Bernie Williams (willibe01)

Bernard Williams

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 1", Weight 175 lb.
• High School St. Elizabeth High School (Oakland)
• Debut September 7, 1970
• Final Game May 12, 1974
• Born October 8, 1948 in Alameda, CA USA

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Biographical Information

Bernie Williams played four years in the major leagues and six in Japan.

He was drafted in the 11th round of the 1966 amateur draft by the San Francisco Giants, came up in 1970 for the first time and appeared in almost 90 games from 1970 to 1972 with the Giants.

He worked his way up the Giants minor league organization from 1967-1970, appearing in Medford, Fresno, Amarillo, and Phoenix. When he hit .309 with 8 triples in 1970, he got his first shot at the majors.

The San Francisco Giants outfield in 1970 was Willie Mays, Bobby Bonds, and Ken Henderson, and in the early 1970s some pretty good players besides Williams were also trying to get playing time in the outfield: Garry Maddox, Gary Matthews, Dave Kingman and George Foster.

In 1971, he spent part of the season back with Phoenix, hitting .308 with a .529 slugging percentage.

After the 1973 season, which he spent entirely in the minors, Williams was traded with Willie McCovey to the San Diego Padres. He appeared in 14 more games with the Padres in 1974, which was the first season that teammate Dave Winfield played a full season in the outfield. Winfield, who later spent many years with the New York Yankees, just missed being in the outfield with the other Bernie Williams, who broke in with the Yankees in the year after Winfield left them.

He played for the Hankyu Braves from 1975 to 1980, and was an All Star in 1976. He was a valuable player on the Braves in 1978, who were one of the best Japanese teams of all time. In six years in Japan, he hit 96 home runs. He stole 32 bases in his first year there.

In 514 minor league games, he hit 50 home runs.