Billy Williams

Billy Leo Williams (born June 15, 1938) is an American former left fielder and coach in Major League Baseball (MLB) who played from 1959 to 1976, almost entirely for the Chicago Cubs. A six-time All-Star, Williams was named the 1961 National League (NL) Rookie of the Year after hitting 25 home runs with 86 runs batted in (RBI). A model of consistent production, he went on to provide the Cubs with at least 20 home runs and 80 RBI every year through 1973, batting over .300, hitting 30 home runs and scoring 100 runs five times each. Along with Ernie Banks and Ron Santo, Williams was one of the central figures in improving the Cubs' fortunes in the late 1960s after the club had spent 20 years in the bottom half of the league standings. His 853 RBI and 2,799 total bases in the 1960s were the most by any left-handed hitter in the major leagues.

In 1970, Williams was the runner-up in voting for the NL Most Valuable Player Award (MVP) after leading the major leagues with 137 runs, 205 hits and 373 total bases, also hitting 42 home runs with 129 RBI, all career highs; excepting his run total, each remains the team record for left-handed hitters. In 1972, he was again the runner-up in MVP voting after winning the NL batting title with a .333 average, adding 37 home runs and 122 RBI while leading the major leagues in total bases and slugging percentage; in both years, he lost the award to Johnny Bench of the Cincinnati Reds. Williams played 1,117 consecutive games between September 1963 and September 1970, holding the NL record from 1969 to 1983. He was traded to the Oakland Athletics after the 1974 season, becoming a designated hitter in the American League (AL), and contributed 23 home runs and 81 RBI to finally reach the postseason as the team won their fifth consecutive division title.

When he retired, Williams' 426 career home runs and 4,599 total bases each ranked eighth in major league history among left-handed hitters; his 302 home runs as a left fielder trailed only Ralph Kiner in NL history. His 392 home runs, 2,510 hits, 1,353 RBI and 4,262 total bases with the Cubs are all team records for left-handed hitters, as were his 402 doubles until Mark Grace passed him in 1999. He led NL left fielders in assists and double plays four times each, and in putouts and fielding percentage three times each; at the end of his career, he ranked fifth in NL history in games in left field (1,737), and fourth in fielding percentage (.974), sixth in putouts (2,811) and total chances (3,005), and ninth in assists (116) in the NL after 1900. He later became a coach with the Cubs for nearly two decades. Williams was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1987, and was selected as a member of the Cubs All-Century Team in 1999.

Early life

Billy Williams was born in Whistler, Alabama. His father Frank was a stevedore who had also played first base for the semipro Whistler Stars. Williams grew up in a segregated neighborhood, and attended Whistler High School.

In his autobiography, Williams recalled that he had never experienced overt racial discrimination until his 1959 promotion to the Class AA San Antonio Missions in San Antonio, Texas. He was so discouraged that he left the team and went home. Buck O'Neil, the Cubs scout who had originally discovered Williams, was dispatched to Whistler, and he persuaded Williams to return to the team. During the 1959 season, he advanced to the Class AAA Fort Worth Cats and played 18 games for the Cubs after being called up in August. He returned to the Cubs in late September 1960, with decidedly better results. He raised his average to as high as .368, with hits in his first seven games, before settling for a final .277 mark, and hit his first home run on October 1, a 2-run shot off Stan Williams in a 14-inning, 10-8 road win over the Los Angeles Dodgers. In 1961, Williams played in 146 games and was selected as the NL Rookie of the Year. That year, he hit 25 home runs and drove in 86 runs, batting .278. In 1962, 1964, and 1965, he was named an NL All-Star. On May 1, 1964, Williams had an RBI single and then capped off a 10-run 1st inning with a grand slam in the Cubs' 11-3 road win over the Houston Colt .45s; the five RBI in one inning set a team record. He won the NL Player of the Month Award for May with a .455 average, 8 home runs, and 22 RBI. Williams struggled defensively in the first few years of his career, leading NL outfielders in errors as a rookie. By the mid-1960s, his defense was no longer seen as a serious weakness. He co-authored a 1970 children's book called Iron Man, about his childhood. On May 12, 1971, he became the fifth player to drive in 1,000 runs for the Cubs with his 2-run home run in a 9-4 road win over the Phillies. Three days later, Williams hit his 300th career home run in a 6-4 win over the San Diego Padres, joining Banks as the second Cub to do so, and on August 17 he picked up his 2,000th hit, an 8th-inning single in a 5-4 road loss to the Braves; he was the fifth player to reach that total with the Cubs. In 1972, he was the NL batting champion and named the Major League Player of the Year by The Sporting News. He paced the major leagues in batting average with a .333 mark, and posted a .606 slugging percentage with 37 home runs and 122 RBI. On July 11, Williams went 8-for-8 in a doubleheader against the Houston Astros at Wrigley Field, raising his batting average at that time from .310 to .328. In August, he won his second and final NL Player of the Month Award (.438 average, 9 home runs, 29 RBI); on August 26, he broke Stan Hack's team record of 2,193 hits by a left-handed hitter, tying his career high with five hits including a pair of home runs in a 10-inning, 10-9 win over the San Francisco Giants. For the second time, he was the MVP runner-up that year to Johnny Bench of the Cincinnati Reds. On June 15, 1973, in an 8-3 road loss to the Braves, he became the fourth player to appear in 2,000 games with the Cubs. On August 15, 1974, Williams became the third Cub to reach the 2,500 hit mark with an 8th-inning single in a 5-3 win over the Houston Astros.

Oakland Athletics

thumb|left|160px|1975 Oakland Athletics #23 Billy Williams road jersey

In 1974 the Cubs finished in last place, with their worst record since 1966; after two years of declining production, with the lowest home run and RBI totals of his career, Williams was traded in October to the American League's Oakland Athletics for second baseman Manny Trillo and two pitchers. He helped lead Oakland to the 1975 AL West championship as a designated hitter, hitting 23 homers with 81 RBI, and on June 12 became the 16th player to hit 400 career home runs when he homered in a 9-7 road loss to the Milwaukee Brewers. In the postseason, the three-time defending World Series champions were swept in three games in the AL Championship Series by the Boston Red Sox, with Williams going hitless in 7 at bats. In 1976, Williams played in 120 games and hit only .211.

Williams was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1987. Two weeks later on August 13, Williams' uniform number 26 was retired at Wrigley Field. His was the second number to be retired by the Cubs, the first being Ernie Banks' number 14. Following his departure from the Cubs, the number was reassigned to other players from time to time, most notably Larry Biittner; Williams reclaimed it during several intervals of coaching with the Cubs after his playing days had ended.

thumb|left|160px|Retired number 26 at [[Wrigley Field]] In 1999, he was selected to the Cubs All-Century Team and was named as one of 100 finalists to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. During the 2010 season, the Cubs honored Williams with a statue outside Wrigley Field. The statue was unveiled in a pre-game ceremony before their home game on September 7 against the Astros.

In 2011, Williams was appointed as a member of the Hall of Fame's 16-member Golden Era Committee (part of the Veterans Committee), which considers ten Golden Era candidates every three years for the Hall of Fame. The ten candidates from the 1947 to 1972 era are first identified by the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) appointed Historical Overview Committee (10-12 BBWAA members) every three years. Former Cubs third baseman Ron Santo was the only candidate elected to the Hall of Fame by the committee (including 8 members of the Hall of Fame) during their winter meetings in December 2011 (and 2014).

Notes

References

External links

Billy Williams at Baseball Almanac