Willie Wilson
Willie Wilson was born in Montgomery, Alabama, United States on July 9th, 1955 and is the Baseball Player. At the age of 68, Willie Wilson biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, and networth are available.
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Willie James Wilson (born July 9, 1955) is a former professional baseball player.
He spent 19 seasons with the Kansas City Royals, Oakland Athletics, and the Chicago Cubs in Major League Baseball.
He was known for his speed and ability as a leadoff hitter.
Wilson's career total of 668 stolen bases currently ranks him in 12th place in major leagues.
Early life
Wilson was born in Montgomery, Alabama, but at seven years old, he moved to Summit, New Jersey. He was regarded as a top-notch high school baseball, football, and basketball player at Summit High School. In his senior year, he hit.436 and stole 28 bases in 28 attempts.
Professional career
Wilson was dropped out of high school after signing a letter of intent to play college football at Maryland. In the first round of the 1974 draft, the Kansas City Royals selected him. He began his professional career with the Gulf Coast Royals. He made the jump to class-A in 1975 for the Waterloo Royals, leading the 1975 Midwest League champions in both RBIs and stolen bases, as well as the 1975 Miami Suns. He received a call-up in September 1976 while playing in 12 games. He was mostly used as a pinch runner or defensive replacement, but he did start one game on the penultimate day of the season. He had just six at bats, with one being struck and two others stealing two bases.
Wilson debuted at Triple-A Omaha in 1977. He batted.281 with 74 stolen bases in what turned out to be his last minor league game (not counting a stunt appearance in 2009). In September, he was called up again, this time with more playing time, batting.324 in 34 at bats with six steals.
Wilson's first full season in the majors was 1978. With Tom Poquette, Clint Hurdle, and Joe Zdeb, he spent the most playing time at the position among the four others, while still backing up Amos Otis in center field. He participated in 127 games but only had 198 at bats while batting.217. Despite his limited playing time, he finished fifth in the American League with 46 stolen bases. He appeared in three games against the New York Yankees in 1978, beginning Game Four.
Wilson started the 1979 season as the Royals' fourth outfielder, but by mid-May, he had established himself as the team's starting left fielder. He batted.315 runs and led the league in stolen bases with 83 and singles, 148, while also placing seventh in hits and third in triples. He led the league in range factor and putouts and finished second in assists among left fielders in defense.
Wilson started the year as the starting center field fielder on Amos Otis' season on the disabled list, and he did a good job, with an above-average range factor and only one mistake in 195 total chances for the year in center. As Otis returned in late May, he returned to left and ended up in several league standings. Before Jimmy Rollins beat him in 2007, he was a major league record. He also led the league in hits, runs, triples, and singles with 79, and had at least 100 hits from both directions of the plate. He received both the Gold Glove and Silver Slugger Awards as well as fourth in the AL MVP rankings, his highest finish.
Willie Randolph of the Yankees was on second base in the top of the eighth with two outs and the Royals up by only a single run. At Royals Stadium's left field corner, Bob Watson hit a ball. Wilson was right to Wilson, but Randolph home was waved by Yankee third base coach Mike Ferraro. Wilson threw U L Washington, the cut-off guy, out of the game, but George Brett was in position behind him to catch the ball, then throw to Darrell Porter, who tagged Randolph out of the playoffs. After the play, Yankee owner George Steinbrenner was snored on TV. The Royals beat the Trojans 3–2. As the Royals swept the Yankees in three straight games, Wilson batted.308 and tied George Brett for team lead in runs batted in with four during the series. Wilson batted just.154 and struck out against Tug McGraw for the final out of the Royals' Game 6 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies in the 1980 World Series. This strikeout was Wilson's 12th appearance in the Series, smashing the previous record of 11 held jointly by Eddie Mathews and Wayne Garrett in the 1958 and 1973 World Series, respectively. In the 2009 World Series, Ryan Howard would smash Wilson's record by striking out 13 times.
Wilson's batting average fell to.303 in the 1981 season, and the bulk of his other stats were off from previous years as well. He batted.303 in the 1981 American League Division Series against the Oakland A's, but he didn't manage to score a run, steal a base, or get an extra-base hit in the three-game sweep.
