Stan Williams (baseball)

Stanley Wilson Williams (born September 14, 1936), nicknamed "Big Daddy" and "The Big Hurt", is a former Major League Baseball starting and relief pitcher who threw and batted right-handed. He played for the Los Angeles Dodgers (from 1958 to 1962), New York Yankees (from 1963 to 1964), Cleveland Indians (from 1965 to 1969), Minnesota Twins (from 1970 to 1971), St. Louis Cardinals (1971), and lastly the Boston Red Sox very briefly in 1972.

Dodger playoff impact

Williams had a significant impact in two Dodgers playoff series. After finishing in a tie for first place with the Milwaukee Braves in 1959, the teams met in a best-of-three playoff. After winning the first game, the Dodgers rallied with three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to tie game 2 at 5–5. Williams came on in the 10th inning and tossed three scoreless innings without allowing a hit; he was the winning pitcher as the Dodgers scored in the bottom of the 12th to win the pennant.

In the 1962 best-of-three playoff with the Giants, Williams was not as successful. In game 2, he blew the save as the Giants tied the game with two runs in the eighth inning, but earned the win when the Dodgers scored in the bottom of the ninth to win 8–7. In the decisive third game, the Dodgers were leading in the top of the ninth 4–2. Williams entered the game with the score 4–3, bases loaded, and one out. Williams gave up a sacrifice fly to Orlando Cepeda that tied the game, then threw a wild pitch and issued an intentional walk that re-loaded the bases. He then walked Jim Davenport to force in what turned out to be the series winning run before he gave way to Ron Perranoski.

Williams, a 1960 All-Star, built a career record of 109–94 in 482 games and 208 starts. He got the majority of his wins with the Dodgers in the early stages of his 14-year career. After the 1962 season he was traded from the Dodgers to the New York Yankees for Moose Skowron.^[1] He compiled a career ERA of 3.48 and had 42 career complete games with 11 shutouts. He gave up 682 earned runs in 1764 ¹⁄₃ innings pitched. He had 1305 career strikeouts. Williams won a World Series with the Dodgers in 1959, his second year in the big leagues.

Although his control often kept him from being a top pitcher, Williams' presence on the mound was huge, and many batters around the league feared the 230-pound, 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) right-hander, who had a blistering fastball and was not afraid to pitch inside. In 1961, Williams finished second in the league in strikeouts with 205, behind teammate Sandy Koufax (269). Yet another Dodger pitcher, Don Drysdale, finished third that year (182).

Williams was a key member of the Indians' pitching staff from 1967 to 1969. He had a 13–11 record in 1968, and led the Indians' staff in appearances in 1969.

In 1970, he went 10–1 on the season in relief, with a 1.99 ERA, for the Twins.

Notable home runs

Billy Williams hit his first major league home run off Stan Williams on October 1, 1960. Williams gave up pitcher Frank Bertaina's only major league home run, a three-run shot at Cleveland Stadium.

Career as pitching coach

After retiring, Williams served as a pitching coach for 14 MLB seasons, with the Red Sox, Yankees, Seattle Mariners, Chicago White Sox and Cincinnati Reds. More recently he was an advance scout for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays until being let go at the end of the 2006 season. As of 2010, Williams is an advance scout for the Washington Nationals.

See also

• List of Major League Baseball career wins leaders

References

External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)