Saturday, September 26, 2009

Allen and Ginter TTM Success #6

Willie “Curly” Williams was the Newark (and later Houston) Eagles shortstop for six seasons starting in 1945. His original double play partner was Hall of Famer Willie Wells. In 1946 a new second baseman joined the Eagles to work the middle infield with Williams, another future Hall of Famer, this time Larry Doby. During his 6 years with the Eagles these weren’t the only future Hall of Famers that Williams shared the field with. He also played with Biz Mackie, Monte Irvin and Leon Day. It didn’t take long before Williams himself was established as a star, too. He was named the starting shortstop for the 1950 East-West All Star Game, the final official EW game in Negro League Baseball. He led off for the West and scored a run in the West’s 5-3 victory. Connie Johnson of the Kansas City Monarchs got the win. Joe Black and Junior Gilliam were the stars of the East team. After the 1950 season Black, Gilliam and Williams were all signed by Major League teams and the rest, as they say, is history. Curly signed this 2009 Allen and Ginter card for me TTM and even personalized it AND spelled my name correctly. It is card #81 in the set. I am interested in obtaining as many copies of this card as I can. Anyone who has copies that would like to trade, please contact me. I am also looking for the framed autograph and Bazooka back mini from this set, along with any other cards or pictures related to Mr. Williams fine career. I have plans to do an in-person interview with Mr. Williams in the very near future. I don’t have publishing arranged for it yet. Is this something that the blog-o-sphere would be interested in reading about? Please let me know. Thank you Mr. Williams! Go Rays! Troll out.

4 comments:

  1. Very, very nice, man. I believe I have an extra copy I can send your way.
    I'd love to read an interview with him. That'd be incredible.

    Also, could you shoot me Frank Evans' address?

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  2. any interview with any retired ball player is always worth the read.

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  3. I would read the interview. If you get a chance, email me his address.

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