San Diego was one of six managerial stops for Williams, who led the Padres to the first of their two National League pennants in 1984. The Padres lost to Detroit in five games in the World Series.
Williams won two World Series titles with Oakland (1972, 1973), as well as pennants with the Padres and Boston (1967) and also led Montreal to its only playoff experience in the strike-shortened 1981 season.
Williams had an overall record of 1,571-1,451 in 21 seasons as a major league manager, also spending time with the Angels and Seattle Mariners. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2008 after being elected by the Veterans Committee.
His record with the Padres was 337-311 over four seasons. He is the only manager in the history of the Padres not to experience a losing season.
Williams was a tough manager. “They don’t make him like Dick anymore,” said former teammate and former Padres manager Don Zimmer.
Current Giants third base coach and former Padre Tim Flannery remembers being called into Williams’ office in 1982.
“He said, ‘You’re the worst player I ever had,’ ” Flannery said. “ ‘You can’t hit. You can’t run. You can’t throw. Oh, you hustle, but you can’t do nothin’ else. You’re in there tonight, but I’m looking for another second basemen, so don’t screw up.’ ”
But two seasons later, Williams told Flannery he’d be a Padre as long as Williams was managing the club.
Which wasn’t that long. Williams chafed at what he considered outside interference from then-Padres President Ballard Smith and GM Jack McKeon. The breaking point came during the 1985-86 offseason when Williams fought off suggestions he should make changes to his hand-picked coaching staff.
The club that went 175-149 for Williams in 1984-85 went 74-88 for Steve Boros in 1986 after Williams’ left the team.
Williams joined Hall of Famer Bill McKechnie as the only managers ever to take three franchises to the World Series.
The 1972-73 A’s were the first team since the 1961-62 Yankees to repeat as world champions. Williams resigned after the 1973 season because he was upset with the meddling of A’s owner Charlie Finley.
Before coming to Oakland, Williams was part of Boston’s memorable “Impossible Dream” team in 1967 that won the pennant for the first time since 1946 before losing the World Series in seven games to St. Louis.
A former infielder, Williams played 13 years in the majors for the Dodgers, Orioles, Indians, A’s and Red Sox. He had a .260 career average with 70 homers and 331 RBI as mostly a part-time player. He retired after the 1964 season and soon began his career as a manager.
Rest in peace Dick and thank you for the great memories of the '84 season....
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