Hall of Famer d**k Williams dies – MLB News
d**k Williams, a famous Hall of Famer, died on Thursday, July 7 from a ruptured aortic aneurysm. The 82-year-old legend had earned meteoric rise after taking over the Oakland Athletics as big league manager and making it a franchise to envy.
Williams had a lot to his credit and to adorn his credentials with. Among other things, he remained one of the two managers in the history of baseball to lead no less than three teams to the World Series titles.
Being part of Boston Red Sox, San Diego Padres and then Oakland Athletics, Williams continued to constitute an increasingly powerful influence on baseball in the 1970s and became a Hall of Famer.
He was known to the world for his unconventionally audacious attitude, radically different style. In short, he was to be an anomaly in baseball with uninterrupted feuds in public with Charlie Finley.
His biggest success came in 1971 when he singlehandedly guided the Oakland Athletics to a wonderful 101 wins. His demise from the team was expedited largely because he and Finley could not resolve the differences on operational level and Williams resigned.
"He came to us at a very good time in our development and certainly for me as a young player full of talent," Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson said. "We were young and needed to understand how to go about winning and take the final step to become a great team.
He was very important in that. He demanded excellence."
The annals of history will also remember him for his incredible capability to re-orient the Boston Red Sox in 1967 and enable the team to win the Pennant after almost three decades, which in itself was a great achievement at that point in time.
He had also been part of Los Angeles Dodgers, Baltimore Orioles and the Cleveland Indians as a key player with .260 average only to retire and pursue his career as manager.
His death was met with shock and sadness. While he remained the best manager ever in his own right, becoming among one of the most-talked persons of his time, his departure caused anguish for all the baseball fans, especially the ones who had personally
known the legend.
Andre Dawson, one of the former players in the Hall of Famer, was left absolutely shocked after hearing the news. "He was just one of those guys. I respected him, I admired him for the simple reason that as a young player I didn't feel pressure underneath
him,” Dawson said. “He just said, 'Have fun, go out and play the game to the best of your ability.'”
Williams will be missed by all of the baseball fans and players.
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