Skip to main content

Sunday School: History Lesson 51


Frederick Cyrus "Cy" Williams was an outfielder with the Phillies from 1918-1930. Williams was signed out of Notre Dame University by the Cubs and skipped the minor leagues, going straight to the Majors out of college. Following the 1917 season Williams was traded by the Cubs to the Phillies for Dode Paskert.

The move to the Phillies was a good one for Williams, as he spent time on Chicago's bench. After locking down a spot as the Phillies' starting centerfielder, Cy Williams excelled. His lefty swing matched up well with the short right field porch in the Phils' home park, the Baker Bowl. Manager Bill McKechnie called Williams, "the most consistent dead right-field hitter I ever saw". He was dubbed "the Babe Ruth of the National League" by some sportswriters, for his penchant for slugging homers. Williams led the NL in homeruns four times during his career. During the decade of the 20's Williams hit 202 homeruns, a huge amount at the time.

Williams' tendencies to pull the ball led to opposing defenses putting on a shift, in the field. It didn't have much of an impact as Williams batted .320 or better in 5 of 7 years from 1920-1926.

During a time when the Phillies were often among the lowest scoring teams in the NL, Williams' power was one of the only reasons for Phillies phans to go to the ballpark. In a May, 1923 game, Williams smashed 3 homers off of the Cardinals. That same month, Williams drove in 44 runs, which still stands as the team record for a single month. Also in 1923, Williams became the first Phillie to hit 30 homeruns and drive in 100 or more runs in a single season (41 homers and 114 RBI when it was all said and done that year). He did all this for a last place club that won all of 50 games.

In 1926, Williams became the first Phillie to homer in 4 straight games. In 1927, the year he turned 40, Williams hit for the cycle against Pittsburgh. Over his 13 years with Philadelphia, Williams played 1463 games, hit 217 homers, drove in 795 runs and had a .306 batting average.
Cy Williams was inducted into the Phillies Wall of Fame in 1986.

-----------------------------------

Follow PhoulBallz.com on Twitter HERE for unique Phils facts, other updates and our Name That Phillies Autograph game!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Lidge Shaky, T-Mac Honored in Trenton

TRENTON, NJ- Brad Lidge made his second rehab appearance for the Double A Reading Phillies on Thursday night and it didn't go as well as the veteran reliever or the team had hoped. Lidge struggled with his command and turned in a rather poor outing for the club that entered the night in a playoff race, 1 game behind division rival Trenton for the Wild Card spot in the Eastern Division. On the disabled list since spring training with a strained right rotator cuff, Lidge experienced an elbow strain when he was working back from that issue in late May. In his outing against the Yankees affiliate in Trenton, Lidge displayed difficulty with his control as he threw three wild pitches, hit two batters, walked another and gave up a single, all while letting up two earned runs on 28 pitches in 2/3 of an inning. After the disappointing performance, Lidge was composed and focused on some positive aspects, having reached 89 and 90 MPH on scouts' radar guns, according to some reports. ...

Jason Knapp Q&A

PhoulBallz .com was fortunate enough to meet with Phillies prospect Jason Knapp just one day after he caught the attention of the baseball world with his 7 shut out innings, 14 strike out performance against the Indians' Lake County team. - I asked Jason, the Lakewood BlueClaw , for some thoughts about his big game... I had pretty good command of three pitches (fastball, curve, change up). I was on the same page with my catcher, D'Arnaud , and I ended up, ya know, I felt pretty good. - In a great performance like that, how much credit goes to Travis D'Arnaud , the catcher? More than you might expect, definitely. I didn't shake him off once. He told me what to throw and I do what I'm told. And if it works out, a lot of the credit goes to the catcher. - Does the lack of run support (Lakewood has scored 3 total runs in his 3 starts), in your few starts, increase your stress level, or enhance your focus? No, I just try to go out and do my job every outing. Ya know, we...

Eric B Needs to be Cut (and My Name is Rakim)

While the Phillies are on a hot streak this month, one player on the team is not. Eric Bruntlett is 1-for-12 in July. Since the start of May, Bruntlett's apex in batting average has been .167 on June 14th. Bruntlett's ineptitude can be tolerated no longer. Get rid of this guy NOW! Eric B. is the 2009 Endy Chavez. Remember Endy...the guy who in 2005 managed just 2 hits in his final 42 games played as a Phillie? That is about the sort of output the Phillies are getting from Bruntlett, and it's time to fix this void. Julio Lugo was designated for assignment last week by the Red Sox and is expected to become a free agent. The Metropolitans are rumored to be interested. Why wouldn't the Phillies be interested in a guy who could surely outhit Bruntlett? Lugo was hitting .284 through 37 games played this season with Boston. Suspended Lehigh Valley IronPig Pablo Ozuna is eligible to return next Wednesday. Ozuna is batting .294 through 51 games at triple A. Miguel Cairo is also...