Williams stronger; appears at show

NEWTON, Mass. – The voice is steady, the signature is smooth. Ted Williams, recovering from a winter stroke, still has the strong forearms of a man who rapped 2,654 hits.

Sure, the guy who once could virtually count the seams on an approaching fastball now gropes for a split second for the proper place to sign his name. He walks with a cane and sometimes talks in circles.

But the Splendid Splinter is doing just fine, chatting about bass fishing and remembering at-bats from a half-century ago.

“I suffered a stroke, never thought that would happen to me,” said Williams, who was joined Thursday by four former teammates at his first public appearance since the Feb. 19 stroke left him temporarily bedridden. “But I’m getting along great.”

The last man to hit .400 in a season gave a firm handshake to fans who lined the courtyard of the Atrium shopping mall. The line stretched past Record Town and Doubleday Book Shop, snaked around Foot Locker and went all the way to the escalators.

“Thanks for the memories, Ted,” said a middle-aged man who finally made it to the front of the line to get an autograph.

Williams, 75, signed 120 copies of a limited-edition lithograph featuring The Kid and former teammates Dom DiMaggio, Bobby Doerr, Johnny Pesky and Eddie Pellagrini – all of whom signed autographs and then joined Williams for a session in which reporters and fans asked questions.

There were 521 copies of the lithograph, one for each of Williams’ homers. Each cost $175 and was sold by The Ted Williams Store, owned by son John Henry Williams. Most of the profits went to the former players.

The stroke left Williams weakened on his left side and hurt his vision. Though he has progressed from bed to wheelchair to walker to cane, his peripheral vision still is poor and unlikely to fully return.

John Henry Williams said he was shocked when his father asked to join the other four former Red Sox at the autograph session. It was the first time he had left Florida since the stroke, and was somewhat surprising for a man who has avoided public appearances for most of his life.

“He’s really working hard with the therapy. He hasn’t had a break or seen his friends,” the younger Williams said. “What’s really wrong is his eyesight. His balance is good. But he’s not ready to go out and do pushups, either.”

Doerr, 76, had not seen his former teammate since attending the opening of the Ted Williams Retrospective Museum and Library in Hernando, Fla., in early February. Ten days later, Williams had the stroke while dressing.

“He’s looking real good. He sounds just like he ever did,” said Doerr, like Williams a Hall of Famer. “I think he’s looking just fine.”

The well-tanned Williams, wearing a blue polo shirt with a Red Sox logo, received hugs from young women and stories from fans older than himself. He signed lithographs for young boys and their grandmothers.

One elderly man in a wheelchair reminded Williams of the time the Red Sox slugger was forced to pitch an inning of a doubleheader against Detroit.