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Posted on 02/03/2013 6:19:18 PM PST by ConservativeStatement
Earl Williams, a slugging if ambivalent catcher and infielder — “My favorite position is batter,” he once said — who won the National League rookie of the year award in 1971 but whose promise went unfulfilled amid a welter of minor controversies, died early Tuesday at his home in Somerset, N.J. He was 64.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
“Employment wanted by baseball player,” the ad said, adding: “Excellent Health — No Police Record. HAVE BAT — WILL TRAVEL — WILL HUSTLE.”
As a kid I remember his rookie year with the Braves. He was pretty good for a few years.
RIP.
A guy who is out of MLB by age 30 does not merit the number of column inches devoted to this underachiever; what’s going on?
I go to Triple A baseball games all the time and even those players are darn good. Nobody gets to the majors unless they are exceptionally good.
Earl Williams always had potential...the problem was that he needed a bit of extra care along the way. He was a decent pitcher, but was made into an outfielder, than into a 3rd baseman, into a catcher, and even into a first baseman. He always showed talent.
I think the first two years in Atlanta....the stat’s were pretty decent. Once he got to Baltimore...totally different management with Earl Weaver and I suspect he probably got into weed or alcohol to relax through some stressful periods. He just never got back to his regular numbers after that. Six years later, his career was finished.
If he had stayed in Atlanta for the first ten years...he’d been better off. He’d probably have hit 20-to-30 homers each season, and eventually got back into the outfield. There are dozens of guys like him....go look back at the rookie of the year listing from the 1970s. Most never amounted to anything.
As a kid, I remember seeing him hit a home run in Fulton County stadium that landed in the first row of the left field upper deck!
***After Ted Turner purchased the Braves in 1976, the stadium's name was changed to the compound Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium.[7]***
“My guess is the Rookie of the Year award categorizes him as a special individual, not only for the good but for the “what happened.”
OK, I get it. It’s like Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize.
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