(Spring Training - Winter Haven, FL - Photo: Frank O'Brien)

Spring training of 1978,

Red Sox Winter Haven, it was fate.

This kid met “The Kid”, number nine,

One of baseball’s greatest of all-time.

“Hey kid, come here” said Ted Williams to me,

We had met Rice, Lynn, Fisk and Yastrzemski.

This was different. Ted sat in a golf cart,

He gave me a hug that nearly stopped my heart.

Williams did more than just play baseball games,

Pilot, angler member of four Hall of Fames.

The photo hung on my dad’s office wall,

A memory of father, son and baseball.

Decades have passed since this moment, my father rests up above,

More than a picture with Ted, a symbol of my dad’s love.

Richard C. Welch, Jr.

September 5, 2022