How Good was Billy Williams?

PaulMaul

Who are his closest comps?

coinkat

Being a Cubs fan, I always liked Williams- sort of thought he could have been MVP afew times. If I suggest Yaz as a comp, I suspect that might create a discussion. I am trying to think of others- perhaps Oliva but I see Williams as the better choice. Keep in mind I am trying to limit players to the 1960- 1980 time frame

PaulMaul

His ability to put up power numbers while hitting .300+ was certainly noteworthy.

craig44

I have never really given Williams much thought. after briefly looking over his statline, He looks a lot like Eddie Murray to me, just without quite as long of a career. I would say Murray was better as he was able to keep similar percentages but over a longer career. But both look like very steady producers.

JoeBanzai

Olivia's career to short for a good comparison, Yaz's much longer than Williams's.
Orlando Cepeda seems close in length of career and time frame.
I like Williams better than any of these guys except Yastrzemski and Williams was much more consistent than Carl. Not the monster years, but less sub par ones.
Yaz was a great fielder as well, probably gets an edge there, along with a quite a bit longer career.
How about Al Kaline?

PaulMaul

Billy played in 150 or more games 12 years in a row. And even more amazingly, 161 or more 8 years in a row!

Anyone accomplished that lately?

craig44

@PaulMaul said:
Billy played in 150 or more games 12 years in a row. And even more amazingly, 161 or more 8 years in a row!

Anyone accomplished that lately?

Cal Ripken had a few years like that.

dallasactuary

His closest comp in overall value is probably Clemente. Williams was a slightly better hitter than Clemente, but Clemente was a better fielder. Strictly in terms of hitting he's probably closest to Goose Goslin, or, from his own era, maybe Al Kaline.

(Murray and Yaz are also good choices; Oliva would be except for the short career.)

PaulMaul

@craig44 said:

@PaulMaul said:
Billy played in 150 or more games 12 years in a row. And even more amazingly, 161 or more 8 years in a row!

Anyone accomplished that lately?

Cal Ripken had a few years like that.

So did Lou Gehrig. I was thinking in the last 25 years or so. Guys like Pete Alonso seem to want to do it, but he gets hit on the hand every week or two. I don’t know how guys stayed reasonably healthy for such long stretches in the past.