Walt Williams (baseball)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Walt Williams | ||
|---|---|---|
| Outfielder | ||
| Born: December 19, 1943 | ||
| Batted: Right | Threw: Right | |
| MLB debut | ||
| April 21, 1964 for the Houston Colt .45's |
||
| Final game | ||
| September 22, 1975 for the New York Yankees |
||
| Career statistics | ||
| AVG | .270 | |
| Hits | 640 | |
| RBI | 173 | |
| Teams | ||
| Career highlights and awards | ||
|
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Walter Allen Williams (born on December 19, 1943 in Brownwood, Texas) is a former Major League Baseball outfielder. He was signed by the Houston Colt .45s before the 1963 season, and played for them in 1964, the Chicago White Sox from 1967 to 1972, the Cleveland Indians in 1973, and the New York Yankees from 1974 to 1975.
Williams was commonly known as "No Neck", due to his relatively short stature (5 feet 6 inches) combined with a muscular upper torso. He was a popular and fan-friendly player who admitted to liking that nickname. He seemed to embody the old saying, "a good little ballplayer".
Williams was a good defensive outfielder, committing just 19 errors in 565 games for a fielding percentage of .981. He was also used often as a pinch-hitter, and sometimes as a designated hitter late in his career.
In 1969, as a member of the Chisox, Williams started in a career-high 108 games and came to bat over 500 times. He hit a career-high .304 to finish sixth in the American League batting race. Williams was also the fifth-toughest to strike out in the league; he was fanned only once every 14.3 at bats.
He never made it to the post-season, but came close with the 1967 White Sox. Under manager Eddie Stanky, the Pale Hose finished just three games behind in an exciting race that came down to the final week. The Boston Red Sox ended up winning in an exciting race that baseball season.
Other career highlights include:
- Williams got connected for five hits in one game on May 31, 1970 against Boston. Williams had four singles and a double. In the game, he also scored five runs and drove in two more as the White Sox beat the Red Sox 22-13 at Fenway Park.
- Williams had five games in which he had four hits. In one of those games, on June 20, 1971, he had two singles, a double, and a home runs against the Minnesota Twins in an 18-8 Chicago victory. which he scored four runs with three Runs batted in in an 18-8 win at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, Minnesota.
- Williams had 33 games in which he had three hits.
- Williams hit a combined .432 (32-for-74) against Al Downing, Ken Holtzman, Denny McLain, and Wilbur Wood during his career.
- Williams hit a combined .359 (14-for-39) against Hall of Famers Jim Palmer and Nolan Ryan during his career.
Williams's career totals include 842 games played, 640 hits, 33 home runs, 173 RBIs, 284 runs, and a lifetime batting average of .270.
In 1989, he played for the St. Lucie Legends of the Senior Professional Baseball Association.
The authors of The Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading and Bubble Gum Book, Brendan C. Boyd & Fred C. Harris, Little Brown & Co, 1973, made this impish comment on p.126 next to a picture of Williams' baseball card: "Yes, Virginia, Walt Williams had no neck. And his legs weren't particularly long, either."
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube
- Retrosheet
