Stuart Williams

Walter Stuart Williams

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 180 lb.
• High School Santa Anna High School
• Born August 20, 1920 in Santa Anna, TX USA
• Died July 23, 1996 in Dallas, TX USA

BR Minors page

Biographical information

Stuart Williams was a minor league player from 1940 to 1942 and from 1946 to 1951 who also managed briefly.

He began his career as an third baseman in 1940 at the age of 18, playing for the Borger Gassers. In his first professional season, he hit .269 with 12 triples in 139 games. In 1941, again with the Gassers, he hit .362 with 38 doubles, 17 triples and nine home runs, collecting 210 hits in 580 at-bats. Despite being one of the youngest players on the team, he led the team in multiple categories. Williams split the 1942 season between the Gassers, with whom he hit .360 in 53 games and the Winston-Salem Twins. His statistics with the Twins are unknown. From 1943 to 1945, he did not play professionally due to World War II.

He resumed play in 1946, lacing up for the Amarillo Gold Sox (68 games) and Beaumont Exporters (13 games), hitting a combined .284. The following year, he raised his batting average by over 100 points, hitting .394 with 40 doubles in 116 games for the Ballinger Cats. He followed 1947 up with a .370 average and nine triples for the Cats in 1948, and a .376 average with 39 doubles, eight triples and 19 home runs for the Cats in 1949. In 1950, he split time with the Cats (105 games, 15 home runs, .365 average) and Harlingen Capitals (23 games, two home runs, .325 average), hitting a combined .357 with 17 home runs. He batted .293 in 126 games for the Capitals and only .156 in 10 games for the Hartford Chiefs in 1951, for a combined clip of .285. Despite hitting 16 home runs with 29 doubles and nine triples, that year would end up being his last.

Overall, he played in 1,031 games in his nine-year career, hitting around .338 with at least 274 doubles, 82 triples and 90 home runs. Though he spent his first three years as a third baseman, he ended up playing at second base, first base and in the outfield later on in his career. It should be noted that he spent almost his entire career in high-scoring, low-level leagues; he hit under .200 the two years he played in a AA or A loops. He had not paced his league in any department, though he finished second in the 1948 and 1950 Longhorn League in average.

He also managed Ballinger for part of 1947 and 1949.

He served in the U.S. Army during World War II.

His father, Carl Williams, played and managed in the minors in the 1920s and 1930s.

Year-By-Year Managerial Record

Year	Team	League	Record	Finish	Playoffs	Notes
1947	Ballinger Cats	Longhorn League	18-28	--	--	Replaced by Buddy Hancken (50-34)
	Borger Gassers	West Texas-New Mexico League		6th		Replaced Gordon Nell
1949	Ballinger Cats	Longhorn League	2-5	--	--	Replaced Charlie English (14-25); replaced by Lindsay Brown (48-46)