The player, in brief: Earl Williams started his minor league career as a pitcher, was quickly converted to an infielder and started his rookie season in 1971 as a third baseman. In May of that year he moved to catcher for the first time in his professional career, and ended up winning the NL Rookie of the Year award, hitting .260 with 33 HR and 87 RBI. A below-average defender whatever position he played, his powerful bat kept him in the lineup for the Braves, then Orioles, then Braves again throughout the early- and mid-1970s. His hitting curtailed sharply in 1976 and after disappointing stints with the Expos and A's, he played his last big league game at the age of 28 in 1977. He got hurt the following spring, was released by Oakland, and when he went unsigned, he took the unusual step of taking out an ad in the New York Times advertising his services as a ballplayer. The gambit did not work, so he's not one of those people who could say, as they used to in Times advertising, "I got my job in the New York Times".
Post career, in brief: After his career ended Williams worked for more than 20 years as a warehouse supervisor for a cosmetics company. He died of cancer in 2013.
My collection: I have nine of his cards, from 1971 to 1978. I would be interested in trading for 1978 Hotess #16.
That's a unique way of trying to get back onto a team. Bummer that it didn't work out for him.
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ReplyDeleteThat ad is so great! Someone should've given him a job just for doing that alone.
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