William Williams (June 13, 1932 – June 11, 2013) was an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

player. He appeared in four

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB) games for the 1969 Seattle Pilots. Williams also had an extensive minor league baseball playing career, spanning eighteen seasons from 1952 to 1969.

Playing career

After spending two seasons with the independent Norton Braves of the Mountain State League, Williams signed with the

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive Fi ...

as an amateur free agent in 1954. He spent most of his eighteen seasons as an

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to c ...

in the Indians' farm system; however, he also played some

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and third base. In 1968, while with the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

’ Triple-A affiliate, the

Hawaii Islanders The Hawaii Islanders were a minor league baseball team based in Honolulu, Hawaii, that played in the Triple-A Pacific Coast League for 27 seasons from 1961 through 1987. Originally an affiliate of the Kansas City Athletics, the Islanders played ...

, Williams pitched in one game,

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two and

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one, while yielding no hits in two innings pitched. During his brief big league career, Williams made twelve plate appearances, drawing a walk, but not collecting a hit in any of his official

at bats In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens during their turn at bat, but a batt ...

. He was also

hit by a pitch In baseball, hit by pitch (HBP) is an event in which a batter or his clothing or equipment (other than his bat) is struck directly by a pitch from the pitcher; the batter is called a hit batsman (HB). A hit batsman is awarded first base, provided ...

once, after which he scored his only career run (one out later) on a Tommy Davis single. He was 37 years old when he made his MLB debut.

Coaching

After his playing days, he became owner of Billy Williams' Men's Boutique in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

. Williams spent eleven seasons coaching in the Cleveland Indians organization. In 1990 and 1991, he served as an MLB coach under Tribe skipper John McNamara. From 2000–2004, Williams coached hitting and third base, while also working with outfielders and base runners for the

Sioux Falls Canaries The Sioux Falls Canaries are a professional baseball team based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, United States. The Canaries are members of the North Division of the American Association of Professional Baseball, an official Partner League of Major L ...

. He became hitting coach for the

American Association of Independent Professional Baseball The American Association of Professional Baseball is an independent professional baseball league founded in 2005. It operates in the central United States and Canada, mostly in cities not served by Major League Baseball teams or their minor lea ...

's Sioux City Explorers in 2005, serving as

interim manager Interim management is the temporary provision of management resources and skills. Interim management can be seen as the short-term assignment of a proven heavyweight interim executive manager to manage a period of transition, crisis or change with ...

for the last month of the season. Williams’ managerial record was 44–52. In his final season with the Explorers, 2009, he served as bench coach.

References

External links

1932 births 2013 deaths African-American baseball coaches African-American baseball players Baseball players from South Carolina Burlington Indians players (1958–1964) Cleveland Indians coaches Fargo-Moorhead Twins players Hawaii Islanders players Jacksonville Suns players Keokuk Kernels players Major League Baseball outfielders Minot Mallards players Norton Braves players Portland Beavers players Reading Indians players Salt Lake City Bees players Seattle Angels players Seattle Pilots players Sherbrooke Indians players Toronto Maple Leafs (International League) players Vancouver Mounties players People from Newberry, South Carolina 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American people {{US-baseball-outfielder-1930s-stub