Al Williams

Note: This page is for 1930s pitcher Al Williams, for the pitcher from the 1980s also known as Albert Williams, click here.

Almon Edward Williams

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 3", Weight 200 lb.
• High School Bardwell High School
• Debut April 19, 1937
• Final Game September 4, 1938
• Born May 11, 1914 in Valhermoso Springs, AL USA
• Died July 19, 1969 in Groves, TX USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Al Williams was a pitcher seven years (1935-1941), two in the Majors (1937-1938) and five in the minors (1935-1936;1939-1941). He was born on Monday, May 11, 1914, in Valhermoso Springs, AL. He broke into Organized Baseball in 1935 at age 20 with Portsmouth in the Piedmont League and moved up to the Atlanta Crackers in the Southern Association ( 1935-1937).

Williams was 22 years old when he broke into the big leagues on April 19, 1937, with the Philadelphia Athletics. He played for Philaderlphia (1937-1938) where he played his final MLB game on September 4, 1938 at age 24. On December 17, 1938 he was purchased by the Washington Senators from the Athletics.

He returned to the minors with the Chattanooga Lookouts in the Southern Association (1939) and on March 30, 1940 was purchased by the Minneapolis Millers of the American Association from Washington. He pitched for Port Arthur in the Evangeline League and the Atlanta Crackers in the Southern Association in 1941, ending his baseball career at age 27.

In 1936, his best year in the minors, he was (17-7) with an ERA of 3.32. In 1939, he was (14-9) with an ERA of 2.86. Overall in MLB, he was (4-8) with 3 complete games in 16 games started, 12 games finished, 1 save, 52 strikeouts, 103 walks and 0 shutouts in 168⅔ innings pitched with an ERA of 6.24 and a WHIP of 1.891 in 46 games. Overall in the minors, he was (53-34).

Williams was a World War II veteran (BN). He was a pumper at Gulf Oil in Port Arthur, TX for 27 years. He died at age 55 at Doctor's Hospital in Groves, TX from injuries suffered in an automobile accident a week earlier on July 19, 1969 and is buried at Shilo Cemetery in San Augustine, TX.

Sources

Principal sources for Al Williams include newspaper obituaries (OB), government Veteran records (VA,CM,CW), Stars & Stripes (S&S), Sporting Life (SL), The Sporting News (TSN), The Sports Encyclopedia:Baseball 2006 by David Neft & Richard Cohen (N&C), old Who's Who in Baseballs (none) (WW), old Baseball Registers (none) (BR) , old Daguerreotypes by TSN (none) (DAG), Stars&Stripes (S&S), The Baseball Necrology by Bill Lee (BN), Pat Doyle's Professional Ballplayer DataBase (PD), The Baseball Library (BL), Baseball in World War II Europe by Gary Bedingfield (GB) ; The Southern Association in Baseball, 1885-1961 by Marshall D. Wright; The American Association: Year-By-Year Statistics for the Baseball Minor League, 1902-1952 by Marshall D. Wright; and independent research by Walter Kephart (WK) and Frank Russo (FR) and others.

Related Sites

• Al Williams at the SABR Bio Project
• Al Williams at the Baseball Almanac
• Bio at Baseball Page
• The Baseball Chronology for Al Williams
• Al Williams at Retrosheet
• and a full Bibliography from SABR's The Baseball Index (TBI)