Walter Allen Williams (December 19, 1943 – January 23, 2016) was an American professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball and the Nippon Professional Baseball league as an outfielder between and , most prominently as a member of the Chicago White Sox where, he established himself as a fan favorite for his enthusiastic playing style. He also played for the Houston Colt .45s, Cleveland Indians and the New York Yankees before playing for two seasons in the Nippon Professional Baseball league with the Nippon-Ham Fighters.
Early life
Born in Brownwood, Texas, Williams was nicknamed No-Neck due to his relatively short stature (5 feet 6 inches) combined with a muscular, compact torso and a short neck. His odd physical appearance was the result of a typhus injection he received as a baby. After Williams' hometown was hit by a flood, the government gave typhus injections to prevent the spread of the disease. Williams was so muscular even as a baby that medical personnel were unable to reach a vein, except in the back of his neck. He developed a crick in his neck, which then stiffened and shrank. Williams was sent in adolescence to live with an aunt in San Francisco, where he graduated from Galileo High School having played football, basketball and baseball for the school teams.
Baseball career
Williams was signed by the Houston Colt .45's as an amateur free agent in 1963. After spending one season in the minor leagues, he made his major league debut at the age of 20 with the Colt .45's on April 21, 1964. Williams played in only 10 games with the Colt .45's, when he was selected off waivers on May 26, 1964 by the St. Louis Cardinals. Williams was sent back to the minor leagues to play for the Winnipeg Goldeyes of the Northern League, where he posted a .318 batting average in 88 games. He progressed to the Tulsa Oilers in 1965 where, he scored 106 runs and hit .330 to win the Texas League batting championship. In 1966, Williams repeated his performance with a batting average of .330 and scored 107 runs. On December 14, 1966, he was traded by the St. Louis Cardinals with Don Dennis to the Chicago White Sox for Lee White and Johnny Romano.
Williams returned to the major leagues in 1967 during an era dominated by pitching. He hit for a .240 batting average in 1967, in a year in which only four players hit above .300. Led by manager Eddie Stanky, the 1967 White Sox were in a tight pennant race with the Boston Red Sox, Detroit Tigers and the Minnesota Twins before fading to a fourth-place finish. Williams' hustling style of play became evident during a June 14 game against the Red Sox. With a baserunner on second base, Williams fielded a single to right field and threw the ball to home plate. First baseman Tom McCraw intercepted the throw then, trapped the hitter in a rundown as he had strayed too far from first base. Shortstop Ron Hansen's return throw to first base was wide and the ball rolled towards the Red Sox dugout. Appearing seemingly from out of nowhere, Williams dived for the ball before it reached the dugout then, he sprang to his feet and threw it to second base where Hansen tagged the baserunner out. With his cheerful demeanor and hustling style of play, Williams became a fan-favorite during his tenure with the White Sox.
In 1968, he split his playing time between the Hawaii Islanders of the Pacific Coast League where he hit for a .318 average and, the White Sox where, he hit for only a .241 average in 63 games. Carl Yastrzemski would be the only player in the American League to break the .300 mark in 1968. Williams had a breakout season in 1969 when he became the White Sox' starting right fielder and, produced a career-high .304 batting average to finish sixth in the American League batting championship and scored 59 runs. He was one of only six American League players to have a batting average above the .300 mark and, the first White Sox player in six seasons to hit above 300. Williams struck out only 33 times and grounded into just 5 double plays during the 1969 season. Williams was the fifth-toughest to strike out in the league; he was fanned only once every 14.3 at bats.