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Stanley Wilson Williams
Cleveland Indians
Pitcher
Born: September 14, 1936, Enfield, NH
Signed: Signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers as an amateur free agent before 1954 season
Major League Teams: Los Angeles Dodgers 1958-1962; New York Yankees 1963-1964; Cleveland Indians 1965, 1967-1969; Minnesota Twins 1970-1971; St. Louis Cardinals 1971; Boston Red Sox 1972
World Series Appearances: Los Angeles Dodgers 1959; New York Yankees 1963
Died: February 20, 2021, Laughlin, NV (age 84)
The original "Big Hurt," Stan Williams pitched in parts of 14 big league seasons, finding the most success early in his career with the Dodgers. Williams played a key role in the Dodgers reaching and winning the 1959 World Series, pitching three shutout innings in the decisive game against the Braves in that season's best of three playoffs to determine the National League pennant winner. He'd be named to both All-Star teams in 1960, in his first of three seasons winning at least 14 games. Williams was 15-12 in 1961, pitching in a career-high 235 1/3 innings and striking out a career-high 205 batters. In his final games with the Dodgers in 1962, he struggled in the playoff series against the Giants, blowing saves in two of the games, with the Giants advancing to the World Series.
Traded to the Yankees following that season for Bill Skowron, arm injuries would slow him down, and he was sold to the Indians before the 1965 season. Williams would find success as a reliever with the Indians and later the Twins, saving 12 games in 1969 and 15 games in 1970. He'd pitch in his final big league games in 1972, moving on to a long career as a pitching coach. Williams served as the pitching coach for the Red Sox (1975-1976), White Sox (1977-1978), Yankees (1980-1982, 1987-1988), Reds (1984, 1990-1991) and Mariners (1998-1999), working on manager Lou Piniella's (#394) staff on multiple occasions. He'd later scout for the Rays and Nationals, before retiring from baseball in 2010.
Died: February 20, 2021, Laughlin, NV (age 84)
The original "Big Hurt," Stan Williams pitched in parts of 14 big league seasons, finding the most success early in his career with the Dodgers. Williams played a key role in the Dodgers reaching and winning the 1959 World Series, pitching three shutout innings in the decisive game against the Braves in that season's best of three playoffs to determine the National League pennant winner. He'd be named to both All-Star teams in 1960, in his first of three seasons winning at least 14 games. Williams was 15-12 in 1961, pitching in a career-high 235 1/3 innings and striking out a career-high 205 batters. In his final games with the Dodgers in 1962, he struggled in the playoff series against the Giants, blowing saves in two of the games, with the Giants advancing to the World Series.
Traded to the Yankees following that season for Bill Skowron, arm injuries would slow him down, and he was sold to the Indians before the 1965 season. Williams would find success as a reliever with the Indians and later the Twins, saving 12 games in 1969 and 15 games in 1970. He'd pitch in his final big league games in 1972, moving on to a long career as a pitching coach. Williams served as the pitching coach for the Red Sox (1975-1976), White Sox (1977-1978), Yankees (1980-1982, 1987-1988), Reds (1984, 1990-1991) and Mariners (1998-1999), working on manager Lou Piniella's (#394) staff on multiple occasions. He'd later scout for the Rays and Nationals, before retiring from baseball in 2010.
Some text for this post originally appeared on my 1965 Topps blog.
Building the Set / Card #155
March 12, 2023 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards)
The Card / Indians Team Set / Accuracy Index -8
1969 Season
Williams appeared in 61 games for the Indians, which included 15 starts. Overall he was 6-14 with a 3.94 ERA with 139 strikeouts over 178 1/3 innings pitched. He'd appear in fewer and fewer innings over the next three seasons. Williams assumed the closer role for the Indians in mid-May, and he'd eventually record a team-leading 12 saves. On December 10th, Williams, with Luis Tiant (#560), was traded to the Twins for Dean Chance (#620), Bob Miller (#403), Graig Nettles (#99) and Ted Uhlaender (#194).
Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card: 1959 Topps #53
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (12): 1959-1965, 1968-1972
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1972 Topps #9
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 73 in the Beckett online database as of 10/23/23.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia
March 12, 2023 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards)
In mid-March, Doug and I attended the Philadelphia Sports Collectors Show, held within the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania. My main focus for this show was accumulating as many 1969 Topps commons as possible, which I did by adding a grand total of 193 cards to our set. That's almost 30% of the entire set added in one enjoyable afternoon. I wrote a full summary of the show in a post over at The Phillies Room, found here.
This is the 78th of the 193 commons and semi-stars purchased, pulled and stacked from the first two neon green binders housing 1969 Topps cards at the multi-table spread of Uncle Dick's Cards from Babylon, New York. My method was simple - I pulled up a chair, found a card I needed, picked the best of the group from the binder page and set it aside. After each 100 cards, I'd ask the dealer to tell me how much damage I had done so far. With a budget in mind, I kept going twice, continuing after card #100 and card #200, and stopping at card #298. The final amount due was 17% off the sticker price for the pile of 193 cards, with this card costing me less than a dollar.
The Card / Indians Team Set / Accuracy Index -8
Despite spending four seasons on the Indians' staff and pitching in 124 games for the club between 1965 and 1969, Williams never appeared in a Topps flagship set actually wearing an Indians uniform. He's in Yankee pinstripes here and the photo was taken at some point during the 1963 or 1964 season. The back of the card notes Williams should be awarded the Comeback of the Year Award for his fine work on the Indians' pitching staff. There was no MLB-sanctioned award in 1968, but The Sporting News named the Red Sox' Ken Harrelson (#240) as their Comeback Player of the Year, given Harrelson was an All-Star in 1968 and led the league with 109 RBIs after a mediocre performance with three teams in 1967.
The cartoon includes an uncorrected error. Williams struck out 301 batters in 1955, not 1965, as a member of the Newport News Dodgers in the Class B Piedmont League.
Accuracy Index: If I was being more scientific, I'd weight this scale for a higher negative score given how old the photo is. Since I'm not doing that, Williams' card gets the now-standard -8 for the Yankees jersey (-5) and the lack of a hat (-3).
1969 Season
Williams appeared in 61 games for the Indians, which included 15 starts. Overall he was 6-14 with a 3.94 ERA with 139 strikeouts over 178 1/3 innings pitched. He'd appear in fewer and fewer innings over the next three seasons. Williams assumed the closer role for the Indians in mid-May, and he'd eventually record a team-leading 12 saves. On December 10th, Williams, with Luis Tiant (#560), was traded to the Twins for Dean Chance (#620), Bob Miller (#403), Graig Nettles (#99) and Ted Uhlaender (#194).
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First Mainstream Card: 1959 Topps #53
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (12): 1959-1965, 1968-1972
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1972 Topps #9
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 73 in the Beckett online database as of 10/23/23.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia
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