Teddy Ballgame on the Water: Ted Williams's Personal Fishing Lure

Ted Williams spent his baseball career chasing perfection, and when he retired, he found a second pursuit that satisfied the same itch. He believed three fish were worthy of any true sportsman: tarpon, bonefish, and Atlantic salmon, and he built his life around them. He spent June through October fishing for Atlantic salmon in Canada and the rest of the year angling for tarpon and bonefish in Florida, buying houses in Islamorada, near the flats, and in New Brunswick, overlooking the Miramichi River. By 1982, he had reportedly caught a thousand of each fish on a fly rod, and that year he co-authored "Ted Williams Fishing 'The Big Three'" with John Underwood. He was also an early advocate of catch and release, and he became one of the sport's most influential ambassadors.

This lure is a personal piece from that second career. Williams is best known as the last hitter to bat .400, a 19-time All-Star who gave up years of his prime to serve as a military pilot, and he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1966, in his first year of eligibility. But for a man who brought the same hard-eyed intensity to the water that he brought to the batter's box, fishing was no hobby. He hosted a television program about it and was inducted into the International Game Fish Association's Fishing Hall of Fame, an honor few athletes can claim. Most Ted Williams memorabilia comes from the ballpark. A fishing lure comes from the other place he considered home.