R.I.P. Dick Williams (1929 - 2011)

Yesterday, the manager of the 1967 "Impossible Dream" Red Sox , Dick Williams, passed away at age 82. Williams took over as manager in 1967 when the Red Sox were the dregs of the league, with 8 straight losing seasons and turned them around to win the AL pennant that year and play in the World Series. They didn't win it all that year--the Cardinals and their ace Bob Gibson saw to that--but it was a remarkable reversal of fortune for a team that had been languishing in the cellar for the better part of a decade. Williams played for 5 teams, including the Red Sox in 1963-64 and managed 6, from 1967 to 1988.