Happy Birthday to Billy Williams, Hall of Fame Left Fielder and one of the greatest Chicago Cubs ever. In his 18-year career, Williams spent 16 of them in a Cubs uniform; his final two were with the Oakland Athletics.

Career Statistics/Accolades (1959-1976):

.290 BA, 2,711 HITS, 426 HR, 1,475 RBI, 1,410 RUNS, .361 OBP

  • 6x All-Star
  • 1961 Rookie of the Year
  • 1972 NL Batting Champion

Despite spending most of his career playing alongside fellow Hall of Famers Ernie Banks and Ron Santo, he never appeared in the postseason during his time in Chicago. However, Williams was a great player. In 1961, when he finally made the Cubs as a full-time player, he won the Rookie of the Year Award in 1961. In 1970 and 1972, he finished runner-up in the NL MVP voting, losing to Johnny Bench of the Reds, who was on a better team. 

1970: .322 BA, 205 HITS, 42 HR, 129 RBI, 137 RUNS, .391 OBP (161 Games)

1972: .333 BA, 191 HITS, 37 HR, 122 RBI, 95 RUNS, .398 OBP (150 Games)

I understand why he may have been a little overlooked regarding his career and the MVP votes, which isn’t uncommon for a player who primarily played on poor teams. But offensively and defensively, Billy Williams was one heck of a player. Offensively, he hit over 30 Home Runs multiple times, drove in over 100 runs, scored over 100 runs, hit around .300, and recorded 200 or more Hits in a season. Defensively, he led all Left Fielder in Assists, Double Plays, Putouts, and Fielding Percentage multiple times. I know he played in an era with some great defensive outfielders, but how did he not win a Gold Glove award at least once? I guarantee because of the team he played on, and he got overlooked.

Another quality of what makes a player a hall-of-fame player to me is being available to play in 150 or more games a year, and for twelve straight seasons, Williams appeared in 150 or more games. To this date, his 392 HR, 2,510 HITS, and 1,353 RBI as a Cub are still the most by any Chicago Cub. As a left-handed hitter, he’s eighth all-time in Home Runs. In 1975, as the DH for the Oakland Athletics, he finally made it to the postseason, going hitless in three games.

References:

  1. Billy Williams Career Statistics via Baseball-Reference:  https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/willibi01.shtml
  2. Billy Williams via Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Williams#