Jimy Williams, 1999 AL Manager of the Year, dies at 80
Major League Baseball mourns the loss of one of the more underrated managers of the late 20th century.
Jimy Williams, who managed three teams including the 1999 Boston Red Sox, has died at the age of 80.
The California native had a very brief playing career in the majors, playing 14 games for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1967 and 1968. An injury ended his playing career and he would get involved in coaching in the 1970s.
Williams managed the Toronto Blue Jays from 1986-89. His 1987 team was his best but despite winning 96 games, the Jays missed winning the AL East crown by two games to the Detroit Tigers. (The Tigers, of course, were upset by the 85-win eventual World Series champion Minnesota Twins in that year's American League Championship Series.) Williams was fired midway though the 1989 season and would wait nearly a decade for his next managerial opportunity.
The Boston Red Sox would come calling after firing Kevin Kennedy in 1996. At the time, Williams was the third base coach for the Atlanta Braves. He's the coach that famously waved Sid Bream home in Game 7 of the 1992 National League Championship Series against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Williams was voted at the AL Manager of the Year in 1999 after leading the Red Sox to back-to-back playoff appearances for the first time in the Wild Card era, as well as their first ALCS since 1990.
He then went on to manage two-plus seasons with the Houston Astros.
Despite having been fired midseason by all three teams, Williams only had one full season with a sub-.500 record, a 78-84 campaign in his first season in Boston back in 1997. In twelve seasons, Williams won 910 games (losing 790), and had a 5-9 record in Boston's three playoff series under his stewardship.
Williams earned two World Series rings with the 1995 Braves as their third base coach and the 2008 Philadelphia Phillies as bench coach.
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