Visit The Ted Williams Hitters' Hall Of Fame In St Petersburg
Florida is a great place for baseball fans. You can watch the "Grapefruit League" games of the major league teams during spring training or attend the regular season games of the Florida Marlins or the Tampa Rays. If you attend any games at Tropicana Field, the home of the Rays, then make it a point to visit the Ted Williams Hitters' Hall of Fame which is now located just past the rotunda on the right-hand side of the stadium. Admission to the museum is free to the fans who attend the Rays home games.The museum is named for Ted Williams and it contains a lot of memorabilia related to his career, but it is more than just a Ted Williams museum because it is also dedicated to the greatest hitters that the game has known. It was originally opened in Hernando, Florida in 1994 at a location close to Ted Williams' residence.When the museum opened Ted selected his list of the twenty greatest hitters of all time who were immediately inducted into the museum. In case you are wondering who was on Ted's list, here they are: Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmy Foxx, Rogers Hornsby, Joe DiMaggio, Ty Cobb, Stan Musial, Joe Jackson, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Hank Greenberg, Mickey Mantle, Tris Speaker, Al Simmons, Johnny Mize, Mel Ott, Harry Heilmann, Frank Robinson, Mike Schmidt and Ralph Kiner.In later years, twenty more great hitters were also inducted into the museum and there is a display case honoring each of them in the museum. In addition there are displays chronicling Ted Williams' career including his time in military service, and the museum also has a special tribute to Japanese baseball. The Japanese display is unique and it also contains a Japanese language copy of Ted's book "The Science of Hitting" which is now given to every youngster in Japan's youth baseball programs.The museum tries to work beyond the confines of the displays at Tropicana field through the work of the Ted Williams Baseball Outreach Foundation which provides educational scholarships which are awarded to student athletes who excel in "academics, baseball and citizenship." So far 24 scholarships have been awarded and the museum and foundation hope to play a positive role in the lives of young people today.Here is what Ted Williams said when the museum was opened in 1994: "Through the Ted Williams Museum and Hitters Hall of Fame, we hope to build a lasting monument, an architectural tribute to what I think is the single most difficult thing in all of sports: hitting a baseball."If you are looking for inspiration and that special emotional thrill that comes from remembering the great players of America's national pastime, then the Ted Williams Museum is a must-see attraction when you visit Florida.Tropicana Field is located directly east of Interstate 275 in St. Petersburg. The dome is visible from the highway. I-375 and I-175 both veer off of I-275 and feed into Tropicana Field. The website for the museum is located at http://www.tedwilliamsmuseum.com
