Player Profile: Stan Williams

Stanley Wilson Williams was born on September 14, 1936, in Enfield New Hampshire. His dad Irving, was a construction worker, and his mom a housewife. The census showed that by 1940 they had moved to Denver. Stan was the baby of the family with older brothers, Irving and Gordon, and an older sister, Doris. He grew up on Denver’s East side. He starred in baseball and football for Denver’s East Side High. The Dodgers Denver based bird dog scout, Manuel Boody and scout Burt Wells signed him out of high school in 1954 at the age of 17.

He went to spring training with the big club and more than 50 years later he still talked about how Jackie Robinson impressed him with his desire and work ethic. He started his pro career at Shawnee in the Class-D Sooner League. He went 3-5 with a 4.57 ERA. William’s potential was so great that even after a rocky first season the Dodgers promoted him to Class-B Newport News in the Piedmont League. There in 1955 Williams came into his own winning 18 and losing 7 with a 2.42 ERA.

It wasn’t surprising that the Dodgers were keeping an eye on him. Hard to ignore a 6’4″ 225 pound pitcher with a plus 90 fastball. Despite his occasional troubles the team kept advancing him. In 1957 his first full AAA season he went 19-7 with a 3.04 ERA. When the Dodgers opened the 58 season in LA, Williams was in St. Paul. He started the season with a 2-3 record and was promoted to the Dodgers. He joined a staff that included 21 year old Don Drysdale, Sandy Koufax, and World Series hero, Johnny Podres.

He made his MLB debut on May 17 after Newcombe and Koufax were knocked out. He got knocked around a bit, but in his first MLB start on June 1st, he threw a 2 hit 1-0 shutout over the Cubs. Alston made him a part of the regular rotation and he finished with a 9-7 record and a 4.01 ERA. He struck out 80 in 119 innings, but walked 65 demonstrating the control problems which would plague him most of his career.

He had shown he could win with a seventh-place team. He was considered a big part of the Dodger’s future. His nickname was Big Daddy. His penchant for throwing at batters to intimidate them earned him another name, ” The Big Hurt”. He fit right in on a Dodger staff that featured two of the most intimidating fastball pitchers of all time, Drysdale and Koufax. Batters did not dig in a lot against the Dodgers. It was also said that he had a booklet he called ” The List”. It consisted of the names of batters he wished to intimidate. When he would hit a batter, he would put his name in the booklet.

In 1959 the Dodgers won their first Championship in LA. Williams had a 5-5 record with an improved ERA of 3.97. He was used as a spot starter and reliever. But he still had a problem with walks and Alston put Roger Craig in the rotation in his place. Alston was a little nervous putting him in high leverage situations with his walk rate.

Williams did pitch in the pennant clincher against the Braves. He came in in relief in the 10th and held the Braves scoreless the next 3 innings. The Dodgers pushed a run across in the 12th for the win and went on to the World Series. His only action in the World Series came in relief of Koufax in Game 5, pitching two innings of scoreless relief. It must have felt like he was on top of the world winning a title in his second year.

In 1960 he had his only All-Star season, winning 14 and losing 10 with a solid 3.00 ERA. He also had twice as many K’s as BB’s. He roomed with Koufax in 1960. Larry Sherry in his book, Pen Men, he told of Williams love of the night life. He told the story about spring training when he hosted a poker game that went late and the noise woke up manager Walter Alston just as Williams and Koufax were returning from a night of carousing. Sherry locked his door and pretended to be asleep. Alston was so upset by the curfew violations that he broke his World Series ring pounding on Sherry’s door so hard.

He told of another prank that went totally wrong. Williams was big at 6’4″, but Frank Howard was bigger, 6’7″ and 275 pounds. One day in Philly, Howard was not playing and wanted to watch the game from the bullpen. Williams thought it would be funny to borrow a rope and tie Howard up so he could not leave the bullpen. Sherry said Williams came around a dirt pile in the bullpen with a noose. Howard picked him up and threw him over the dirt pile without even getting angry.

1961 was the Dodgers last season in the Coliseum. Stan went 15-12 with a 3.90 ERA and he walked over 100. Again he had control problems. He was used both as a starter and reliever. In 1962, the Dodgers moved into Dodger Stadium. The team finished with 102 wins, but a late-season swoon the last week allowed the Giants to tie them. So for the second time in 3 years, LA was in a playoff.

