Happy Birthday to the late and great hall of fame manager Dick Williams. He played thirteen seasons as a player before hanging up the spikes to pursue a career in coaching, and by 1967 he’d become a big league manager.

Dick Williams Managerial Career (1967-1988):

• Boston Red Sox

• Oakland Athletics

• California Angels

• Montreal Expos

• Seattle Mariners

• San Diego Padres

Over 22 years of managing, he managed six teams, combining for a 1571-1451 W-L record, despite being unable to stay with one team longer than 4.5 years. However, along with Lou Pinella, the two are the only managers to lead four teams to seasons with 90 or more Wins. The height of his managerial career occurred with Oakland Athletics, in which he guided them to back-to-back World Series wins in 1972 and 1973. He also guided two other teams to the World Series, the Boston Red Sox in 1967, his rookie managerial season, and the San Diego Padres in 1984.

While it’s not a good look when you’re a manager that doesn’t stay with one team for an extended period for whatever reason, that shouldn’t dispute the fact that in all but his last stop in Seattle, wherever he managed the team, had success. Playing thirteen seasons of MLB is quite an accomplishment. However, Dick Williams was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame because of his Managerial career in 2008, three years before his death in 2011.

References:

Dick Williams via Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Williams