When Stan Williams played his first season with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1958, it was the team’s first year on the West Coast. The next year, Williams played in his first World Series.
“I guess the first one always is special for a player,” Williams said. “It was only my second year in the big leagues and I was wide-eyed and wondering what was going on.”
It was special, because Williams got the first of his six World Series rings over a long baseball career as a player and a pitching coach.
He learned quickly in the 1959 World Series that it isn’t over in one game.
“We got beat 11-0 in the first game by the Chicago White Sox,” Williams said. “When we got into the clubhouse, infielder Don Zimmer yelled, ‘The GoSox are dead, they have no chance,’ and we won four of the next five games.”
Williams grew up on Denver’s East Side and went to East High School. He signed with the Dodgers out of high school and pitched 14 years in the big leagues for the Dodgers, New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians, Minnesota Twins, St. Louis Cardinals and Boston Red Sox. His overall record was 109-94 and he pitched in a league championship series and two World Series, one with the Dodgers and one with the Yankees.
Williams’ Dodger and Yankee teammates were a who’s who of baseball.
When he first came up with the Dodgers, he joined a pitching rotation that included Sandy Koufax, Johnny Podres and Don Drysdale. Maury Wills, Junior Gilliam, Gil Hodges, Carl Furillo, Pee Wee Reese and Duke Snider also were on that team.
With the Yankees, it was Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris and Bobby Richardson, to name a few.
Williams has a connection to this year’s Rockies. When left-hander Brian Fuentes was in the Seattle Mariners’ organization, Williams suggested that he try throwing sidearm.
“I’m pulling for Colorado all the way,” Williams said. “I also was pulling for Lou Piniella and the Chicago Cubs. I would have been in quite a dilemma if the Cubs had beaten the Diamondbacks and played the Rockies.”
