SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Latino athletes have been excelling in Major League Baseball for decades. But the first player of Hispanic heritage to be inducted into the Hall of Fame rarely talked about his Mexican roots.
It's a mystery that biographers of San Diego baseball legend Ted Williams took years to unravel. The breakthrough was made by author and historian Bill Nowlin.
“These were different times, growing up in the 1930s. Today, he would be lionized for his background. It would be an advantage, in a way," Nowlin told ABC 10News. "Back then it was something that kids- you didn’t want to make too much of it and in fact, he maybe wanted to hide it a bit.”
Williams had a difficult childhood growing up in North Park.
“He came from a broken home. And he came from a home where he was a little embarrassed by his mother," Nowlin said, explaining that Williams' mother, May, was often away from home in the evening, combing through San Diego bars to proselytize about Christianity.
In his autobiography, Williams only mentioned May's heritage once, saying she was part Mexican and part French. In the book, he had spelled her maiden name as "Venzer".
While researching his biography on Williams, Nowlin could not find anyone with that last name in California and considered the lead a dead end. But after the book was published, he was contacted by a cousin of Williams from that side of the family. Realizing that the cousin was pronouncing the name differently, Nowlin realized May's maiden name was actually "Venzor," allowing him to further research Williams' Hispanic heritage.
He found that May was born in El Paso, Texas, with two parents who were from Valle de Allende in the Mexican state of Chihuahua, making Williams 50% Latino.
It's a fact that Williams did little to make publicly known, writing in his autobiography that it could have led to him having a hard time because of prejudice in Southern California.
“These were different times, growing up in the 1930s," Nowlin said. "Today, he would be lionized for his background. It would be an advantage, in a way. Back then it was something that kids- you didn’t want to make too much of it and in fact, he maybe wanted to hide it a bit.”
He believes that if Williams were growing up now, he would be able to embrace his Hispanic heritage.
Nowlin points to numerous examples of Williams' outspoken support of minorities, including a warm welcome to the first Black player on the Red Sox, his decision to use his Hall of Fame induction speech to advocate for the inclusion of players from the Negro Leagues and his late-in-life friendship with another San Diego icon, Tony Gwynn. Williams saw Gwynn as a kindred spirit in the quest to be among the greatest hitters of baseball history.
“I think he would take pride in it today," Nowlin said. "He was always very honest about his life and I think if you could get him in the right format where he was comfortable talking. He would take considerable pride in it.”
There are several landmarks dedicated to Williams in his hometown, including the naming of the field at North Park Community Park where Williams learned the game. There is a mural of Williams and Gwynn at Williams' alma mater, Hoover High, and the naming of the Ted Williams Freeway and Ted Williams Parkway, which runs from Carmel Valley in the west through Poway to the east.