After getting blown out in game one, Williams came in in relief in game two with a one-run lead. He gave up the tying run. He got the Giants 1-2-3 in the ninth and then got the blown save and the win when the Dodgers scored in the bottom of the inning. Staying at home for game 3, Podres started for the Dodgers and Marichal for the Giants. LA took a 3-2 lead on a Tommy Davis homer in the 6th. They scored another to go ahead and take a 4-2 lead into the 9th. Ed Roebuck had pitched well in relief of Podres, but by the 9th he was gassed. Nevertheless, Alston sent him back out to start the 9th.

Roebuck had given up one run and now the bases were loaded with one out. Perranoski and Sherry had been warming up with Cepeda and Bailey due up for the Giants. Then in one of the most second-guessed moves in playoff history, Alston brought in Williams. Bench coach Leo Durocher and Duke Snider begged Alston to bring in Drysdale. But Alston wanted to save him for game one of the Series, forgetting you have to get there first. Durocher remarked to Roseboro, he’ll walk the ballpark. Rosey replied he would be ok. They all wanted him to be ok, but they all knew about his wildness.

Williams himself figured Alston wanted to use Williams against Cepeda and then bring in Perranoski to face the lefty Bailey. After getting Cepeda to fly out and knock in the tying run, Williams figured he was done. He started to walk off of the mound, but Alston stayed in the dugout. Trying to get one by Bailey, Williams threw one in the dirt that Rosey blocked, but Mays moved to second. Alston ordered Bailey walked to load the bases. Davenport came up and although Williams battled him he walked to force in the go-ahead run. Perranoski came in and induced a grounder to Larry Burright who promptly kicked it and the Giants were up 6-4. The Dodgers went down meekly in the 9th and the Giants won the pennant again on another heart breaker for Dodger fans. Myself, I was 14 when this happened. My biggest wish was that Walter Alston would never manage another game for the Dodgers and Stan Williams would never pitch as a Dodger again.

For Williams’s part, he said it never bothered him that he gave it his all and ended up walking Davenport. He said had he given up a hit he would have never forgiven himself, but he finished with a 100MPH fastball and just missed. That was Stan Williams-throw the high heat and take your chances. The Dodgers decided that winter they could not live with that anymore and traded him to the Yankees for Bill Skowron. Williams became a member of what Bill James called one of the best rotations of all time with Ralph Terry, 17-15, Whitey Ford, 24-7, Jim Bouton, 21-7, and Al Downing, 13-5. Williams went 9-8 with a 3.21 ERA and 98 K’s in 146 innings. His only World Series action came in three innings of scoreless relief against his former team as LA swept the Yankees.

Williams was with another pennant winner in 64 as the Yankees won again and lost the series to the Cardinals. But he did not pitch well. He was injured. He was traded to the Indians after the season. Years later he explained his injury to a fan, he had slipped on the rubber and injured his arm. And it got progressively worse for the next 6 1/2 years. One day he lifted his arm and something popped. It hurt like crazy but just like that his arm did not hurt anymore and he was able to pitch for another 7 years. They lowered the mound in 69 and not every pitcher was able to adjust. Williams had a terrible year in Cleveland and they traded him to the Twins.

Williams had a great year for the Twins going 10-1 out of the pen with a 1.99 ERA. He pitched 6 scoreless innings in relief during their loss to the Orioles in the ALCS. That gave Williams a career post-season ERA of 0.00. The next season he got a raise to 40,000 dollars. The most he would ever make in the majors. But he pitched poorly and was traded to the Cardinals. He started out with the Red Sox in 72 but was back in the minors before the end of the season and never pitched in the majors again. His final stat line, 109-94 with a 3.48 ERA.

After a year out of the game, he was the manager of the Red Sox Bristol team. They won the division and Williams even pitched in a couple of games. He may have had control problems in his own career, but that did not stop Red Sox Darrell Johnson from bringing him to Boston as their pitching coach. He became a coach on a team that included former Indian teammate Luis Tiant and Bill “Spaceman” Lee. The Red Sox won the pennant and faced the Big Red Machine in one of the best World Series ever in 1975.

Williams would remain a coach for the rest of his working life. Besides the Red Sox staff in 75, he coached the Yankees, 81, and the Reds, 1990 staffs into the World Series also. He was the pitching coach for the Mariners in 1999 but was involved in a brawl and the owner decided not to retain him. It was his last coaching job in the majors. He did various scouting for the Rays and Nationals before officially retiring from baseball at the age of 74. He was inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame in 2013. He told the audience he still wanted to pitch every day showing at age 77 he still had the competitive fire. Stan Williams passed away Saturday morning, February 21, 2021, at the age of 84 after battling a cardiopulmonary illness.