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- _ : x . ,. -j e _ U 3 » II of d y of I of of ,f e is a a Reporters Criticize Williams1 Actions Red Sox Star Outfielder Makes Public Apology for Vulgar Gestures at Fans BOSTON, Mass., May 12.— Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox was bitterly criticized by fans and newspapers here today for making allegedly obscene gestures of derision at booing spectators during yesterdays double-header at Fenway Park. The booing resulted from two costly errors by Williams in left field as the Detroit Tigers dumped Boston from first to fourth place in the American League with 13-4, 5-3 beatings. Williams, regularly booed by some fans at home games, dropped an apparently easy fly ball in the sixth inning of the opener, permitting a run to score. En route-to the dugout after the inning, Williams was booed and he turned toward the stands and made an apparently vulgar gesture with his fingers. In the eighth inning of the second game, Williams fumbled a tricky hit to left and three runs came in. Again there were boos. Coming from the field, Williams stopped before the dugout and gestured again — a similar finger motion that seemed unmistakably obscene. While waiting to bat in end of the eighth, Williams turned and apparently spat in the direction of the still booing fans. McCarthy Silent General Manager Joe Cronin had "nothing to say," leaving it up to Manager Joe McCarthy who remained silent. Umpire Bill Summers said it was a club matter — not one for the umpires. Columnist Harold Kaese of the Boston Globe recounted how one father had to evasively reply to his young son who asked what Williams gestures meant. Veteran baseball writer John Drohan of the Boston Traveler said "somebody should send Ted Williams that book How to Win Friends and Influence People." Columnist George Carens of the Traveler said "this perfectionist of the diamond should not be permitted to shock ladies and children with unseemly, gestures at Fen-f way Park." Sternest rebuke came from the Boston American which in a sports-page editorial said Williams "removed himself from the ranks of decent sportsmen." Suggesting that he be reprimanded, the editorial said: "This man is not the great baseball player he thinks he is. Very good, but not great. He is certainly not the big man so many believed him to be. Yesterday he was a little man and, in his ungovernable rage, a dirty little man." BOSTON, Mass., May 12 UP.— Out-|f fielder Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox formally apologized today for making allegedly obscene gestures at taunting fans during yesterdays Fenway Park double-,f header. The Red Sox public relations office issued this statement: "After a talk with Mr. Yawkey Owner Tom Yawkey" of the Red Sox, Ted Wil-!S liams has requested that this announce-•- ment be made to the fans. "Ted is sorry for his impulsive actions on the field yesterday arid wishes to apolo-2, gize to any and all whom he may have offended."
