Walt Williams (baseball)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For other uses, see: Walter Williams (disambiguation).
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 the Colt .45s (1964), Chicago White Sox (1967-1972), Cleveland Indians (1973), and New York Yankees (1974-1975). Williams was commonly known as "No Neck" due to his stocky build (5'6", 185 lb).
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 Williams started a career-high 108 games and made over 500 plate appearances, hitting 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, with just one for every 14.3 at bats.
He never made it to the post-season, but came close with the '67 White Sox, the year of the Boston Red Sox "Impossible Dream." Under manager Eddie Stanky, they finished just three games behind in an exciting race that came down to the final week.
Other career highlights include:
- one 5-hit game - four singles and a double vs. the Boston Red Sox in which he scored five runs and drove in two more in a 22-13 win at Fenway Park (May 31, 1970)
- five 4-hit games, with the most impressive being two singles, a double, and a home run vs. the Minnesota Twins in which he scored four runs with three RBI in an 18-8 win at Metropolitan Stadium (June 20, 1971)
- thirty-three 3-hit games
- hit a combined .432 (32-for-74) against All-Stars Al Downing, Ken Holtzman, Denny McLain, and Wilbur Wood
- hit a combined .359 (14-for-39) against Hall of Famers Jim Palmer and Nolan Ryan
Williams's career totals include 842 games played, 640 hits, 33 home runs, 173 RBI, 284 runs, and a lifetime batting average of .270.
In 1989 he played for the St. Lucie Legends of the Senior Professional Baseball Association.
[edit] External links
- Baseball-Reference.com - career statistics and analysis
- Retrosheet
