The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-08-20
TED WILLIAMS
 MOST VALUABLE
 SAYS FERGUSON
United Press Writer Sees Red SOx OutfieIder Tak-
 ing Coveted Honor
tReg. U. s. Pat. OM.) BY HARRY FERGUSON fvY.aknH m-~. C~n~,.k~ EIaAnp\

New York, Aug. 0.-(UP)-At the end of each baseball season the United States mails grow heavy with letters from people who want you to help them pick the most valuable player.
 Then comes the beginning of what ball players call 'the banquet circuit'-when they go to an end- less chain of dinners, eat an end- less amount of breast of chicken, get a vast accumulation of scrolls and plaques, and make n1umbling, embarrassed speeches that sound like this "Mmm mmnrn mmn1 nm and I thank you"
 So far as this department is con- cerned the contest for the most valuable player Is over. It doesn't make any difference what happens between now and the end of the season, here is one vote that Is go-
 Theodore Francis Williams of the Boston Red Sox.
 Of course, the American League, in it's stubborn way, probably will go right ahead and play out its schedule despite the fact that the Yankees are the pennant winners, Williams is the batting champion and I have just given him my per- sonal laurel wreath.
 The odd part about the lanky. Boston outhelder is that during this his greatest seaSon-he has spent most of his time in eclipse. While he has gone steadily on, banging basehits and staying around 400 average, other men have stolen the spotlight.
 First it was Bob Teller. The big smoke and flame man got of to a great start this year and for the first six weeks of the season many an argument started over whether he could win 30 games. He became such 8 box office draw that it was announced three and four days in advance when and where he would pitch. Gradually Teller began to cool of and lately he has been positively Arctic. This cooling of process was aided and abetted by his teammates on the Cleveland Indians who staged their annual collapse and began to boot away ball games.
 Then along came Joe DiMaggio and you know all about that. He broke all major league records by hitting in 56 consecutive games and replaced Teller as the top box office attraction in the major leagues. During his streak he prob ably drew 75,O00 persons, who would l not have attended the games other wise, into various ball parks. And now old man slump has DiMaggio | by the throat and he has conceded l that he has no chance to overtake Williams in the American League batting race.
 That leaves our hero alone on the pedestal. Of course, there are other things besides seeking the old ap- pie to take into consideration when you pick the most valuable player. Williams, for instance, isn't near the defensive outflelder that Di- Maggie is and he probably never will be. But you can't laugh of a 400 batting average, and you are PACtOy ouAC tAAdt WAAAdkIlS 1I16y kct even better as he gets older and wiser.
 Particularly wiser. For he has learned to ignore the bench jockeys now. Jimmy Dykes and the Chi- cago White Sox used to drive him crazy by reminding him that he once said he would like to quit baseball and be a fireman. They rang gongs, made noises like sirens and did everything they could to rob the kid of a batter's most valu- able asset-concentration.
 As Williams grows older and heavier, he will pick up more pow CT and the time may come when he and not Babe Ruth will be the one you think about when you mention ability to blast a baseball out of the park. Anyhow, he's my man for 1941 and, so saying, de- posit in the ballot box one vote for Ted Williams.