More than two decades after Ted Williams' death, baseball fans are getting something nobody expected: new footage of the Red Sox legend talking hitting.
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ESPN's Jeff Passan recently unearthed never-before-seen video of Williams debating longtime Boston teammate and fellow Hall of Famer Bobby Doerr during a 1987 fishing trip in Oregon.
Yes, a fishing trip somehow turned into a hitting clinic.
The footage was discovered on a videocassette at the home of former Red Sox pitcher Dave "Boo" Ferriss and shows Williams and Doerr discussing one of baseball's oldest debates: the proper way to swing a bat.
"Now, there are two things about hitting that I want to stress," Williams says in the video. "Quickness. This is a quick game, and a strong game. You want to be as quick and strong as you can be."
Williams favored an uppercut-style swing designed to drive the baseball in the air. Doerr argued for the more traditional approach of swinging down on the ball and creating backspin.
Each Hall of Famer was given 10 minutes to make his case.
🚨Coming tomorrow🚨
We thought we'd heard the last new words from Ted Williams, that we'd never have more to learn from the Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived.
We were wrong. pic.twitter.com/xwBM3KtSVk
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) August 17, 2026
What's fascinating nearly 40 years later is how closely Williams' philosophy resembles the modern approach to hitting.
Former National League MVP Joey Votto joined Passan to analyze the footage and noted that today's bigger, stronger hitters are increasingly taught to elevate the baseball, essentially embracing an idea Williams was preaching decades ago.
Of course, this is Ted Williams we're talking about, so the conversation wasn't exactly a dry instructional video.
At one point, Williams colorfully explains how much he hated getting out in front of a pitch and rolling a ground ball to first base.
Williams, who died in 2002 at age 83, remains the last MLB player to hit .400 in a season, batting .406 in 1941.
Turns out the Splendid Splinter still has a few hitting lessons left to give.
