Mar. 3, 1965 - The Red Sox’ first full squad workout today in Scottsdale, Ariz., was spiced by a debate behind the batting cage.
The topic under discussion was how to prevent Tony Conigliaro (right) from being hit by pitched balls.
The debaters were a famed pair from the Sox Old Guard — Ted Williams (left) and Bobby Doerr.
It started when Tony C. — recipient of three broken hands via pitched balls in the past two years — asked Doerr for suggestions on how to ‘bail out.’
“Your problem seems to be lazy hands,” Doerr started out. “I think if you concentrate on getting those hands out of the way as fast as you do the rest of your body, you won’t have any trouble.
“Maybe if you have some of these pitchers get a rubber ball and throw it at you, it would help your reactions. That way, you would find out which ways you duck a pitch best.”
Tony’s ears perked up a bit at this idea, but then Doerr called on “The Master” to enter the conversation.
Williams rejected the idea of Tony dodging pitched balls by his teammates in practice.
“He’s a fine hitter now, Bob, because he’s so aggressive and going at the ball all the time. The worst thing we could do would be to make him less aggressive.”
“What would you suggest then, Ted?” Doerr asked.
“To me, Tony’s problem is strictly lazy hands,” Williams continued. “Now he’s got to make his hands as fast as his mind. He thinks quick, and he’s got to get the bat to do the same. With experience, this should just come natural to him.”
Tony listened intently to the conversation then added his feelings on the matter:“I’m not worried about getting hit. I don’t think of the ball coming at me because I’m looking for that pitch over the plate where I can hit it.
“And no matter how many times I get hit, I’ll stay close to the plate and be moving into the pitch. What I want to find out is if I can swing the same way and still find a way to get away from inside pitches quicker.”
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