Billy Williams
Billy Williams was born in Whistler, Alabama, United States on June 15th, 1938 and is the Baseball Player. At the age of 85, Billy Williams biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, and networth are available.
At 85 years old, Billy Williams has this physical status:
Billy Leo Williams (born June 15, 1938) is a retired American baseball left fielder who played 16 seasons for the Chicago Cubs and two seasons for the Oakland Athletics in Major League Baseball (MLB).
In 1987, Williams was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
In 1999, he was selected a finalist for the Major League Baseball All-Centure Team. Williams was the 1961 National League (NL) Rookie of the Year (NL) and was a six-year veteran with the Cubs.
In 1970, he had a.322 batting average with 42 home runs and 129 runs batted in (RBI), led the NL with 205 hits, and was the NL Most Valuable Player runner-up.
In 1972, he captured the NL batting title while hitting.333.
Williams had more than 400 home runs in his career, with 30 or more in 5 seasons.
He also hit over.300 in five seasons and had over 100 RBI in three seasons. Williams was a good player on Cubs teams that never made it to the playoffs.
The A's didn't make it to the World Series until he finally played in the postseason during the second-to-last year of his Athletics career.
He was chosen as a member of the Cubs All-Century Team in 1999.
Early life
Billy Williams was born in Whistler, Alabama, and he loved it. Frank, his father, was also a member of the semipro Whistler Stars. Williams grew up in a segregated neighborhood and attended Whistler High School. Williams made his professional baseball debut in 1956 with the Ponca City Cubs of the Sooner State League. Williams split 1958 between the Burlington Bees and Pueblo Bruins after returning to Ponca City in 1957 and hitting 17 home runs.
Williams recalled that he had never experienced overt racial discrimination before his 1959 appointment to the Class AA San Antonio Missions in San Antonio, Texas. He was so depressed that he quit the team and went home. Buck O'Neil, the Cubs' scout who had originally spotted Williams, was sent to Whistler, and he begged Williams to return to the team. After being called up in August, he made it to the Class AAA Fort Worth Cats and played 18 games for the Cubs. Since joining the Cubs in September, he hit 26 home runs for the Class AAA Houston Buffs and appeared in 12 major league games.
Major league career
Williams was a member of the Chicago Cubs team that featured celebrities including Ernie Banks, Ferguson Jenkins, and Ron Santo in the early 1960s. Rogers Hornsby (winner of seven NL batting titles) who spent time with the Cubs in 1960, guessed Williams would win a batting tournament someday.
Williams made his Cubs debut on August 6, 1959, beating the Philadelphia Phillies 4-2; as an indicator of the zeal he had raised, he was batting third, ahead of Banks, and had an RBI ground out in his first plate appearance. In a 10-inning, 5-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates, he recorded his first two hits three days after being promoted to second in the order. However, he never raised his average in 18 games, losing to drive in a run in his last 15 appearances. He returned to the Cubs in late September 1960, with markedly higher success. He boosted his average to.368, with hits in his first seven games, before falling to a final.277 line and beating Stan Williams in a 14-inning, 10-8 road victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on October 1, 2008. Williams played in 146 games in 1961 and was named as the NL Rookie of the Year in 96. He had 25 home runs and drove in 86 runs that year, batting.278. He was named an NL All-Star in 1962, 1964, and 1965. Williams had an RBI single and then capped off a 10-run 1st slam in the Cubs' 11-3 road victory over the Houston Colt.45s on May 1, 1964; the five RBI in one inning set a team record. He was named NL Player of the Month for May with a.455 average, 8 home runs, and 22 RBI. Williams struggled defensively in the first few years of his career, leading to NL outfielders in mistakes as a rookie. His defense was no longer seen as a significant weakness in the mid-1960s. In 1968, 1972, and 1973, he appeared at the All-Star Game.
