One of my favorite Giants of all-time (up there with Willie McCovey, Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Buster Posey and Panda Bear.) Drafted by the Giants in the 1st round of the 1986 draft he was called up the next season and the next and again in the Giants' pennant winning year of 1989. However, those three years he hit a miserable .198. His 181 K's over 137 hits didn't help and his .243 OBP indicated how bad he was. Williams was starting to appear to be a classic 4A hitter after tearing the cover off the ball for the last three years at AAA Phoenix. He had spent the previous two years getting set up with fastballs and then swinging and missing on breaking pitches. Even I was getting a little cynical about his potential. In the September 25 game at Dodger Stadium Williams came up in the 5th inning against John Wetland and the same old scenario was playing out. Down 0-2 Wetland was now going to finish off Williams with a breaking pitch and this time Williams sat back, waited and smashed hit his 18th homer of the season. He was more than just a fastball hitter after that and the season of this card was his breakout year hitting .277 33 homers and driving in 122.
After 1990 he became one of the best power hitters in the National League and would make 4 appearances on the All-Star team. His excellent fielding also helped make him a complete player. In 1994 he was on a pace to break Roger Maris' home runs in a season record of 61 however, the players went on strike thus scuttling his attempt at the record. After the 96 season he went to Cleveland in a trade that came down to Williams for Jeff Kent the Giants future MVP and all-star second baseman. Before the 98 season he was off to Arizona where in 2001 he won his third pennant-he also won in his one season in Cleveland, but lost to Florida-and his first World Series after hitting .269 with a home run and driving in 7 runners in the seven game series. After winning the Series the last two seasons his playing time declined and in 03 he was released by the Diamondbacks.
Hired by Arizona manager Kirk Gibson as a coach in 2010 he has since served as a first and how is the D-Back's third base coach.
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