Perhaps the title of this story is slightly misleading. I am not sure whether Ted Williams LIKED the term ‘Cow Hampshire’ but he did seem to enjoy using it. Apparently to Ted Williams ‘Cow Hampshire’ was a place where hicks and people who did dumb things lived.
Ted Williams (1918-2002) Coach and Baseball Player
“Go back to Cow Hampshire,” he [Ted Williams] yelled into the left field stands one memorable Sabbath afternoon, “when any of you cock-eyed hicks are making as much dough as I am, come on back down here and I’ll hire a hall where you can yell all you want to.” The 8 September 1941 article in the Seattle Times (Seattle WA) was printed at a period in Ted William’s professional life where he reacted rudely to the ball fans comments to him from the stands.
He apparently continued to use this phrase, for in an interview printed in the Greensboro Daily News (Greensboro NC) on 23 March 1969, Mrs. Ted Williams (Dolores nee Wettach) stated: “Whenever I do something Ted thinks is dumb, he called me “Cow Hampshire and he kids me about my feet. They’re the biggest feet in the world, size 11.”
Dolores Wettach, a model and former Miss Vermont, was Ted William’s third wife. The marriage was relatively short-lived, splitting up when their son John-Henry was 6 and their daughter Claudia was 3. She apparently kept some of his things, because in 2003 they were auctioned off in New Hampshire.
***ADDITIONAL READING***
Biography: Ted Williams
SABR: Ted Williams
And here I thought you made up the term! I have heard that Ted was not the sweetest of men.
Amy,
Thank you for commenting. I did not know Ted Williams personally so I can’t say anything about his personality except what I can quote from news sources. The term is older than Ted Williams. It was believed to have been used as an affectionate, not a derogatory term, at the University of New Hampshire, in reference to there being more cows than people in New Hampshire.
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