Williams came to the New York Yankees along with pitcher Rick Sawyer in a trade that also included the Cleveland Indians and Detroit Tigers, with Jim Perry going back to the Indians and catcher Jerry Moses going to the Indians.
Turns out Williams would spend the final two years as a Major Leaguer with the Yankees, getting released right before the 1976 season and retiring for good in 1980 after two seasons in Japan and two more in the Mexican League.
Originally up to the Majors in 1964 as a 20-year-old for 10 games with the Houston Colt .45’s, he’d spend the next two seasons in the Minor Leagues before making it back, now as a member of the Chicago White Sox, in 1967, where he’d go on to play for the next six years before moving on to the Indians for one season.
By the time he was done, he finished with a nice .270 batting average, with 640 hits over 2373 at-bats in 842 games, scoring 284 runs and driving in 173, while also leaving us with one of the great nicknames of the era, “No Neck”, and if you look at any of his Topps cards, you’ll see why.
As for the card template, I was never a fan of that GIANT yellow "Traded" banner Topps used on their version in 1974, so I just went with a horizontal layout, which I am a big fan of.
