Jimy Williams

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James Francis "Jimy" Williams (born October 4, 1943 in Santa Maria, California) is the current bench coach for the Philadelphia Phillies and a former manager of other Major League Baseball teams. He was the third base coach with the Toronto Blue Jays until the 1986 season, when he was named manager after Bobby Cox left to join the Atlanta Braves organization. Williams lasted until the 1989 season, when he was fired after a very poor start (the Jays hired Cito Gaston, the current batting coach, who went on to win two World Series titles with the team). He spent most of the 1990's with the Atlanta Braves as their third base coach, working under Bobby Cox - the man he had replaced in Toronto.

Williams has since managed with the Boston Red Sox, leading them to wild card playoff berths in 1998 and 1999 (the latter involved the Red Sox reaching the American League Championship Series against their arch-rivals the New York Yankees, who wound up beating them 4 games to 1), and the Houston Astros beginning in 2002.

While on hand for the 2004 All-Star Game in Houston, at a time when the Astros were struggling at the .500 mark, the crowd at Minute Maid Park responded to the introduction of Williams with a decidedly mixed reaction, in contrast to the ovations generally given members of the home team who are introduced at an All Star game. The Astros fired Williams and two principal coaches the following day, having likely waited until after the festivities to avoid a public embarrassment. Williams was replaced by Phil Garner, who led the Astros to within one game of going to their first ever World Series before managing Houston to the NL pennant in 2005.

On October 16, 2006, he was hired as the bench coach for the Philadelphia Phillies.

Quick fact:

The first pitcher Williams ever faced was Sandy Koufax. He got his first hit off another Hall of Famer: Juan Marichal.

[edit] External link

• Baseball-Reference.com - career playing statistics and managing record

Preceded by Joe Torre	American League Manager of the Year 1999	Succeeded by Jerry Manuel
Preceded by Bobby Cox	Toronto Blue Jays manager 1986–1989	Succeeded by Cito Gaston
Preceded by Kevin Kennedy	Boston Red Sox manager 1997–2001	Succeeded by Joe Kerrigan
Preceded by Larry Dierker	Houston Astros manager 2002–2004	Succeeded by Phil Garner