Cy Williams: The First National League Home Run King
Discover the story of Cy Williams, the power hitter who became the first National League player to reach 200 home runs and left a lasting mark on baseball history.
Aug 16, 20251.1K Shares84K Views
Fred Williams, known to most as Cy Williams, was born on December 21, 1887, in Wadena, Indiana, a tiny farming town with only about 75 people in 1890. His parents were Oscar and Anna (Mead) Williams. Growing up on the family farm, Cy was tall and slim. People noticed that he looked a lot like Walter Johnson, a famous pitcher of the time, both in how he looked and how he stood.
In 1908, he started college at the University of Notre Dame, where he studied architecture. At Notre Dame, he played footballas a backup left end alongside Knute Rockne, who later became a legendary coach. He also ran track, competing in the high hurdlesand the broad jump. He ran the 120-yard high hurdles in 15.6 secondsand jumped just over 22 feet 3 inchesin the broad jump.
Before college, Cy had hardly played any organized baseball, at most a few very casual games. During his time at Notre Dame, the team played exhibition games against pro teams. In one such game, a scout from the Chicago Cubsnoticed his talent and offered him a contract. Cy turned it down because he wanted to keep playing in college sports while he finished school. He promised the Cubs would have the first chance to sign him if he ever went pro and he kept that promise.
That marks the end of his early life: his birth and childhood in Wadena, his college days at Notre Dame, and the promise he made to the Cubs before graduating.
Baseball Career
Cy Williams began his Major League career when the Chicago Cubs signed him soon after he finished college, making his debut in the middle of 1912 at the age of 24. His first few seasons were not very strong, as he played only part time under different managers, but starting in 1915 his performance began to improve. From 1915 to 1927, Williams became one of the most powerful hitters in baseball, leading the National League in home runs four times. He stood out during both the Deadball Era and the lively ball years that followed, proving himself as one of the biggest power hitters of his time. Williams made history by becoming the first player in the National League to hit 200 home runs and finished his career with 251, a record that stood until Rogers Hornsby passed it in 1929.
Over his 19 year career, he appeared in 2,002 games, collected 1,981 hits in 6,780 at bats, and posted a .292 batting average with 251 home runs, 1,005 runs batted in, and a .365 on base percentage. He hit over .300 in six different seasons and was also respected as a strong fielder, recording a .973 fielding percentage, which was above the league average of his time.
Williams also showed his value as a pinch hitter, producing a .287 batting average with 10 home runs and 41 runs batted in when coming off the bench. Teams often adjusted their defense against him by shifting their fielders to the right side, creating one of the earliest versions of the defensive tactic later called the “Williams Shift.” His last Major League game came in September 1930 when he was 42 years old. After leaving the majors, Williams spent 1931 as a player manager for the Richmond Byrds of the Eastern League, closing out a long and successful baseball career.
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