Jimmy and the Major were two underrated Sox managers compared to some of the clown shows we've had over the years. I spilled my coffee when I read Yaz's coffee.
RIP Jimy Williams
- Thread starter TheYellowDart5
- Start date
Maybe, but I thought for sure it was a double header. Maybe I got the Mike Lansing part wrong?
Jimy-wocky was happening when I was in college, so those Sox teams entertained me during summer breaks. Half lovable and half maddening at the same time, it was fun watching him patch and duct tape lineups together with the trash collected by DD. Man, could he manage a bullpen though. RIP
I was there and bummed Pedro didn't start, but that is one call Jimy got right. No "Pedro" rules on the Sox.
RIP Jimy.
Will never forget the ‘99 season that you and Pedro produced. One of the best managing performances ever (at least in the regular season, ha) You will always be better than Kevin Kennedy.
Oh and F the Yankees
Will never forget the ‘99 season that you and Pedro produced. One of the best managing performances ever (at least in the regular season, ha) You will always be better than Kevin Kennedy.
Oh and F the Yankees
Something I wouldn't have realized until just now: batting Darren Lewis leadoff was kind of defensible in 1998? He had a .352 OBP! And back in those days when everyone still believed "leadoff guy" meant "fast guy," he was kind of the only candidate - I don't think anyone in '98 or '99 would've done what you'd do in 2024 and bat Nomar first. I get it!
I didn’t say who I was mad at haha.
It was Bryce Florie.
Haha, seriously though; I got it. It’s just I had a nine hour round-trip drive that day to watch a 1999 PEDRO start, and that’s not what I got.
Disappointed is a better word though.
Fair.
And Pedro got the win. Florie must have been bummed getting pulled after 4.2. Oh well...
Incidentally, it is crazy to me that the distance from today to the "controversial" Schourek start is approaching the distance between many of our childhoods in the 1970s and the Denny Gale start in 1948 - which might as well have happened in the Old Testament as far as I was concerned.
Reggie was the man.
Amazing season.
Yep.
Yep.
Exactly.
Indeed.
Yeah Jimy got that one right.
He managed some teams that left deep, deep impressions on an early teens me, resulting in a later teens me choosing this particular wiseass message board handle, and here we are a few decades later.
RIP to strange man who made strange decisions and helped cobble together some extremely compelling baseball teams out of two generational talents, maybe five other excellent to good players and a whole bunch of weird spare parts.
RIP to strange man who made strange decisions and helped cobble together some extremely compelling baseball teams out of two generational talents, maybe five other excellent to good players and a whole bunch of weird spare parts.
You could write epitaphs. That’s a perfect description of him and what he did.
That would drive the modern era of armchair cap and tax warrior fandom even more insane than it drove the 1997 edition I bet, but it probably played well in the clubhouse.
Avery was better in 1998 too. Not great (94 ERA+ as opposed to a 73 ERA+) but better and threw more innings.
In my case, the distance between 2024 and the '67 Sox is equivalent to the '67 Sox and 1910.
After the Schourek Start, Jimy said something like “I’m not the type of guy who says I told you so, so why should I say I told you so?”
His teams were fun but they were top-heavy. It was Nomar and Pedro and a bunch of guys. He managed them well and I enjoyed his folksy demeanor.
Jimy drove everyone crazy but damn if he wasn't entertaining as hell.
I always had a soft spot for Pete Schourek. He was my cousin's buddy in high school.
I always had a soft spot for Pete Schourek. He was my cousin's buddy in high school.
I have this oddly clear memory of watching Jimy getting tossed from a meaningful game on a steaming hot day later in the year from the 500 seats at the Skydome. He put on a pretty good show amid the boos raining down with some elaborate back- kicking of dirt on the plate etc. I would be indebted if anyone could corroborate or even better point me in direction of a boxscore, but admittedly that is significant ask. I was always fond of Jimy even if he did not give Morgan Burkhardt the chance he deserved.
Baseball Reference shows Jimy was ejected 13 times in his Sox tenure. Retrosheet shows the instances, which helpfully labels by home team. He was ejected in Toronto on 9/6/98:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/TOR/TOR199809060.shtml
Edit: Dale Scott's book says he ejected Jimy for arguing balls and strikes: https://books.google.com/books?id=QzxlEAAAQBAJ&pg=PP213&lpg=PP213&dq=9/6/1998+jimy+williams+ejected&source=bl&ots=dXYHIaSyBS&sig=ACfU3U32wO_H1dn0FW3VMhGBrF6I4IFuRw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi8-8mvvIiEAxUFOkQIHe_EAHQQ6AF6BAgSEAM#v=onepage&q=9/6/1998 jimy williams ejected&f=false
Edit2: Your steamy comment is appropriate, as the high was 90 degrees that day: https://www.wunderground.com/history/daily/ca/toronto/CYTZ/date/1998-9-6
Last edited: