July 13, 1999: Old Ted Williams at the All-Star Game

In 1999, The Sporting News listed its 100 Greatest Baseball Players. Ted Williams, often called "the greatest hitter who ever lived," with a .344 lifetime batting average and 521 home runs, was ranked 8th, the highest-ranking left fielder.

For the sake of perspective, here are the 7 players ranked ahead of him: Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Hank Aaron, Lou Gehrig and Christy Mathewson. That's 4 of the 1st 5 guys elected to the Hall (Ruth, Cobb, Johnson and Mathewson, but not Honus Wagner), a .340 lifetime hitter (Gehrig), and the guys who used to be the top 3 home run hitters ever (Aaron, Ruth and Mays). Although it probably pleased him that only 2 of the guys ahead of him were pitchers.

That year, Ted was named a finalist for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team, to be chosen in All-Star-style balloting by the fans.

July 13, 1999, 25 years ago: Many of the finalists for the MLB All-Century Team were introduced before the 1999 All-Star Game, which was held at Fenway Park in Boston, where Ted Williams had played his home games from 1939 to 1960. After the other finalists were introduced, Ted, 77 years old and weakened by a stroke, was driven onto the field in a golf cart, and tipped his cap to the fans, something he had always refused to do while he was playing.

When the cart stopped, all the greats, current and former, crowded around him, like he was the Pope about to offer blessings. A path had to be cleared for them so he could be eased to a spot in front of the pitcher's mound, where he would throw out the ceremonial first ball to another finalist, former Red Sox catcher Carlton Fisk. The man then thought of as the best pure hitter in the game, Tony Gwynn, helped steady him so he could properly throw. Gwynn played for the major league edition of the San Diego Padres, in Ted's hometown. Ted had played for the old, minor-league version of the Padres.

When Ted finished his throw, he was led back to the cart, and the players were still crowding around him. It might have been the first time people had come to a baseball game, and were hoping it wouldn't be played, that the pregame could go on forever.

Oh yes, the game: The American League won, 4-1.

The fans voted, and, naturally, Ted was elected to the final All-Century Team. Every player elected to it and still living showed up at Turner Field in Atlanta, to be introduced before Game 2 of the World Series between the Braves and the Yankees. Ted tipped his cap again, and Atlanta fans, who never got to see him play (never mind Interleague play, the Braves didn't move to Atlanta until he was already elected to the Hall of Fame), gave him a standing ovation.

It was his last time in a major league ballpark. He'd had a stroke, and his famous vision had already gotten so bad, he couldn't see Fisk from the mound during the Fenway pregame, and was heard to ask, "Where is he?" And he was nearly wheelchair-bound. He had another stroke, and was practically immobile after that. He died on July 5, 2002, at age 83, at Citrus Memorial Hospital in Inverness, Florida.