John Updike is often celebrated for having written The Great American Novel, but he also may have written The Great American Essay, which was published 59 years ago this week. Printed in The New Yorker, “Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu,” is a tribute to The Great American Hitter, Ted Williams, beautifully describing The Splendid Splinter’s final game. Mike and Bill look back on Williams’s late career, the life of Updike, the essay itself, and its incredible staying power. Plus, happy birthday to Ned Williamson and Bruce Campbell!
Larry Miggins hits the first of his two major league home runs, going deep off Preacher Roe in the fourth inning of the Cardinals’ 14-8 loss to the Dodgers at Ebbets Field. The round-tripper hit by the Bronx-born outfielder, who had once shared his dream of playing in the big leagues during a prep school assembly with a buddy with aspirations to be a baseball broadcaster, is called by an overwhelmed Vin Scully, Brooklyn’s play-by-play announcer who had wondered that day with his friend “what the odds against that would be.”
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May 13, 1952
