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Meet the Players :: Eugene Williams

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Name: Eugene Williams
DOB: Aug 13,1932   RIP: Dec 14, 2008
Birthplace: Auburn, Alabama
Memphis Red Sox 1957-1959
Birmingham Black Barons 1960-1962
 

Position: third base/ pitcher Bats: right Throws: right



Eugene started his career in Tennessee playing for the Oak Ridge Bombers. The St. Louis Cardinals scouted Eugene at a local try-out and sent him to Florida for spring training. When camp broke, he was on his way to frigid Duluth Minnesota where he would wind up chipping a bone in his arm. Soon thereafter, he was traded to the Chicago White Sox Organization and was headed to South America for what tuned out to be two years. Eugene was still ailing, and with no helpful medical treatment offered to him, he decided to return to Oak Ridge, TN where he contemplated winding up his career.

One night, the Memphis Red Sox came to town to play a game in Knoxville, TN. It was at this game that coach Goose Curry spotted Eugene and summoned him by hollering to him, "Let's see what you got!" Eugene stepped up to the challenge and impressed the coach. He was added to the Memphis Red Sox line-up and remained there for three years. He pitched and played third base until he was picked up by the Birmingham Black Barons in 1960 to play for manager and fellow NLB Living Legend Frank Evans. Eugene and Frank have remained great friends over the years working together now to bring to the youth of Alabama and Tennessee a baseball camp that spotlights NLB Living Legends.

Eugene remembers an incident he names "The Bus Driver's Blunder". Sam, the bus driver, would roll out of Chicago at 8:30 PM. Knowing the highway pretty well, he took control of the bus. The players crawled in and went to sleep. After driving for hours, a team member woke up and asked if they were getting close. Sam responded by saying that the roads have been looking the same for a while. After watching the road with him, they discovered they had been driving around a huge highway loop getting virtually nowhere! With a few minor adjustments, they aimed the bus in the right direction, and continued their trek to Memphis.

After baseball, Eugene would work for 32 years as a carpenter.


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