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CNN Saturday Morning News

Interview With Chris Cotter

Aired July 06, 2002 - 07:40   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ROBIN MEADE, CNN ANCHOR: Sitting right beside me now is Chris Cotter of Atlanta's Radio 790, The Zone. He's been kind enough to join us this morning. Talk a little bit about Ted Williams, what a legend he was. How great of a loss is this to the world of baseball?

CHRIS COTTER, RADIO 790, ATLANTA: Well, I mean, Ted Williams' health has been -- he's been suffering here these last few years -- it's really gone downhill a little bit for him -- I mean, but in terms of what he means to baseball, he still -- the All Star game just a couple of years ago in Boston. He was there for a ceremonial throwing out the first pitch. And the players just surrounded him, and just loved to have his presence there. Because they all respect him and know what a great hitter he is.

And the thing about Ted Williams is he still talks to this day about the science of hitting, and he looks at hitters like Tony Gwynn and George Brett and some others as being great hitters and he talks about them in a scientific light, and I think the hitters really respect that, and enjoy sitting down with him and talking about hitting because you can really tell when you talk to him and when you listen to him talk that he loves it. That is his passion.

MEADE: Yeah, and the late Ted Williams, he was revered by many and he was reviled by many. Talk to me about the part that will be revered.

COTTER: What will be revered was just how great of a hitter he was; he was the best hitter of all time. There's no doubt about it. You have Hank Aaron with the home-runs, the Home-run King. You have Barry Bonds, the single-season home-run king. You have players that have had more RBIs, but nobody did everything.

Ted Williams hit for power, he hit for average. On the last day of the season in 1941, he would have batted .400 had he sat out the last two games. But he decided to play the last two games anyways, and he raised his average from 3.998 to 4.06 in that last day when he could have sat out, and he risked it all, but he wanted to play to make sure he got there and he got way above.

MEADE: That's the bottom line; he wanted to play, right?

Now, tell me too, though, but on the flip side, he refused to tip his cap to the Sox fans that loved him so much. COTTER: Yeah, he had a thing about people criticizing him. You know, he never wanted to hear anybody talk glowingly about him, but if you criticized him, he remembered that forever. And they booed him once very early on in his career and after that, he would never tip his hat, he would never acknowledge the fans in Boston. Even on his last day when they wanted to give him a standing ovation, he didn't want to come out of the dug-out.

MEADE: You know, even now, let's talk about how different -- the times have changed in baseball. You know, there's obviously a lot more money paid than Ted Williams got. And also, people focus so much on home-runs. But yet, he is still remembered as the person with the last .400 season.

COTTER: Yeah, absolutely. And that might be the record. Everybody talks about, you know, which record might never be broken. Well, hitting .400 -- I mean, a couple of people have come close and when I say close, .385, George Brett did it one year, Ray Caruth threatened it one year, but nobody is coming close to that .400 number. You know, the batting leaders right now are .345. You know, that's a huge gap to be able to close, and those guys are hitting a ton, so I think that's one record that might stand.

And, the unfortunate thing, everybody talks about Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak and much of Ted Williams' career in Boston he was overshadowed by not only Joe DiMaggio individually, but also the Yankees as a team. I believe he only won one pennant with Boston, so he never had a great deal of success for his team, for Boston, for all the years he was there. And, plus, he was always sort of playing in the shadow of Joe DiMaggio; Joe DiMaggio won an MVP from him one year when Williams' numbers were clearly better than DiMaggio's numbers.

MEADE: And yet, even now after his death as perhaps he would wish many people will say there goes the greatest hitter who ever lived. Chris, thank you so much.

COTTER: Oh, you're very welcome. Thank you for having me. Sure.

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