Billy Williams: My Sweet-Swinging Lifetime with the Cubs

It is an honor to be the first person to review this excellent book about the life of Billy Williams. In an age of baseball books called Vindicated and stories of steroids and other sordid aspects of the game it is refreshing to read this book about a player who exemplified class and a love for the game of baseball and a love for one woman his entire adult life. I am a lifelong Cubs fan and I began following the team in around 1965 when I was 7 years old. Everyone knew about Ernie Banks back in those days but Billy Williams was a very unsung hero of those teams. I once saw him get 5 hits in one game. In the book Billy is pretty outspoken about the racism he encountered as he moved up in the cubs organization. He came very close to quitting for good and what a shame that would have been if Buck O'Neill hadn't tracked Billy down and brought him to his senses. My favorite chapter was one where Billy goes down a long list of his cubs teammates giving us glimpses into what it was to be a baseball player before the years of free agency and exorbitant salaries. Billy also talks about his time with the Oakland A's just after they had won their three championships in a row. He discusses his desire to manage in the major leagues and his years of coaching for the A's and the Cubs and his experiences with Sammy Sosa during the 1998 season. The book concludes with the text of Billy's Hall of Fame speech. If you followed the Cubs during the 60's and 70's this book will be a nice trip down memory lane.