardless of skin color.
As is well-known, Williams missed much of 1943 to 1945 because he was trained as a pilot in World War II and he was called to serve in Korea in 1952 and 1953. He flew combat missions in the latter war and there is a harrowing story about an incident when his plane was struck by enemy fire, caught fire, and was essentially destroyed by the time he landed (p. 180).
I read a DiMaggio biography a couple of years ago, who was the main star American League rival for Williams, and that book had many more cultural references than this one. DiMaggio played in NY, owned a restaurant, and married Marilyn Monroe, so that difference was perhaps inevitable. Here we learn that Williams read Hemingway's Old Man and the Sea (p. 94) and he quotes John Updike's famous New Yorker essay about Williams's last game (when he hit a HR in his final at bat). Williams claims that he liked to see movies when he was not playing (p. 75) but there is almost no discussion of them. He liked John Wayne westerns.
There is not much here about politics either, though Williams said he agreed with the Korean and Vietnam wars -- though he opposed the way the draft was selectively taking some Americans and not others.
Williams demonstrates a reasonable level of humility and generosity though he does recognize and approve of his status among the game's great hitters. He was not jealous, or says he was not, when other players won MVP awards despite his own tremendous performance. He even exhibits a measure of self-deprecation, especially when talking about his defense, running speed, and social skills. He preferred hunting and fishing to the banquet circuit.
On the personal side, there is a little bit about his multiple marriages and children, but not enough to learn anything, really. We read that he cried after losing the World Series in 1946 (p. 118) and after former manager Joe McCarthy died (p. 153). Williams talks frankly about his salary (very high for the era) and notes his eventual interest in stocks and reading the Wall Street Journal. Williams definitely builds an image of a pragmatic man who knew his own strengths and weaknesses.
The book was produced "with" John Underwood and I don't know why the latter didn't ask Williams to clarify some points. On multiple occasions Williams says he was typically among the last to leave the clubhouse after a game (pp. 8, 153), but on p. 111 Williams said he would typically shower and leave quickly -- that behavior resulted in him missing a locker room celebration in 1946. Williams does say that the last 5-6 years of his career he left early, but that would not have been 1946.
July 22, 2019
Simply put, one of the best (auto)biographies of a baseball player that I have ever read. Strikingly honest. No, I didn't know Williams personally, but I compare how he himself recounts experiences and conflicts with what the author Leigh Montville wrote of Williams in his opus " Ted Williams: The Biography of an American Hero".
Montville details the conflicts that Ted Williams had with people and the writers. When you read how Williams explains these incidents, you can see Ted taking responsibility for most of them.
Perhaps because of his upbringing and his troubled relationship with his parents, Ted grew up a very angry and stubborn young man. At the same time he was truly a regular guy who did not put on airs, who could be kind, down to earth, and very generous.
Ted had what we call today "Anger Management Issues" and would often be very profane in public with his language. A main reason why I prefer this book over Leigh Montville's is that while in Ted's book, he might say "I swore a blue streak", Montville will repeatedly drop the F-bomb. This book makes for much nicer reading. Also, Montville spends to much time recalling the "worship" of this American Hero, nonsense that Williams always brushed off.
Oversharing. Why do I say that? I listened to the audio book and it was on 17 CDs!
This isn't just "everything you ever wanted to read about Ted Williams", no it is more like that AND everything a bunch of other people want to say about Ted Williams.
Montville details the conflicts that Ted Williams had with people and the writers. When you read how Williams explains these incidents, you can see Ted taking responsibility for most of them.
Perhaps because of his upbringing and his troubled relationship with his parents, Ted grew up a very angry and stubborn young man. At the same time he was truly a regular guy who did not put on airs, who could be kind, down to earth, and very generous.
Ted had what we call today "Anger Management Issues" and would often be very profane in public with his language. A main reason why I prefer this book over Leigh Montville's is that while in Ted's book, he might say "I swore a blue streak", Montville will repeatedly drop the F-bomb. This book makes for much nicer reading. Also, Montville spends to much time recalling the "worship" of this American Hero, nonsense that Williams always brushed off.
Oversharing. Why do I say that? I listened to the audio book and it was on 17 CDs!
This isn't just "everything you ever wanted to read about Ted Williams", no it is more like that AND everything a bunch of other people want to say about Ted Williams.
January 20, 2021
This book was one long stream of a one-sided conversation with Ted Williams. I wish that it had been better organized, perhaps aside from just being a long, chronological spewing of information. A lot of details about some things and not enough of others. I loved looking at the photos, but the captions seemed mostly smug, some of them even resentful.
Mainly, I learned what one other reviewer said: Ted Williams was an incredible baseball player who loved to fish, but was a totally insufferable human being. He seemed really insecure (couldn't shake off the idea that people hated him), even for all his talent and positive qualities.
Either way, now I know more about a game I love watching, through the eyes of one of the best players from the era.
Mainly, I learned what one other reviewer said: Ted Williams was an incredible baseball player who loved to fish, but was a totally insufferable human being. He seemed really insecure (couldn't shake off the idea that people hated him), even for all his talent and positive qualities.
Either way, now I know more about a game I love watching, through the eyes of one of the best players from the era.
