Dick Williams

Manager

Class of 2008

Dick Williams

Manager

Class of 2008
Dick Williams led three different clubs to the World Series.

Games

Birth year

About Dick Williams

Dick Williams was a solid big league player at a number of spots across the diamond during his 13-year playing career.

But in the dugout as a manager, Williams would earn his spot among baseball’s immortals.

Williams proved to be one of baseball’s best managers at turning losing teams into winners. It all started at the age of 37 in 1967 when he took over the Boston Red Sox, a team that had finished ninth in the 10-team American League the previous season. Not much was expected of the Sox, but Williams led them to 92 wins in one of the most spirited pennant chases in league history. The season was dubbed "The Impossible Dream" – with Boston coming within one win of the World Series title. It marked the re-ignition of the town's love affair with the team.

"We didn't know how to study the game," explained Red Sox first baseman George Scott. "Dick Showed us how to do it. He pressed the right buttons for everyone on that team."

Williams was dismissed late in the 1969 season and spent 1970 on Gene Mauch's staff with the Montreal Expos. In 1971, Williams took over the Oakland Athletics after their second place finish in 1970 and led them to the American League West title. He followed that up with two straight World Series championships, which prompted A’s owner Charlie Finley to proclaim: “Dick Williams is the best manager I've ever had. I ought to know. I've fired enough of them.”

Finley wasn’t the only owner enamored with Williams. Yankee owner George Steinbrenner thought so much of Williams, he tried to hire him twice, unsuccessfully: Once after he had a falling out with Finley and Finley wouldn’t let him out of his contract, and once again after the tragic death of Billy Martin in 1989, at which point Williams declared himself “too old to manage again.”

Williams managed the Angels from 1974-76, then took over the Expos in 1977 and helped Montreal become one of the National League's top teams. He was dismissed late in the 1981 season as the Expos charged to the postseason, advancing to the NLCS under new manager Jim Fanning.

Williams landed in San Diego in 1982 – and by 1984 led the Padres to their first National League pennant. He left the Padres prior to the 1986 season and soon found himself in Seattle, where he managed the Mariners until early in the 1988 season.

His final totals: A record of 1,571-1,451 with four pennants and two World Series titles.

“He's one of the best managers of all-time, in my opinion," said Goose Gossage. “And he's the best manager I've ever played for."

Williams was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2008. He passed away on July 7, 2011.

The Basics

Year inducted
2008
Birth Place
St. Louis, Missouri
Birth Year
1929
Died
2011, Henderson Nevada

Career at a Glance

Primary Team
Montreal Expos
Primary Position
Manager
Played For
Brooklyn Dodgers, 1951-1954
Brooklyn Dodgers, 1956
Baltimore Orioles AL, 1956-1957
Cleveland Indians, 1957
Baltimore Orioles AL, 1958
Kansas City Athletics, 1959-1960
Baltimore Orioles AL, 1961-1962
Boston Red Sox, 1963-1964
Teams Managed
Boston Red Sox, 1967-1969
Oakland Athletics, 1971-1973
LA/California Angels, 1974-1976
Montreal Expos, 1977-1981
San Diego Padres, 1982-1985
Seattle Mariners, 1986-1988

Career MLB Stats

Games
3,023
Wins
1,571
Losses
1,451
Winning %
.520

Dick Williams Stories

Explore the archives and go deep into the lives, careers, and stories of the Hall of Fame's honorees.

Dick Williams denied chance to manage the Yankees