RIP Jimy Williams
- Thread starter TheYellowDart5
- Start date
As soon as I saw this thread I figured that I would post something witty in the same vein, but you're post is perfect.
You deserve all of the good things.
May we all wear a polyester jacket with the bottom snaps undone in his honor.
Perfection.
The nicest thing I can say about Jimy Williams is that he managed Pedro when the latter was at the peak of his powers. In other words, he managed most of my favorite Red Sox games. Thank you, Jimy, for penciling in Darren Lewis, Damon Buford and Bernard Gilkey (baby) to play alongside the greatest pitcher I'll ever see.
Who would have thought Williams would look like Bobby Cox compared to Kerrigan and Little? RIP, sir.
Darren Lewis’s eulogy will lead off the funeral. It’s what the one-m wonder would have wanted.
As anyone checked to see if Nip was OK? I was have expecting the site to be down in solidarity when I heard news.
I loved the 1999 team and loved him coaching it, especially the way he'd have no problem tweaking Steinbrenner. But I grew tired of the strange decisions, like pulling Frank Castillo while dominating the Yankees after only 60 pitches or the time he started Lansing at 2b and I forget the other player at ss during the first game of a doubleheader and then inexplicably switched their positions for the second game.
Then Grady Little came and I re-appreciated Jimy all over again.
Then Grady Little came and I re-appreciated Jimy all over again.
Not sure if it was more Kerrigan or Jimy, but they knew how to get peak performance out of their talent-limited bullpen. Their usage of guys like Lowe and Guapo in particular was masterful.
Williams was only 80?! Wow. Belichick is 71 and looks younger than Jimy when he was managing the Sox. Baseball managers really do age in dog years. Just look at the color of the moss on Cora and other relatively young managers now.
RIP Jimy who was skipper for greats like Pedro and Nomar, but also got a lot out of guys like Darren Lewis, Troy O'Leary, Brian Daubach, etc. Also bookended by a couple of shall we say, less desirable managers by comparison, Kevin Kennedy and Joe Kerrigan.
RIP Jimy who was skipper for greats like Pedro and Nomar, but also got a lot out of guys like Darren Lewis, Troy O'Leary, Brian Daubach, etc. Also bookended by a couple of shall we say, less desirable managers by comparison, Kevin Kennedy and Joe Kerrigan.
Double Headers when Williams was manager and Lansing was on the roster:
September 16, 2000 - Lansing 2B defensive replacement in 9th inning game 1, played 2nd all of game 2
September 20, 2000 - Lansing DNP game 1, started at 2nd in game 2 and Midre Cummings pinch hit for him.
September 21, 2000 - Lansing DNP game 1, defensive replacement at 2nd after Everett PH for Sadler in game 2.
August 4, 2001 - Lansing DNP game 1, played SS all of game 2. Nomar had played SS in game 1, but he only played 21 games that season. Lansing started at SS 71 times that year, and at 2nd 26 times. Merloni played 45 games at SS, Grebek played 23, Valentin 18, and James Lofton 7. Offerman played 91 games at 2B, Stynes 43, Angel Santos 6, and Merloni 5.
Edit: You might be thinking of these two games, where Lansing and Merloni flip flopped:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS200104150.shtml
https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS200104160.shtml
Man, I loved this guy. Always a great interview, always unpredictable. Got a chance to shake his hand in 2000, he'll be missed.
1/29 is now an official SoSH holiday to go alongside 8/2. All of you guys can take off to be with your families during this most joyous occasion!
His lineups were maddening - who can forget defensive specialist Mike Benjamin at DH - but his teams always seemed to exceed expectations. In some ways he was actually ahead of the curve when it game to managing a pitching staff (starter vs bullpen innings, fungible relievers, etc ). He got the most out of a lot of scrappy .270 hitters. Those were fun teams until the disaster of 2001. RIP.
Jimy managed the first Red Sox teams that I followed day in and day out. I will always remember his hat with the giant brim that looked like an awning.
Rest easy, Jimy.
Rest easy, Jimy.
I liked him when he was manager here; the roster was trash, which was a real problem. He obviously didn't adapt to the times, and it was best for the team to move on from him. However, the manager they hired to replace him was worse.
RIP Jimy.
He won 414 games as Red Sox manager, the most of anyone between Joe Cronin and Tito. He had a .540 winning percentage with Boston, one point higher than Cronin. When he left, Jimy had won more games as manager than anyone other than Cronin (who managed here 12 years) and the team's first manager, Jimmy Collins.
They didn't have a Manager of the Year Award until 1983, but only 2 Red Sox managers have ever won that award: McNamara in 1986 and Jimy in 1999.
It might be a low bar, but I would rank him as the best overall manager of the 9 we had between Dick Williams and Tito.
I never knew his son Brady is the third base coach for Tampa.
I still am not sure what "If a frog had wings, he wouldn't bump his booty" means, but anyway RIP.
