Billy Williams: My Sweet-Swinging Lifetime With the Cubs [Hardcover]

Billy Williams (Author), Fred Mitchell (Author), Ron Santo (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2008

Reliable, quiet, and often overshadowed in the media by the showier players of the era, Billy Williams steadily created a Hall of Fame career with the Chicago Cubs and Oakland A's. Now Williams, with the Chicago Tribune's Fred Mitchell, reflects on his life and career in this self-titled autobiography. Williams revisits the social conditions and racial tensions that influenced his early years, and tells how growing up in Whistler, Alabama, shaped the rest of his life. Williams celebrates his playing days with the 1969 Cubs and speaks honestly about baseball, the players of today and yesteryear, and the changes he has witnessed over the years.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"Everybody in the media thought that Billy was extremely shy when he was a young man. But in the clubhouse with his teammates, he was a leader. Billy spoke his mind, and I loved him for that."--from the foreword by Ron Santo

From the Inside Flap

One of the most popular Chicago Cubs of all time, and now an executive adviser for the team, Billy Williams reminisces about his early years, his Hall of Fame career, and his five decades in the game in this self-titled autobiography. He remembers the sturdy values and selfless devotion of the people from his hometown, Whistler, Alabama, who helped shape his character: Lilly Dixon, his grade school principal; Virgil Rhodes, his high school coach; and his father, who passed away at the age of 92, but lived long enough to see his son play in the big leagues.

Just before he was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1987, Williams revisited Whistler. The boarded-up shanties, desolate dirt roads, and abandoned shelters converted into churches were a poignant reminder of how far he had come. They also brought to mind the inner strength, purpose, and faith of the humble congregations that belied the frailty of the makeshift structures.

Williams tells not only how he beat some long odds to make it to the Hall of Fame, but also how, remarkably, three others from his home state did the same: Hank Aaron, Willie McCovey, and Satchel Paige. All had the same hardscrabble youth growing up, all overcame similar obstacles, and each in his own way rewrote baseball history.

From his early roots in the Negro Leagues to his brilliant career in the majors, Williams, with the Chicago Tribune's Fred Mitchell, gives the reader a behind-the-scenes look into one of the most beloved eras in baseball. In this thoughtful and entertaining memoir, Williams provides stories and anecdotes about the colorful characters he played with and against, comments on baseball itself and how it has changed, and discusses his efforts to give something back to the game and the people that made him the man he is today.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Triumph Books; First Edition edition (April 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1600780504
• ISBN-13: 978-1600780509
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #506,073 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Classy Book about a Classy Ballplayer, May 4, 2008

By 

Gary Tallman - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Billy Williams: My Sweet-Swinging Lifetime With the Cubs (Hardcover)

It is an honor to be the first person to review this excellent book about the life of Billy Williams. In an age of baseball books called Vindicated and stories of steroids and other sordid aspects of the game it is refreshing to read this book about a player who exemplified class and a love for the game of baseball and a love for one woman his entire adult life.

I am a lifelong Cubs fan and I began following the team in around 1965 when I was 7 years old. Everyone knew about Ernie Banks back in those days but Billy Williams was a very unsung hero of those teams. I once saw him get 5 hits in one game.

In the book Billy is pretty outspoken about the racism he encountered as he moved up in the cubs organization. He came very close to quitting for good and what a shame that would have been if Buck O'Neill hadn't tracked Billy down and brought him to his senses.

My favorite chapter was one where Billy goes down a long list of his cubs teammates giving us glimpses into what it was to be a baseball player before the years of free agency and exorbitant salaries.

Billy also talks about his time with the Oakland A's just after they had won their three championships in a row.

He discusses his desire to manage in the major leagues and his years of coaching for the A's and the Cubs and his experiences with Sammy Sosa during the 1998 season.

The book concludes with the text of Billy's Hall of Fame speech.

If you followed the Cubs during the 60's and 70's this book will be a nice trip down memory lane.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Worth Reading, July 10, 2008

By 

Mark Stone (LaGrange Park, IL) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Billy Williams: My Sweet-Swinging Lifetime With the Cubs (Hardcover)

Williams is not shy in telling about the discrimination he and other people of color experienced during his minor league and major league career. I enjoyed his recollection and feelings regarding the Cubs' 1969 collapse and his memories of a large number of his former teammates.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A delight for Cub fans, July 25, 2008

By 

Noneofyourbiz "noneofyourbiz" (Oak Park, IL) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: Billy Williams: My Sweet-Swinging Lifetime With the Cubs (Hardcover)

I adored this book. But then, I can recite the starting lineup for the 1969 Cubs. Make no mistake about it, that very special, charismatic and heartbreaking team is at the center of this book. Williams talks about Sammy Sosa, touches upon his time with Ryne Sandberg, but for the most part, this is about Kess and Beck, Santo and Pepi, Leo and Fergie and Mr. Cub, and all the other Wrigley Field heroes of the mid 60's and early 1970s. If those names don't warm your heart and make you smile, I'm not sure this book will hold your interest.

Billy Williams has some terrific stories to tell about how prevalent racism was in America, and in sports, in the recent past. He reports them in austere language that somehow increases their impact. But I wish there was more about the day-to-day life of a ballplayer, and especially this extraordinary man. So many of his stories include this player's first wife or that player's new wife or so-and-so's divorce, yet Williams and his wife faced the same struggles and have been married for decades, successfully raising four daughters and doting on grandchildren Maybe it's because I'm a chick and I love a love story, but I would have enjoyed a few insights into their enduring union.