Billy Williams (1987)


Date of Birth: 6/16/1938
Birthplace: Whistler, Alabama

Billy Williams, whose father played semi-pro baseball, started his professional baseball career in the minor leagues (Sooner State League) in 1956. Shortly afterwards, he was signed by the Chicago Cubs.

Chicago Cubs

After three years in the Cubs' minor league system, Williams had his first start in the major leagues with the Cubs in 1959, playing in 18 games. He spent most of the following season back in the minor leagues, playing in only 12 games with the Cubs in 1960.

In 1961, his first full season in the major leagues, Williams won the National League Rookie of the Year award and the Sporting News Rookie of the Year award. That season he batted .278 with 147 hits, 20 doubles, 25 home runs, and 86 RBIs in 146 games.

Williams had another good year in 1962, batting .298 with 184 hits, 22 doubles, 22 home runs, and 91 RBIs in 159 games. He walked 70 times and struck out 72 times. He also played well defensively, leading all NL left fielders in putouts with 271. The following year, he again led NL left fielders in putouts with 298. As a batter in 1963, he had 175 hits, 36 doubles, 25 home runs, 95 RBIs, and a .286 batting average in 161 games.

Williams' batting average was greater than .300 in both 1964 and 1965. He had a career high 39 doubles each of those seasons. He finished the 1964 season with 201 hits, 33 home runs, 98 RBIs, and a .312 batting average in 162 games. The following season, he played in a career high 164 games, and he batted .315 with 203 hits, 34 home runs, and 108 RBIs.

Although his batting average dropped to .276 in 1966, he still had a good season with 179 hits, 23 doubles, 29 home runs, and 91 RBIs in 162 games. The following season, he had a career high 12 triples. His 1967 numbers were similar to those in the previous season, with 176 hits, 21 doubles, 28 home runs, 84 RBIs, and a .278 batting average in 162 games.

In 1968, Williams batted .288, and the following year, he batted .293. He played in 163 games each of those seasons. He had 185 hits, 30 doubles, 30 home runs, and 98 RBIs in 1968, and 188 hits, 33 doubles, 21 home runs, and 95 RBIs in 1969.

Williams had one of his best seasons in 1970. He led the NL in hits and he was named the Baseball Digest Player of the Year. He had career highs in hits (205), home runs (42), and RBIs (129). He batted .322 in 161 games. He walked 72 times and struck out 65 times. He also played well defensively in 1970, once again leading NL left fielders in putouts with 244.

Williams won the NL batting title in 1972 with a career high batting average of .333. His other statistics that season included 191 hits, 34 doubles, 37 home runs, and 122 RBIs in 150 games. He also led the NL in OPS with a career high 1.005. He won the Sporting News Player of the Year award that year.

Although Williams didn't bat over .300 in 1973 or 1974, he still had good seasons. He had 22 doubles each of those seasons, doing it in 156 games in 1973, and in just 117 games in 1974. He batted .288 with 166 hits, 20 home runs, and 86 RBIs in 1973. The following season, he batted .280 with 113 hits, 16 home runs, and 68 RBIs. In 1974, he walked 67 times while striking out only 44 times.

Oakland Athletics

Although Williams played well in 1974, the Cubs traded him after the season to the Oakland Athletics. His batting average was only .244 in 1975, but he still showed some power with 127 hits, 20 doubles, 23 home runs, and 81 RBIs. In 1976, his last season in the major leagues, Williams batted just .211 with 74 hits in 120 games.

Awards

  • NL Rookie of the Year
  • Sporting News Rookie of the Year
  • Sporting News Player of the Year
  • Baseball Digest Player of the Year

Career Statistics

Statistics for Williams in 16 full seasons (1961-1976) in the major leagues include:

  • 12 seasons with over 150 hits, with a high of 203 in 1965
  • 7 seasons with 30 or more doubles, with a high of 39 in 1964 and 1965
  • 14 seasons with 20 or more home runs, with a high of 42 in 1970
  • 3 seasons with over 100 RBIs, with a high of 129 in 1970
  • 5 seasons with a batting average over .300, with a high of .333 in 1972

Career batting statistics for Williams include:

  • 2,488 games played
  • 2,711 hits
  • 438 doubles
  • 426 home runs
  • 1,475 RBIs
  • 1,046 strikeouts to 1,045 walks
  • .290 batting average
  • .361 on-base percentage
  • .853 OPS

Career fielding statistics for Williams as a left fielder include:

  • 1,738 games played
  • 2,811 putouts
  • 78 errors
  • .974 fielding percentage

Post Playing Career

After retiring as a major league player, Williams served as a coach for the Chicago Cubs.

Williams was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1987 on the sixth ballot with 85.7% of the vote.

Sources for Information
Wikipedia - Billy Williams
Baseball Reference - Billy Williams

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