Williams hit at least 20 home runs and drove in 84 or more runs in each season from 1961 to 1973. His batting swing was smooth and quick, with quick wrist movements that allowed him to hit for both average and power despite his slender frame. This gave him the nickname "Sweet Billy Williams," which could be shortened to "Sweet Williams" or "Sweet Billy" early in his career. His name was later mentioned in the subtitle of his autobiography. In addition to his birthplace in Alabama, he was also known as "Sweet-Swing Billy from Whistler." Williams hit the record for the second time in the Cubs' 7-2 victory, hitting for the first time on the first natural cycle and the second by a left-handed hitter. He set a major league record by playing his 695th consecutive game in the outfield on May 21, 1968. Bill Nicholson's team record of 205 home runs by a left-handed hitter was broken on July 4, defeating the Phillies 7-4. In the Cubs' 13-5 victory over the Atlanta Braves on August 21, he had a career-high seven RBI in his second game of a doubleheader against the Atlanta Braves. In an 8-1 victory over the New York Mets on September 10, Williams had his only three-home runs of his career; the last game had come from Nolan Ryan; the previous day, he had scored four runs with a double and two home runs; in a 10-3 victory over the Phillies, he had made four runs, including a double and two home runs. The five home runs in consecutive games tied for the most major league games. In the Cubs' 11-3 victory over the Phillies on April 9, 1969, Williams had a career-high four doubles, tying another major league record. Williams, who was playing in his second game of a doubleheader against the Cardinals on June 29, was out for his 896th straight game; he had four hits, including a double and a pair of triples in the Cubs' 12-1 victory. In their 9-2 loss to the Pirates on September 5, his two home runs and two doubles accounted for all of the Cubs' hits.
Williams hit.322 with 42 home runs and 129 RBI in 1970 and finished second in the Most Valuable Player poll; surprisingly, despite being batting.319 with 26 home runs and 80 RBI at the All-Star break, he was left off the All-Star team. He had the only two hits in the Cubs' 9-0 loss to the Braves on July 24, his fourth appearance in his career; it was the first time he had all of the team's hits. Williams set a new NL record for consecutive games played with 1,117 games from 1963 to 1970 (this record was later eclipsed by Steve Garvey with 1,207 games played from 1975 to 1983). Some writers dubbed "Iron Man" as his streak of games began to build. Iron Man, a 1970 children's book, was co-authored by him about his childhood. In a 9-4 road victory over the Phillies on May 12, 1971, he became the fifth player to drive in 1,000 runs for the Cubs with his 2-run home run. Williams won 6-4 over the San Diego Padres, becoming the second Cub to do so, and he was the fifth player to reach that number with the Braves on August 17. By The Sporting News, he was the NL batting champion and named Player of the Year in 1972. With 37 home runs and 122 RBI, he led the major leagues in batting average at 3.3 runs per cent and a.606 slugging percentage. In August, he took his second and final NL Player of the Month Award (.438 average, 9 home runs, 29 RBI); on August 26, he tied Stan Hack's team record of 2,193 runs by a left-handed hitter, tying his career record of five hits with five runs, including a pair of home runs, in a 10-inning, 10-9 victory over the San Francisco Giants. He was the MVP runner-up to Johnny Bench of the Cincinnati Reds for the second time this year. He was the fourth player to play in 2,000 games with the Cubs on June 15, 1973, in an 8-3 road loss to the Braves. Williams was the third Cub to reach the 2,500 mark with an 8th-inning single in a 5-3 victory over the Houston Astros on August 15, 1974.
The Cubs finished in last place in 1974, with their lowest home run and RBI figures since 1966; Williams was traded to the Oakland Athletics in October for second baseman Manny Trillo and two pitchers, resulting in his lowest home run and RBI totals of his career. He helped Oakland win the 1975 AL West championship as a designated hitter, hitting 23 home runs with 81 RBI, and the Milwaukee Brewers defeated him 16 runs on June 12, becoming the 16th player to reach 400 home runs. However, the Boston Red Sox's three-time World Series champions were swept in three games in the AL Championship Series, with Williams going hitless in 7 at bats. Williams played in 120 games in 1976 and only ranked 211. He retired after playing his last major league game on October 2 and notching a single in his last plate appearance against the California Angels in a 14-inning, 9-8 victory.
Williams had a.290 batting average, 436 runs, 436 triples, 4,475 home runs, 4,475 RBI, 1,490 walks, a.491 on-base percentage, and a.492 slugging percentage in 2,488 games over 18 seasons. He had a 976% fielding percentage, as well as games at all three outfield positions and first base.