January 30, 2022
I read this autobiography by Ted Williams when I was only about 14 years old. I absolutely loved baseball, due mostly to listening to the greatest sportscaster of all time--Vin Scully--on the radio as I listened to countless L.A. Dodgers games during my formative years. I loved learning about the life of Ted Williams, the man many still consider to be the greatest hitter of all time, considering his rare combination of a very high lifetime batting average while simultaneously hitting with power (before anyone had invented slugging percentage as a statistic). The book also deepened my feelings of patriotism as I learned what it was like for one of baseball's premier players to step away during the prime of his career to answer the call of duty to serve in the military when his nation needed him. In my view, this book is an absolute "must read" for any serious fan of the game of baseball.
October 31, 2023
I’ve never read a sports biography or any kind of nonfiction related to baseball, but this book fairly seethes with the stormy personality of the great and complicated Ted Williams. It truly is in his own words, and he says exactly what he means. Alternately savage and compassionate, “Teddy Ballgame” gets to have it his way, lovingly relating with incredible detail the minutiae of each important at-bat in his life. But he’s less sparing of his colleagues, his fans and the sportswriters in the pressbox. Brutal.
February 8, 2021
Williams' own version of his career and life, filled with anecdotes and memories of the times and fellow ballplayers. He certainly acknowledges the issues he had with anger management (or lack thereof) and the press (particularly his hometown reporters), and he provides some excellent insider perspectives on what it takes to be a great, rather than just ordinarily good, professional athlete. For true baseball fanatics - or Red Sox crazies like my friend Connie - this is a quick, fun read.
April 16, 2021
Written as an in my own words sort of book. It is poorly formatted, just 4 or 5 chapters. The topics go all over the place. It reminded me of putting a tape recorder in front of a grandparent and saying tell me about your life in your career. It was gritty, rough around the edges, grumpy, and not enjoyable. Most other biographers talk about how negative Williams was, but you can feel it from the writing here. He hated other people, but respected only baseball. Read a biography, not this.
June 3, 2017
"Put the wood on it" said the world's greatest hitter. Whitney Ford was the hardest to hit off of; Bob Feller has the most stuff on the ball. said Teddy Ballgame aka The Kid aka Ted Williams. The first to come, the last to leave- he worked his way to a .400 batting average.
November 18, 2023
Good, entertaining read. I figured that I'd read the autobiographies of Orr and Bird, I might as well finish the trifecta of Boston sports greats.
I learned a lot about this complex, bitter, bitter man that I didn't know previously.
There's a couple recent bios out on him that I'd like to read.
I learned a lot about this complex, bitter, bitter man that I didn't know previously.
There's a couple recent bios out on him that I'd like to read.
February 23, 2018
Pretty good baseball autobiography, but Williams comes off as angry and negative too much.
June 10, 2018
6.4.18-6.10.18 bitter dude, but great baseball stories. 7/10 4/5
September 26, 2018
The best baseball autobiography, even though it was an as told to biography.
January 13, 2023
Interesting first hand stories from Ted Williams about his life, playing & managing career. Reads like he's telling stories rather than a polished book.
April 3, 2023
Not a Red Sox fan at all but Ted Williams was hilarious. Seemed like a really down to earth kinda guy. Obviously knows baseball and taught me a whole lot with this book.
August 20, 2024
The Autobiogaphy od the great hitters life through his playing days as well as his theory on hitting. Great read for a kid.
September 27, 2020
An excellent look into a baseball Hall of Famer's struggles with his claim to fame.Ted Williams is a hero. I absolutely love this story.
June 22, 2018
Williams may have been the greatest hitter ever, he wouldn't argue with that. He was undoubtedly the most obsessive. To him baseball was all about the battle between the pitcher and the hitter, a game consisted of the four or five times he batted. He was a perfectionist, a loner,temperamental and to hard deal with. But, sometimes to his regret, all was forgiven as long as he was knocking down the fences. Not that he escaped criticism. He hated the Boston sportswriters. He could be his own worst enemy. If Twitter was around in his time, Williams would have been ESPN's lead story every day whether or not the Red Sox had played. What's especially interesting is how little the game on the field has changed, but how much the off the field environment has. Williams had to deal with a shift, with a new pitch (the slider) as well as bean balls. He was criticized for walking too much. However,he had to overcome injuries without today's medical advances. He also had to overcome a situation no player today will face, losing four and a half years to military service. One constant is this: a batter's success is predicated on hitting a good pitch.
November 11, 2015
Williams voice really comes through in this reflection on his life in baseball (Underwood did a good job of balancing Williams voice with readability). Like his Hit List, Williams thoughts on the players and managers that he worked with and against during his career as a player and a manager were very interesting. Williams thoughts on his own behavior as well as the fans was also an fascinating lens to view Williams through. Baseball was such a different business then (as all professional sports are) and this book was also a nostalgic look at the baseball of days gone by.
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February 9, 2009This is such a good book because it gives you an appreciation of why we admire some atheletes.Ted was a man of such great talent and solid personal character. He is so honorable and worthy of praise and is the type of athelete we would want our children to emulate, unlike many of todays atheletes who can not seem to stand prosperity. It is a small book and a real page turner,Go For it!
August 21, 2009
Classic baseball memoir from Teddy Ballgame.
April 1, 2012
What you'd expect.
January 29, 2017
possibly read in spring 1970
October 21, 2016
Ted Williams could hit a baseball like no one else, but he is also one of the most insufferable people ever.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews