Everything about the way Billy Williams stood in the batter’s box and swung his club of ash in 1961 said “fearless.” He was a young man turned loose on 25-home-run, 86-RBI, NL Rookie of the Year destiny.
He was a Hall of Fame-bound swatter who would, for a decade of his brilliant Cubs career — from 1962 to ’71 — miss an average of one game per season, never wavering, routinely taking his turns at-bat and delivering excellence.
“Billy Williams never gets excited, never gets mad, never throws a bat,” manager Leo Durocher once said. “You write his name down in the same spot every day, and you forget it.