Billy Williams
Billy Williams was the star for the Chicago Cubs for a long time, but never reached the playoffs in his 16 years with the team, despite the fact that he was among the top few players in the league for several years in the 1960's and 1970's.
He made his Major League debut in 1959, but didn't get called up full time until 1961, when he was named the Rookie of the Year with 147 hits and 86 RBI's, numbers that he would surpass in nearly every season for the rest of his career.
He was known as the NL Iron Man for his streak of 1117 consecutive games played between 1963 and 1970, which was the NL record until Steve Garvey passed it in 1983. While it never approached Lou Gehrig's streak in the AL, or Cal Ripken's later streak, going for more than 6 years without missing a day is very impressive.
He was twice the runner-up in the NL MVP voting, although he should have been the winner in 1970, when he led the league with 137 runs, 205 hits, and 373 total bases, while also reaching career highs with 42 home runs and 129 RBI's.
Two years later he reached similar numbers, this time leading the NL with a .333 batting average and 348 total bases, but again came in #2 behind Johnny Bench. After one more solid season with the Cubs, his production started to drop off, and he was traded to the Athletics.
With the A's he was finally able to taste the playoffs, but he went 0 for 7 in his lone career playoff series. The next season his average dropped to .211, which was by far a career low, and he retired as a result.
While he was not flashy, he was reliable and consistent, showing up every night and getting a lot of hits. At one point he reached 20 home runs in 13 straight seasons, which further proves the point. He was voted into the Hall of Fame in 1987 and had his number retired by the Cubs the same year, and now he has also found himself on the list of the best baseball players of all time.
No comments:
Post a Comment