James Thomas Williams (December 20, 1876 – January 16, 1965) was a second baseman in

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) ...

from 1899 to 1909. He played for the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division. Founded as part o ...

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...

New York Highlanders The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...

, and St. Louis Browns. The power-hitting Williams set several records during his rookie season and led a major league in

triples TripleS (stylized as tripleS; /ˈtɹɪpəl:ɛs/; ) is a South Korean girl group formed by MODHAUS. They aim to be the world's first decentralized K-pop idol group. The members will rotate between the group, sub-unit, and solo activities, as chos ...

three times. He stood at 5' 9" and weighed 175 lbs."Jimmy Williams Statistics and History"
''baseball-reference.com''. Retrieved 2010-12-10.

Career

Williams was born in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, whic ...

. He first played semi-pro baseball in 1892
Deadball Stars of the American League
' (Potomac Books, Inc., 2006), pp. 697–698. and started his professional baseball career in 1896. In 1897, he established himself as a premiere power hitter, slugging 31

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run is ...

s for the

Western Association The Western Association was the name of five different leagues formed in American minor league baseball during the 19th and 20th centuries. The oldest league, originally established as the Northwestern League in 1883, was refounded as the Wester ...

St. Joseph Saints The Saint Joseph Saints was a primary name of the minor league baseball team that was based in St. Joseph, Missouri during various seasons between 1886 and 1953. Baseball Hall of Fame inductees Dizzy Dean and Earl Weaver played for St. Joseph teams. ...

. He hit more homers than any two other players in the league combined, and he also paced the circuit in

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at bats for a given player ...

and total bases. In 1898, Williams' power dropped off when he moved up to the class A Western League. However, he did raise his

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average i ...

to .343 (third in the league) and still led the WL in slugging percentage at .494."1898 Western League Batting Leaders"
''baseball-reference.com''. Retrieved 2010-12-10. Williams was then purchased by the Pittsburgh Pirates. He was the team's starting

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system u ...

in 1899 and made an immediate impact. In May and June of that year, he ran off a 26-game

hitting streak In baseball, a hitting streak is the number of consecutive official games in which a player appears and gets at least one base hit. According to the Official Baseball Rules, such a streak is not necessarily ended when a player has at least 1 pla ...

."Jimmy Williams Chronology"
. ''baseballlibrary.com''. Retrieved 2010-12-10. He continued to rip extra-base hits throughout the entire season and eventually ranked sixth in the National League in doubles (28), first in triples (27), and third in home runs (9). In August and September, Williams had another long hitting streak, this time reaching 27 games before being stopped. The streak set an MLB rookie record that was not broken until 1987; it is still a Pittsburgh Pirates team record.Tourangeau, Dixie
"Jimmy Williams"
''bioproj.sabr.org''. Retrieved 2010-12-10. The 27 triples are also an MLB rookie record. Williams ended the season with a .354 batting average. In 1900, Williams slumped badly, and his statistics all declined from the previous season. He hit just .264, while his slugging percentage fell by .141 points. After the season, Williams jumped to the new

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

with the Baltimore Orioles. He converted to second base and would remain at that position for the rest of his career. In 1901, Williams returned to his rookie form at the plate, batting .317 with a league-leading 21 triples. His production was similar the following year, as well, and he led his league in triples for the third time. In 1903, the Baltimore franchise was transferred to New York. Williams played decently in the new city, but his hitting never approached his Pittsburgh and Baltimore levels again. After five years with the Highlanders, he was traded to the St. Louis Browns, where he finished out his major league career. He hit just .195 in 1909 and played his final MLB game on October 3. Williams played for the American Association's

Minneapolis Millers The Minneapolis Millers were an American professional minor league baseball team that played in Minneapolis, Minnesota, through 1960. In the 19th century a different Minneapolis Millers were part of the Western League. The team played first in ...

from 1910 to 1915."Jimmy Williams Minor League Statistics & History"
''baseball-reference.com''. Retrieved 2010-12-10. No longer facing major league quality pitching, he batted over .310 in both 1910 and 1911 and was one of the league's best sluggers. He helped the Millers win four AA pennants during his time there before retiring after the 1915 season, by which time he was 38 years old. In 1457 games over 11 seasons, Williams posted a .275

(1508-for-5485) with 780 runs, 242 doubles, 138

, 796

RBI RBI most often refers to: *Reserve Bank of India *Run batted in RBI may also refer to: Organisations *Radio Berlin International *Raiffeisen Bank International *Reed Business Information *Restaurant Brands International *Ruđer Bošković In ...

, 151 stolen bases, 474

bases on balls A base on balls (BB), also known as a walk, occurs in baseball when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls '' balls'', and is in turn awarded first base without the possibility of being called out. The base on balls is defined in Sec ...

, .337

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batter reaches base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA), as it is rarely presented as a ...

and .396

fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putouts and assists, div ...

. He finished his career with a .945

. He played 1176 games at second base, 275 games at third base and 4 games at shortstop. After his baseball career ended, Williams held various jobs, including one as an area scout and coach for the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

. He was married to Nannie May Smith in 1900, and the marriage lasted until her death in 1949. They had two sons. Jimmy Williams died in 1965 in

St. Petersburg, Florida St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 258,308, making it the fifth-most populous city in Florida and the second-largest city in the Tampa Bay Area, after Tampa. It is the ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Jimmy 1876 births 1965 deaths Major League Baseball second basemen Pittsburgh Pirates players Baltimore Orioles (1901–02) players New York Highlanders players St. Louis Browns players Indianapolis Hoosiers (minor league) players Pueblo Rovers players St. Joseph Saints players Kansas City Blues (baseball) players Minneapolis Millers (baseball) players 19th-century baseball players Baseball players from St. Louis

Career

See also

References

External links