Wilson bounced back to bat.332 and win the AL batting championship in 1982, the first switch hitter to do so since Mickey Mantle in 1956. Despite the fact that Wilson played in the playoffs for the first time since 1979, Wilson's first American League All-Star team made his debut this year and received his second Silver Slugger Award. For the fourth year in a row, he led the league in singles for the fourth year in a row, and triples for the second time in three seasons.
Wilson made the switch to center field in June 1983, with the club moving long-time center fielder Otis to right field and moving Pat Sheridan and Leon Roberts, who had been sharing right field, over to left. Wilson had his worst season on record, batting just.276 in the middle of the shuffle. Despite being third in the league with 59 stolen bases and made the All-Star team for the second time, his on-base percentage and slugging percentage were still lows at.316 and.352 respectively, at that point in career lows. Wilson's problems in 1983 were not limited to on-field issues, but not limited to on-field problems.
Wilson was involved in a drug case after the 1983 season, as did teammates Willie Aikens, Vida Blue, and Jerry Martin. On November 17, the four foursome plead guilty to misdemeanor drug charges (attempting to purchase cocaine). They were among the first active major leaguers to complete a prison term by serving 81 days at the Fort Worth, Texas, Federal Correctional Institution. He was banned by commissioner Bowie Kuhn for the entire 1984 season, but the suspension was reduced on appeal, and he was able to resume on May 15. With only Wilson returning to the Royals and stole 47 bases since his return, the Royals traded or released the other three players.
Wilson batted.278 and led the league in triples for the third time in 1985 with a career-high 21. In the 1985 World Series, he gained a measure of relief from his 1980 World Series debut, smashing.310 against Toronto and.367 against the St. Louis Cardinals, assisting the Royals in their first World Championship appearance.
Wilson remained a fixture in the Royals' outfield for the next five seasons. Despite the fact that his hitting wasn't what it once was, he had a career-high nine home runs in 1986, led the league twice more in triples and finished second in steals, and his tenure may have continued if he had not missed large portions of 1989 and 1990 seasons due to injuries. He also played well defensively, leading the league in fielding percentages for center fielders in 1987 and 1990, and 1990 was the year without a single mistake.
Wilson joined the Oakland Athletics after the 1990 season as a free agent, and he was then signed by the Oakland Athletics. He replaced Félix José, who had been traded late in 1990 as the fourth outfielder behind Rickey Henderson, Dave Henderson, and Jose Canseco. He played 113 games, including at least 19 at all three outfield positions, and batted.238.
Dave Henderson missed the majority of the season due to a hamstring injury, leaving Wilson as the starting center fielder. He played in 132 games, his most since 1988, and batted.270. In his first playoff appearance since the 1985 World Series, he stole seven bases against the Toronto Blue Jays in 1992, tying Lou Brock's record for steals in a single post-season (Brock stole seven bases each in the 1967 and 1968 World Series). He batted just.227, but the A's lost the series in six games as a result.
Wilson became a free agent again after the 1992 season, and he signed with the Chicago Cubs. He started 1993 with Dwight Smith and then split time with Sammy Sosa when the latter was not playing in right field. He batted.258, but he only took seven bases, a season low for a full season—and he started the 1994 season on the bench behind Tuffy Rhodes. He was released on May 16, ending his major league career after only 17 games this year.
Wilson retired with a.285 career batting average and 668 stolen bases, ranking 12th all-time. Wilson made his career by hitting 13 inside-the-park home runs, the most of any major league player since 1950. He topped a.300 batting average five times and also led the league in triples five times, becoming one of only four players to accomplish the feat. Wilson had a.987 fielding percentage as an outfielder in the majors.
Post-playing career and honors
Wilson played in the Toronto Blue Jays system in 1995 and 1997. In 2000, he was elected to the Royals Hall of Fame. Wilson was named manager of the London Monarchs of the fledgling Canadian Baseball League in 2003, but the team was suspended halfway through the season. Wilson came out of retirement in 2009 after signing a one-day deal with the Kansas City T-Bones, a team that competes in the independent Northern League. Willie Wilson Baseball Foundation in Kansas City, Missouri, is now owned by him.