But since I had a nice photo of him in a 1969 Cleveland Indians uniform, the team he suited up for that year, I wanted to create an alternate version.
First up, the original as issued by Topps:
Now for my re-do:
Nice image of Williams in the 1969 Cleveland Indians uni, for whom he pitched before heading over to the Twins as part of a trade that also had Luis Tiant heading to the Twins for Dean Chance, Graig Nettles and two others.
Originally a starter for the Los Angeles Dodgers between 1958 and 1962, Williams even made the All-Star team in 1960 and gave the team a solid arm paired up with the likes of Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax.
By the time the 1970 season was opening up, his career was in flux, but he found his groove as a reliever that season, going 10-1 with a brilliant 1.99 earned run average over 68 appearances and 113.1 innings of work.
At the age of 33, you’d think he was starting a second phase of his career, but sadly he’d only be in the Majors another two seasons, pitching for the Twins, St. Louis Cardinals and finally the Boston Red Sox in 1972, making only three appearances and getting lit up to a 6.23 ERA.
After taking 1973 off, he did pitch in the Minors for Boston in 1974, and performed very well, going 2-0 with a minuscule 0.47 ERA over five appearances and 19 innings pitched, but that would be it for his Pro career, finishing up with a 109-94 record over 14 seasons, with a nice 3.48 ERA and 1305 strikeouts in 482 appearances and 1764.1 innings, throwing 11 shutouts while collecting 42 saves along the way.
