Earl Williams (williea01)

Earl Baxter Williams

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0½", Weight 185 lb.
• School Maryville College
• Debut May 27, 1928
• Final Game June 2, 1928
• Born January 27, 1903 in Cumberland Gap, TN USA
• Died March 10, 1958 in Knoxville, TN USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Earl Williams was a catcher for 11 years (1921-1931), four in college (1921-1924), eight in the minors (1924-1931) and a cup of coffee in the major leagues in 1928. He graduated from High School in 1921 at age 18. He then attended Maryville College (1921-1924), receiving his degree in 1924.

He broke into Organized Baseball in 1924 at age 21 with the Morristown Roosters in the Appalachian League, hitting .275. Later that season, he moved to the Utica Utes-Oneonta Indians of the New York-Pennsylvania League (1924) and hit .308 in limited time. He then played for the Dover Senators in the Eastern Shore League (1925) and hit .257 with six homers and also was with the Corinth Corinthians in the Tri-State League (1925-1926). With Corinth, he batted .303 with five homers in '25 and .330 with eight home runs a year later.

In 1927, he played for the Hartford Senators in the Eastern League (.240) and the Newark Bears in the International League (one game, no hits).

Williams was 25 years old when he broke into the big leagues on May 27, 1928, with the Boston Braves. He was hitless in two at bats with a strikeout in three games and played his final MLB game on June 2, 1928 at age 25.

He returned to the minors with the Waynesboro Red Birds in the Blue Ridge League (1929) and batted .230. He moved on to the Jeannette Jays in the Middle Atlantic League (1930) (.238, 4 HR, 27 RB) and the Scranton Miners in the New York-Pennsylvania League (1931) (.271), ending his baseball career at age 28. He also played in the Eastern League, Sally League and Southern League.

Williams was a World War II veteran (BN). He was a collector for the U.S. Internal Revenue Service for 20 years He died at age 55 at St. Mary's Hospital in Knoxville, TN apparently from a heart attack on March 10, 1958 and is buried at Highland Memorial Cemetery in Knoxville.

There have been two major leaguers named "Earl Williams". Both were catchers, and both broke in with the Boston/Atlanta Braves organization.

Sources

Principal sources for Earl Williams (williea01) 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 International League: Year-by-year Statistics, 1884-1953 by Marshall D. Wright; and independent research by Walter Kephart (WK) and Frank Russo (FR) and others.

Related Sites

• Earl Williams at the Baseball Almanac
• Bio at Baseball Page
• The Baseball Library for Earl Williams
• Earl Williams at the Baseball Encyclopedia of Catchers
• Earl Williams at Retrosheet
• and a full Bibliography from SABR's The Baseball Index (TBI)