He won 414 games as Red Sox manager, the most of anyone between Joe Cronin and Tito. He had a .540 winning percentage with Boston, one point higher than Cronin. When he left, Jimy had won more games as manager than anyone other than Cronin (who managed here 12 years) and the team's first manager, Jimmy Collins.
They didn't have a Manager of the Year Award until 1983, but only 2 Red Sox managers have ever won that award: McNamara in 1986 and Jimy in 1999.
It might be a low bar, but I would rank him as the best overall manager of the 9 we had between Dick Williams and Tito.
I never knew his son Brady is the third base coach for Tampa.
I still am not sure what "If a frog had wings, he wouldn't bump his booty" means, but anyway RIP.
RIP Jimy Williams. During Jimy's tenure I (under a different handle) started and updated a thread titled "Mr. Weebles' Diary" on the ProJo message board in which myself and others chronicled Jimy's often mindboggling "Manager's decisions". Good times!
The lineup shuffling drove me crazy at times but boy could he manage a pitching staff. RIP Jimy.
Several Jimy things:
- Originally a Red Sox, STOLEN by the Cardinals in 1965 Rule 5 draft.
- A member of the 1967 World Champion Cardinals.
- Once told a reporter "I'm a brain tree surgeon."
- Originally a Red Sox, STOLEN by the Cardinals in 1965 Rule 5 draft.
- A member of the 1967 World Champion Cardinals.
- Once told a reporter "I'm a brain tree surgeon."
Jimmy wasn't afraid to make decisions. In 1997 he defied Dan Duquette who told him not to start Steve Avery to avoid triggering a $4,000,000 player option for the next season. In 2001 he refused to start Pedro when he showed up 30 minutes before a scheduled appearance.
In his last season he managed the least likeable Red Sox team in my long lifetime - an unhappy bunch led by Carl Everett with Manny Ramirez in his first year in Boston and the disgruntled likes of Jose Offerman, Mike Lansing and Oogie Urbina. Jimmy had this bunch in second place five games behind the Yankees with a 65-53 record when Duquette canned him, replacing him with the disastrous Joe Ferguson under whom they collapsed with a 17-26 record the rest of the way.
He used to get pounded on this board but today it looks like he has been reevaluated. He reminds me of Joe Morgan - a man of integrity with some lineup quirks - who did a decent job in Boston.
In his last season he managed the least likeable Red Sox team in my long lifetime - an unhappy bunch led by Carl Everett with Manny Ramirez in his first year in Boston and the disgruntled likes of Jose Offerman, Mike Lansing and Oogie Urbina. Jimmy had this bunch in second place five games behind the Yankees with a 65-53 record when Duquette canned him, replacing him with the disastrous Joe Ferguson under whom they collapsed with a 17-26 record the rest of the way.
He used to get pounded on this board but today it looks like he has been reevaluated. He reminds me of Joe Morgan - a man of integrity with some lineup quirks - who did a decent job in Boston.
And then the "man of integrity" removed Bryce Florie after 4.2 innings and brought in Pedro, so Pedro could vulture the "win," when people still thought wins meant something.
Jimmy's successor was Joe Kerrigan, not Joe Ferguson. I made the same mistake on a post here a couple of years ago. I must be in my dotage.
There was no spot too high in the order for him to pencil in Jeff Frye.
Yes, they put something out a few hours ago:
View: https://twitter.com/RedSox/status/1752016856464998554
well, Have not seen it and it's been a slow day.
Anyhow RIP. I was ona sort of baseball hiatus for a while and started again with him managing the Sox (but before much of the internet as we know it and before I knew about SOSH so I did not follow him that closely).
Anyhow RIP. I was ona sort of baseball hiatus for a while and started again with him managing the Sox (but before much of the internet as we know it and before I knew about SOSH so I did not follow him that closely).
It's always sad to see someone who occupied such a large chunk of my consciousness, even for just a few years, go on their way. But I have to admit, he was, at the time, just the latest in a long line of Red Sox managers I absolutely couldn't stand. He did a really good job handling a mostly threadbare bullpen in the '99 season. That's the best I can give him as a manager. Other than to say the guy who came after him (skipping the bizarre Kerrigan anomaly) was even worse. One thing I'll say for the FSG ownership group is that, with a couple of conspicuous exceptions, they've done a very good job hiring managers. Outside of the all-too-brief Dick Williams experience and a couple of years of Ralph Houk, the Yawkey-era managers were a rogues gallery of incompetence and stupidity. Anyway, farewell to Jimy. He's made his final manager's decision.
It’s pretty amazing that he brought that 1999 team all the way to the ALCS, all things considered. One of the most memorable years of my baseball fandom, and he was a big part of that.
I was at that one. Man was I angry when I saw Bryce Florie on the mound instead of Pedro. And even madder when I found out why.