Up
on the blog today we have a 1976 coach card for former pitcher Stan
Williams, who was lending his experience to the Boston Red Sox in the
mid-70’s after a nice 14-year MLB career:
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 before moving on to coaching.
As for his playing days, he finished 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.