Stan Wilson Williams was born in Enfield, New Hampshire on September 14, 1936 and passed away at the age of 84 on February 20, 2021 at his Laughlin, Nevada home. Williams had been hospitalized on February 11 and in hospice care due to the effects of cardio-pulmonary illness.
In 1954 the Brooklyn Dodgers signed the big fire-balling right-hander straight out of high school at the age of 17 and sent him to Shawnee of the Class-D Sooner State League and gave him an invite to spring training, primarily because he could throw over 90 miles per hour, but as you might expect was a bit on the wild side. In 1955 he pitched in class B Newport News where he posted an 18-7 record striking out 301 batters and walking 158 in 242 innings. On the fast track to the big leagues, in 1956 he split his time between AA Ft. Worth and for the AAA St. Paul Saints. In 1957 he spent the entire season with the AAA St. Paul Saints going 19-7 with a 3.04 ERA but he still walked over five batters a game.
He was the “Big Hurt” before the “Big Hurt.” Hank Aaron called him the toughest National League right-hander he ever faced. Williams, who earned the nickname of the “Big Hurt” by intimidating batters with inside fastballs that were known to hit the occasional hitter. Many years later Hall of Fame slugger Frank Thomas would be given the nickname, although the pain he inflicted was on the baseball.
Williams started the 1958 season with the St. Paul Saints but was called up by the now Los Angeles Dodgers early in the season and he was there to stay. Williams major league debut came in relief at Busch Stadium on May 17, 1957 against the St. Louis Cardinals with his team down 7-0. Williams pitched a scoreless fifth and sixth inning but ran out of steam during the seventh inning giving up four hits and three runs. His next big league appearance would be his first big league start and it took place on June 1 at Wrigley Field where Williams pitched a complete game shutout allowing just 2 hits and 3 walks and winning the first of his 109 big league wins.
In 1959 Williams started just 15 games and went 5-5 and continued to be plagued by wildness as his 89 strikeouts and 85 walks in 124.2 innings would indicate. Both the Dodgers and the Milwaukee Braves finished the regularly scheduled 154-game season tied with records of 86–68, forcing a tie-breaker to decide the pennant winner. The two teams’ managers flipped a coin to decide home field advantage and Dodgers’ manager Walt Alston won. The format was a best of three. The Dodgers won game one in Milwaukee and game two was tied 5-5 after nine innings. Williams pitched the final three scoreless innings earning the win for LA in the second game 6-5 in twelve innings to send the Dodgers into the 1959 World Series. In the 1959 World Series Williams appeared in one game throwing two scoreless innings of relief.
In 1960 he was part of the starting rotation with Don Drysdale, Sandy Koufax, Johnny Podres and Roger Craig and he was selected to both All-Star games that season. Williams pitched two scoreless innings of relief and was credited with a Hold. Williams was a mainstay in the Dodgers 1961 and 1962 rotations but then after the 1962 season was traded to the New York Yankees for first baseman Bill Skowron.
(Associated Press)
The 1963 New York Yankees won the pennant with Williams as the number five man in the rotation but got swept by the Dodgers . Williams again appeared in one game in relief pitching three scoreless innings. Control issue plagued Williams again in 1964 and the Yankees sold Williams to the Cleveland Indians in March of 1965. Williams was with Cleveland from 1965-1969 but spent considerable time in AAA during that period of his career including all of 1966. In December of 1969 the Indians traded Luis Tiant and Williams to the Minnesota Twins for Dean Chance, Bob Miller, Graig Nettles and Ted Uhlaender in what many consider one of the worst trades ever made by the Twins.
One the Twins acquired Williams they immediately moved him into the bullpen as a full time reliever and he was magnificent. In his first season wearing the Twins logo across his chest in 1970, Williams appeared in 68 games pitching 113.1 innings allowing just 85 hits and striking out 76 batters going 10-1 with a 1.99 ERA and a 1.032 WHIP. It was possibly the best season of his 14 year big league career. In 1971 Williams again struggled with his control striking out 47 and walking 44 in his 78 innings and on September 1 the Twins traded Williams to the Cardinals for a PTBNL. Two weeks later the Cardinals sent minor leaguers Fred Rico and Dan Ford to Minnesota. But this was not the Disco Dan Ford that played for Minnesota from 1975-1978, this was Dan Ford the relief pitcher that never got above AA and after one season in the Twins minor league system was out of baseball.
The Cardinals released Stan Williams in April of 1972 and he quickly signed with the California Angels only to be released by the Angels in June and signed with the Boston Red Sox where he finished out the season and his playing career appearing in three games.
After being out of baseball for a year, Williams managed the 1974 Red Sox’ Eastern League affiliate in Bristol (Connecticut), and won his division. Williams may have had control problems as a pitcher, but his early success as a minor-league manager led Red Sox manager Darrell Johnson to bring him to the big leagues as pitching coach. In Williams’s first year coaching, the 1975 Red Sox won the pennant. Their World Series against the Big Red Machine of Cincinnati has been considered one of the greatest of all time. Williams stayed in baseball for the rest of his working life. After the Red Sox, he coached pennant-winning staffs for the Yankees (1981) and Reds (1990). Williams also served as a pitching coach for the Chicago White Sox, Cincinnati Reds and the Seattle Mariners. After leaving the coaching ranks Williams turned to scouting with the Tampa Bay Rays and as late as 2010, when he was 74 years old, he scouted for the Washington Nationals before officially retiring from baseball.
For years he lived in Lakewood, California before moving to Nevada in December of 2020. Stan Williams was predeceased by his wife Elaine. Besides his son, he is survived by his daughter Shawn, brother Jim Williams and three grandchildren.
Thank you for the memories Stan Williams, we at Twinstrivia.com would like to express our condolences to Stan William’s family, friends, and fans.
Stan Williams, Dodgers fireballer who was part of 1959 World Series team, dies at 84