Tuesday 1/30/24
Saw yesterday that Jimy Williams died, aged eighty. He managed three teams--the Blue Jays, the Astros, and, of course, the Red Sox during the first few years of Pedro Martinez in Boston.
I think Williams was a good manager who is somewhat similar in looking back to Red Sox fans as Joe Morgan, though Morgan stands out more on account of being a local guy. Boston fans really like when their fellow New Englanders are a part of their professional sports teams.
I'd say they were also similar in that there was only so much their teams could do, realistically speaking, but those teams still created some nice memories anyway.
The Morgan-era Red Sox weren't going to get past the Oakland Athletics, but that run in the summer of 1988 was a blast.
The Williams-era teams weren't making it past that Yankees juggernaut, but there was the thrilling comeback against Cleveland in 1999, with Pedro Martinez having his best postseason moment.
You were excited back then when the Sox made the playoffs. I guess that speaks to how much harder it was, just as it speaks to how apathetic current Sox ownership has become in that the team these days has a big struggle to get to the postseason, despite it being relatively easy to do so. Or much easier, anyway. And obviously it was harder before the division era.
I barely remember Williams with the Astros after he left the Sox, but his Jays teams were usually solid. He was over .500 for his career. A folksy character as well--had some personality and quirky sayings. A baseball man in the classic sense.
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