January 29, 2024

By Kevin Glew

Canadian Baseball Network

Former Toronto Blue Jays manager Jimy Williams has died at the age of 80.

The Blue Jays shared the news of his passing on social media on Monday.

No cause of death was provided.

“We are saddened to learn of the passing of former Blue Jays Manager Jimy Williams,” said the Blue Jays in a statement on Twitter on Monday. “His impact on our organization will forever be remembered. Our hearts go out to Jimy’s family and friends during this difficult time.”

Williams led the Blue Jays to a 281-241 record in parts of four seasons as the club’s skipper from 1986 to 1989. Prior to his managerial tenure, he was a highly respected outfield/infield instructor and third base coach with the team.

 “Jimy Williams, by far, was the best all-around coach we ever had,” said Blue Jays two-time Gold Glove Award-winning right fielder Jesse Barfield in his Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame conference call in February 2023. “He knew every position, the nuances, the footwork, about throwing – this man was incredible. We would work day in and day out on footwork, pirouette moves, spinning.”

Born in Santa Maria, Calif., on October 4, 1943, Williams was one of seven children in a large family. He ran cross country and played baseball and basketball at Arroyo Grande High School before attending Fresno State University. The 5-foot-10, 160-pound shortstop starred for the Bulldogs on the diamond, earning All-California Collegiate Conference team honours in 1963 and 1964.

In 1964, Williams suited up for the Alaska Goldpanners, a summer collegiate squad that also featured Tom Seaver and Graig Nettles, where he caught the attention of Boston Red Sox scouts and was signed by the club.

Williams batted .287 with 125 hits in 115 games for the class-A Waterloo Hawks in his first pro season, but he was left unprotected by the Red Sox and the St. Louis Cardinals selected him in the Rule 5 draft on November 29, 1965.

A 22-year-old Williams spent the 1966 season in the big leagues with the Cardinals, but had just three hits in 11 at bats in 13 games.

He would spend the bulk of the following campaign with the triple-A Tulsa Drillers before being recalled and playing in one game for the Cardinals in September.

On February 8, 1968, he was dealt to Cincinnati Reds and he spent the season with their triple-A affiliate in Indianapolis before he was chosen in the MLB Expansion draft by the Montreal Expos.

Landing with the expansion Expos seemed like a great opportunity for regular big league playing time for Williams. Unfortunately, he hurt his shoulder moving some furniture in the off-season and was limited to 35 games with the triple-A Vancouver Mounties in 1969.

He returned to the Expos organization in 1970 and played 109 games in triple-A for the Winnipeg Whips prior to be dealt to the New York Mets on June 16, 1971.

After shoulder woes ended his playing career, Williams entered the pro coaching ranks. The California Angels hired him to manage their class-A affiliate in Quad Cities in 1974. He was promoted to their double-A El Paso Diablos in 1975 and then to their triple-A Salt Lake City Gulls in 1976 and 1977.

Williams would then spend one season managing the Cardinals’ double-A Springfield Redbirds in 1978 before returning to pilot the Angels’ Salt Lake City club to a Pacific Coast League championship in 1979.

Impressed by Williams’ resume, the Blue Jays added him to their big league staff in 1980 to serve as their third base coach and work with the outfielders.

In 1983, the Blue Jays had Williams switch his focus to the team’s infielders, while still coaching third base.

Primarily a shortstop when he was acquired by the Blue Jays, Rance Mulliniks told me in a phone interview in September that Williams deserves much of the credit for his conversion into a third baseman. 

“When I got traded to Toronto and moved over to third, I was learning a new position at the major league level,” said Mulliniks. 

And thanks largely to Williams, he learned it well. Mulliniks ended up leading American League third basemen in fielding percentage for three straight seasons from 1984 to 1986.

“When people ask me my opinion about something in baseball, I tell them the three people I learned most from in the game are Jimy Williams, Bobby Cox and Cito Gaston,” said Mulliniks. 

After the Blue Jays captured their first division title in 1985 but lost in a heartbreaking seven-game American League Championship Series to the Kansas City Royals, their manager Bobby Cox departed to be the general manager of the Atlanta Braves.

A few weeks later, the Blue Jays hired Williams as their manager.

“Continuity is very important to us, and that was certainly one of the reasons in hiring Jimy,” Blue Jays GM Pat Gillick told the Toronto Star after Williams was hired. “The overriding reason, though, was simply that we felt he was the most qualified individual available.”

In his Williams’ first season as manager, the Blue Jays finished a disappointing 86-76 and in fourth place in the American League East. But the team found its stride under Williams in 1987. With Bell putting together what would be an MVP season and a pitching staff led by Dave Stieb and Jimmy Key, the Blue Jays owned the best record in the American League until the final week of the season.

In September, however, Tony Fernandez (elbow) and Ernie Whitt (ribs) suffered season-ending injuries and the Blue Jays lost their final seven games and the division title to the Detroit Tigers on the final weekend of the season.

Things didn’t get any easier for Williams the following spring. After Bell’s MVP season, Williams and the Blue Jays front office decided to make Bell, the team’s everyday left fielder in 1987, into their DH.

It was a move that the fiery Bell refused to accept without a fight. The feisty outfielder and Williams had warred all spring about the decision and the feud reached its climax on March 17 in a spring training game against the Red Sox in Dunedin when Bell, slated to be the club’s DH that day, declined to walk to the plate when his name was announced in the first inning. Bell was suspended and fined for his actions.

In the following days, the two sides managed to come to a truce, but Bell never embraced the idea of becoming a full-time DH. Fortunately for Bell, the experiment only lasted until April 17 when the Blue Jays reinserted him full-time into left field.

But the Blue Jays, once again, disappointed in 1988, finishing 87-75 and out of a playoff spot. And after the club began the 1989 season 12-24, Williams was fired and replaced by Cito Gaston.

After he was let go by the Blue Jays, Williams was hired by Cox to serve as the Braves’ third base coach. He worked in that capacity for seven seasons and picked up a World Series ring in 1995.

Williams got his second shot as a big league manager when he was hired by the Red Sox in 1997. He’d lead the Bosox to postseason berths in 1998 and 1999 before he was fired in 2001.

Prior to the 2002 campaign, he was hired to manage the Houston Astros and he piloted them to second-place finishes in 2002 and 2003.

Following a stint as a roving instructor with the Tampa Bay Rays, he was hired to be Charlie Manuel‘s bench coach with the Philadelphia Phillies in 2007 where he would earn another World Series ring in 2008.

In retirement, Williams settled in Palm Harbour, Fla., with his wife, Peggy. The couple have four children: Monica, Brady, Shawn and Jenna.

Both of his sons, Brady and Shawn, have followed him into the pro coaching ranks. Brady served as a minor league manager in the Rays’ organization for 13 seasons before joining the big league staff as third base coach in 2023. Shawn, meanwhile, has managed in the Phillies’ organization for eight seasons.

Funeral arrangements for Williams have not been announced.