Earl Williams (1970s catcher)
| Earl Williams | |||
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| Catcher / First baseman | |||
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Born: July 14, 1948 Newark, New Jersey |
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Died: January 28, 2013 (aged 64) Somerset, New Jersey |
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| MLB debut | |||
| September 13, 1970, for the Atlanta Braves | |||
| Last MLB appearance | |||
| September 25, 1977, for the Oakland Athletics | |||
| MLB statistics | |||
| Batting average | .247 | ||
| Home runs | 138 | ||
| Runs batted in | 457 | ||
| Teams | |||
| Career highlights and awards | |||
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Earl Craig Williams, Jr. (July 14, 1948 – January 28, 2013) was an American Major League Baseball player. Though he never played catcher in the minor leagues, he earned the National League's Rookie of the Year award at that position in 1971.
Williams was born in Newark, New Jersey, and raised in East Orange, and then Montclair, where he was an exceptional athlete at Montclair High School. He earned a scholarship to Ithaca College in upstate New York for basketball. He chose baseball instead when he was drafted by the Milwaukee Braves in the first round of the 1965 Major League Baseball August Legion Draft.
As Williams was a pitcher in high school, he made eight starts his first professional season with the Gulf Coast League Braves, compiling a 1-0 record and 3.10 earned run average. When not pitching, Williams played first base. The idea of Williams as a pitcher was abandoned after the 1966 season, and Williams spent most of his time in the Braves' farm system either at first or in the outfield. In 1970, he also played some third base. He debuted with the Atlanta Braves that September, and batted .368 in ten games split pretty evenly between first and third base.
Williams began the 1971 season as the Braves' starting third baseman. By the end of May, Darrell Evans took over at third, and Williams began seeing more playing time at first base. On May 23, Williams entered a 4-0 loss to the New York Mets at Shea Stadium as a pinch hitter in the eighth inning, and remained in the game at catcher. It was his first professional experience behind the plate ever.
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