[Merkle923]

For those of us who remember Jimy (That's "Jimy" With One "M") Williams as the classic old-school, gruff, wrinkled, puffy-looking manager of the Jays, Red Sox, or Astros, it is sometimes hard to believe that he was once such an infield prospect that the Cardinals not only drafted him after he'd played just 115 minor league games, but kept him on the major league roster beyond the May cutdown date and all the way until his induction into the military in late July, 1966.

Williams only appeared in the field seven times that season, and only made a dozen plate appearances. The Cards brought him back in September, 1967, and even though the pennant was clinched on the 18th of that month, he got in only one more major league game three days later. That winter, St. Louis packaged him and Pat Corrales to get Johnny Edwards from the Reds. A year later he was the Expos' 15th pick in the expansion draft (ahead of such selectees as Mudcat Grant, Carl Morton, Cito Gaston, the pitching Dave Roberts, and the outfielder Jim Williams). Two years later his playing career was over, and three years after that his managerial career had begun.

Despite his full season in St. Louis, the only easily found image of him in a Cardinals' uniform is a tiny cocked-arm photo on a 1966 Topps three-player rookie card. There are at least as many images of Williams with the Alaska Goldpanners as there are with the Cards.

Thus my delight when one single negative turned up in this collection, of Williams leaping out of the way of Ed Bressoud of the Mets during a spring training in 1966. There's a little flaw line in the negative but otherwise you'll agree it's good enough to double as an action image and a head shot. Enjoy.