“He couldn’t have chosen a more American hero to collect than Ted Williams,” McCarthy said. Such extensive collections of Williams memorabilia are becoming less and less common, said Dave McCarthy, executive director of the Ted Williams Museum and Hitters Hall of Fame at Tropicana Field in St. I might have shopped one for something from DiMaggio. “Some of them, I traded for other pieces. “I haven’t sold any of them,” said Cugini, who spent 31 years as a school custodian in Braintree, Massachusetts, before retiring to Cape Coral in 2007. What are you doing with all of this stuff? Are you selling it?’”Ĭugini told him 'No' and has kept almost all of it.
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“It got to the point where he’d see me, and he’d say, ‘Not you again. Of the 500 or 600 Williams’ autographs Cugini owns, he estimated about 150 of them he obtained first-hand. Between then and Williams’ death, Cugini met Williams between 12 and 15 times. But he wouldn’t land another Williams autograph until 1980, which is when memorabilia and collecting began to take off. That response eventually transformed Cugini from fan to fanatic. “I wasn’t thinking I would get a response. “This is the first autograph he sent me,” Cugini said, pointing to a small photo on his wall. In 1959 or 1960, Cugini can’t quite remember the year, he came across a magazine advertisement for Ted Williams Inc., a Miami-based fishing company Williams owned.Ĭugini mailed Williams a request for an autograph. 344 with 521 home runs to Ruth’s 714.Ĭugini began collecting art work and lithographs of famous athletes in his youth because he aspired to be an artist. He finished his career with 13 all-star appearances, two American League Most Valuable Player awards and a career batting average of. He missed 1943-45 while serving as a marine fighter pilot. Williams, who died at age 83 on July 5, 2002, played for the Red Sox from 1939 through 1960. If he hadn’t gone into the war, I think he would have broken Babe Ruth’s home run record.” “He didn’t hit a home run every at-bat,” Cugini said of his favorite player. 400 in a season, is the king of swing, then Cugini is the king of collecting. If Williams, the last big-league player to hit better than. The 75-year-old Massachusetts native has an original copy of the sheet music from the 1908 song, “Take Me Out To The Ballgame,” among other mementos from the music world, such as signed photographs of trumpet player Tommy Dorsey, composer Glenn Miller and singer Frank Sinatra.īut the bulk of Cugini's collection consists of signatures from Willliams. He has autographs from other Hall of Famers like Minnesota Twins great Harmon Killebrew and Detroit Tigers legend Ty Cobb, both of whom had presences at spring training in Fort Myers. He has signed photos and baseballs from New York Yankees legends Mickey Mantle and Joe DiMaggio. His ticket to Fenway Park, face valued at $1.20, hangs framed in the hallway of his Cape Coral home as one of hundreds of other memorabilia items. 9, still played for the Boston Red Sox.Īt age 6, Cugini attended the 1946 World Series.
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The Ted Williams collecting bug bit Ed Cugini decades ago, when the “Splendid Splinter,” eternally No.
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Watch Video: Ed Cugini takes Ted Williams collecting to the next level