Dick Williams, an iconic Hall of Fame manager who spent six decades in baseball, passed away Tuesday at the age of 82. Williams, who was reported to have suffered a brain aneurysm, remains the only manager in Major League history to win a pennant with three different teams. Williams, who was born in St. Louis, first signed a professional contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. He went on to have a 13-year playing career that saw him suit up for Brooklyn, Baltimore, Cleveland, Boston and the Kansas City Athletics, and he retired after the 1964 season with a .260 career batting average. From there, though, Williams saw his career take a new route. Williams earned the first of his six managing jobs in 1967, and he led the Red Sox to a pennant that season. Williams went 260-217 in parts of three seasons with Boston, but he was relieved of his duties with nine games remaining in the 1969 campaign. And that, for Williams, turned out to be a blessing. Williams signed on with the A's and combative owner Charlie Finley, and he led Oakland to a 101-win season in 1971. The A's would go on to win two straight World Series titles in 1972 and '73, but Williams resigned after the latter campaign, electing to manage elsewhere. The A's were the first team in a decade to repeat as champions, and Williams resurfaced in 1974 with the California Angels. His former team -- the A's -- went on to a World Series three-peat that season, and Williams struggled for three seasons to turn the Angels into a winning organization. Williams made his next stop in Montreal, a team that was coming off a 107-loss season. The Expos slowly turned it around over the next few years and finished second in the National League East in 1979 and 1980. The Expos struggled early in the strike-marred 1981 campaign, though, and Williams was let go. At that point, Williams was 52 years old and had already managed four teams, but he found a way to make a fitting encore. Williams took over San Diego in 1982, and after a pair of .500 seasons, he led the Padres to a 92-70 record in 1984 before losing in five games to the Tigers in the Fall Classic. Williams later took charge of the Seattle Mariners, but he posted a 159-192 record in parts of three years with that club. Williams, for his career, notched a 1,571-1,451 record as a manager, and he is one of two big-league managers -- along with Lou Piniella -- to lead four different teams to a 90-win campaign. The Veterans Committee paid Williams the ultimate compliment in December 2007, when he was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Williams was inducted to Cooperstown the following summer, and he lived out the latter years of his life in retirement in Las Vegas
He was a tough sob too
_________________ I'm going to bounce from the spot for awhile but I will be back at some point to argue with you about this hoops stuff again. Playoffs have been great this season. See ya up the road.
I'm out.
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