The Career of Billy Williams

Billy Williams is one of the greatest Chicago Cubs players of all time and is still remembered as one of the most competitive players of his era. Williams joined stars Ernie Banks, Ferguson Jenkins, and Ron Santo to make up an extremely talented team in the 1960s.

Unfortunately, the Cubs failed to reach the playoffs during Williams' career and he was forced to retire without ever winning a World Series.

Growing up, Billy Williams managed to escape much of the racial discrimination that was present in the United States, despite the fact that he is African-Americans. This all changed, however, when Williams joined the Cubs' minor league affiliate in San Antonio. His time in San Antonio was miserable, which eventually led to Williams returning home. He was eventually talked into returning to the club, which was great news for his future in the sport.

Williams made the Chicago Cubs lineup by 1961 and was named the league's Rookie of the Year that season. Billy Williams eventually set a National League record by playing in 1,117 straight games, although that record was later beaten by Steve Garvey. Williams was definitely one of the more reliable players in Cubs history and was nicknamed Iron Man by many sportswriters in the Chicago area.

The one thing that Williams is perhaps best remembered for is his swing, as he was extremely smooth with very fast hands. Even though he was not a particularly large player, he could generate a great deal of power with his hand speed. Since Billy Williams relied on his hand speed to generate power, he did not have to take a big swing and, therefore, he was able to hit for a high average as well. Over the course of his career, Williams had a .290 batting average with 426 homeruns and 1475 RBIs.

Williams' best offensive season came in 1972, as he led the league with a .333 batting average. He also added 37 homeruns and 122 RBIs during that season, finishing second to the great Johnny Bench in MVP voting. This was also his last good season with the Chicago Cubs, as he was traded to the Oakland A's in 1974. Billy Williams went on to help the A's to the playoffs in 1975, before retiring following the 1976 season.

Despite this late success with Oakland, Billy Williams will always be remembered as a member of the Chicago Cubs. His number 26 was retired by the Cubs in 1987, making him only the second player to receive that honor from the club. It has also been announced that a statue will be erected outside of Wrigley Field in Williams' honor. This statue will be unveiled on September 7 and will definitely be a special day for Cubs fans.

Although Williams was unable to lead the Cubs to the World Series, he will go down as one of the greatest baseball players of all time. His tenure in Chicago will be remembered for the exciting brand of baseball that he and his teammates played, as they managed to make things interesting for fans of the Chicago Cubs.

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