On January 8 of this year, the Mickey Vernon Sports History Museum, through Jim 
Vankoski, curator of the museum, received a surprise donation from Morris “Moe” Bergman of Worcester, MA and Alan Langsner of Needham, MA. The gift was a letter that Mickey Vernon wrote to Ted Williams on January 24th, 1966. Mickey, winner of two American League batting titles, member of seven all-star teams, and a resident of Delaware County until his death, was a long-time friend of Williams.
Vankoski, curator of the museum, received a surprise donation from Morris “Moe” Bergman of Worcester, MA and Alan Langsner of Needham, MA. The gift was a letter that Mickey Vernon wrote to Ted Williams on January 24th, 1966. Mickey, winner of two American League batting titles, member of seven all-star teams, and a resident of Delaware County until his death, was a long-time friend of Williams. Alan purchased the letter at an estate sale of Ted’s property. Through his and Moe’s generosity, the public will soon be able to view this wonderful piece of baseball memorabilia from a time when such hand-written letters were a more common form of communication between friends than they are today.
The purpose of the letter was to congratulate Ted on being elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. In its two pages, Mickey fondly remembers the two years during which he was Ted’s teammate (1956 and 1957) as two of his most enjoyable years in baseball.
The careers of Mickey and Ted paralleled. They broke into major league baseball in 1939 and completed their major league playing careers in 1960. During that time, they became good friends with Mickey always speaking highly of what a good teammate Ted was.
The museum volunteers hope that the fans of both Mickey and Ted can visit the museum and view this classic artifact for themselves. For more information regarding this item or the museum, contact vankoski21@comcast.net.
http://mickeyvernonsportsmuseum.com/
