Meeting Stan Williams, Dodger

EVENING AT LAKE ELSINORE
(Meeting Stan Williams Dodge Pitcher)
The Lake Elsinore Storms Versus the The Rancho Cucamonga Quakers
August 14, 2010 by Dennis Ginoza

Four of us were sitting in prime seats, about twelve rows up, right behind home plate. From here you can see every pitch, breaking balls, fast balls, and hear the crack of the bat.

My wife dropped a packet of relish for her hot dog and it fell to the next row. This made for an interesting evening. I tapped the shoulder of a man sitting directly in front of me and asked him if he’d help me pick up the packet. He said, “Well, I’ll just keep it,” jokingly, of course.

As the game started, I saw that man open up a score book. I asked him, “Are an official scorekeeper?” He said, “I’m a Scout.” “For whom?” “Washington,” he replied. “Oh, the Mariners?” I asked. “D.C.” he said.

That’s when I learned I was sitting behind Stan Williams. Who is Stan Williams? He played for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1958-62. Now, Wayne King and Rusty Rursch and I were fascinated by the conversation that followed; we had much to learn. Sylvia sat and observed all this: for us the fascination of walking into history.

Stan says, “I was the starting pitcher for the Dodgers with Johnny Podres, Don Drysdale, and Sandy Kouvax.” “I played with Duke Snider earlier in the minors.” He said, “When I was seven, I wanted to play baseball to beat the Yankees.” “I was not a Dodger fan, I was a Yankee hater.” The last time he visited with Duke Snider was two years ago.

He played in the World Series in 1959. In wanting to beat the Yankess, that didn’t happen because the Dodgers played Chicago White Sox in the World Series. In 1963 when the Dodgers beat the Yankees in the World Series, he was now a pitcher for the Yankees. He played under Steinbrenner. His sense of humor came through. Yes, Stan Williams is a nice friendly guy who gave us his time.

Wayne was a St. Louis Cardinals fan in the earlier years and asked about playing against them. He said, one batter who always gave him trouble was Joe Cunningham. Stan said, “He owned me.” With the Cardinals, this was the era of Stan Musial, Ken Boyer, Red Schoendist.

Stan says he is a scout for various teams including also the Padres and the Dodgers. He will be in Arkansas scouting for the Oakland A’s in a few weeks. He has lived around baseball for some 58 years. He takes notes on players in every aspect of the game-- which means he collects data on hitting, fielding, running, pitching, etc.

I had mentioned to him, in a book by George Will, Men at Work, only one out of four hundred players in the minor league make it to the majors. He said, at one time it was worse. There were only sixteen teams with some fifty two minor league teams. I asked him about the book, Money Ball, about how the Oakland A’s scouts began to look at players by collecting statistics. He said, “That’s what a lot of scouts do.” But then he added, “That doesn’t tell the whole story.”

He met Stephen Strausburg, pitcher for the Washington Nationals who was drafted from San Diego State University. Strausburg has thrown pitches above 100 miles per hour, made the major leagues in one season, at the age of 21, and won the first five games. He recorded fourteen strikeouts. His debut on June 9, 2010 filled the stadium in Washington, D.C. A crowd of 40,315 turned out. In the minor league, when he pitched in Syracuse, he also filled the stadium. Writers say, a phenomenon like Strausburg comes only once in a long time. Stan Williams told me, “I visited with Strausburg. He’s a really nice guy.” For a player who received a bonus of $15 million and is called a nice guy, that’s good news for the game.

Stan Williams impressed us as friendly and approachable. His win-loss record was 109-94, ERA 3.48, strikeouts 1305. His major league debut with the Los Angeles Dodgers was in 1959. The following are the teams he played for.

Los Angeles Dodgers (1958-1962)
New York Yankees (1963-1964)
Cleveland Indians (1965, 1967-1969)
Minnesota Twins (1970)
St. Louis Cardinals (1970)
Boston Red Sox (1972)

Williams was born in Enfield, New Hampshire on September 14, 1936. He batted right, threw right. He was nicknamed “Big Daddy,” and “The Big Hurt.” Many batters around the league feared him as he stood 6 foot 4 inches, weighed 225 pounds, had a blistering fast ball. In 1961 he finished second in strikeouts with 205, behind teammate Sandy Koufax (269) and Don Drysdale finished third that year (82). In 1970 he went 10-1 in relief.

After fourteen years in the major league, he retired. He became the pitching coach for the Red Sox, Yankees, Seattle Mariners, Chicago White Sox, and Cincinnati Reds. He was also an advance scout for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

From behind the diamond, life in the stands can bring out fascinating aspects of the game of baseball. From a dropped relish package, we walked in time, met a Dodger who had connected the bridge, a story earlier written about Duke Snider. The phrase, “Play ball,” is not only about a game, it’s about life in America.