There will be more than one book on the late Red Sox legend Ted Williams, but Geoff Shandler at Little, Brown is betting that one he has just signed, by Ben Bradlee Jr., deputy managing editor of the Boston Globe in Williams's hometown, will be the one to beat. Bradlee met Williams as a child, saw many of his games—including his last one—and will draw on many previously unavailable sources to tell his story, embracing Williams's ferocious rages, his incredible skill as a WWII pilot and his years in retirement. Shandler bought world English rights, plus serial, audio and book club, and the agent was again the ubiquitous Bob Barnett. The editor expects the book, as a major work, will take several years—"It will not be a quickie."