Player #67: Alva M. "Rip" Williams. Catcher/First baseman with the Washington Senators in 1912-1916. 314 hits and 2 home runs in 7 MLB seasons. He debuted with Boston Red Sox in 1911. One of his better seasons was 1912 with Washington as he posted a .352 OBP with 22 RBIs in 172 plate appearances. His final season was 1918 with the Cleveland Indians.
Williams' SABR biography runs through his career in Washington: Though the third catcher on the team (in 1912), injuries to both John Henry and Eddie Ainsmith gave Williams more playing time and he took advantage. He appeared in 60 games and hit for a .318 batting average. It was the highest he would ever hit.
He had a reputation as a hard-hitter, but when he hit a pinch-hit home run in 1913 off George Kahler on May 21 in Cleveland, he not only tied the score for Washington in the top of the ninth, but it was the first home run he had ever hit, at any level of play. It was driven over center fielder Buddy Ryan’s head and Williams – not known for speed – sprinted around the bases “fairly staggering” as he rounded third, but scoring standing up for an inside-the-park home run. The Senators won the game, the tenth win in a row for Walter Johnson. In 1913, though suffering from a weak arm that prevented him playing in many more games, he hit for a .283 average, with six doubles and two triples.
He hit another homer in 1914, in the first game on July 3 off Guy Cooper of the Red Sox. It was a three-run homer in a game in which he was just a single shy of hitting for the cycle, a 12-0 shutout for Walter Johnson. Williams worked in 81 games in 1913, batting .278. He may have struck balls with force but his career slugging percentage was just .352.
He drove in 31 runs, matching his career best (with the Red Sox in 1911) in 1915, playing in 91 games, while batting for a .244 average. Four of those RBIs came all in one game, against the Red Sox, in a 4-2 win on April 29. He’d driven in every run of the game for Washington and helped Walter Johnson record yet another win. He liked catching Johnson, saying, “When Walter lets ‘em loose they come like shells, but his very speed seems to make the ball stick in your glove. Johnson never crosses a catcher. If the sign is for a fast one on the outside that is where she comes.”
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