To hit .400 in your first year of major fast pitch competition is amazing. Frankie Williams accomplished this in 1957, batting .404 for the Raybestos Cardinals. This feat was also mentioned in “Ripley’s Believe It or Not.”Said Williams, “I was fresh out of college when I joined the Raybestos Cardinals and had no idea what major league softball was like.”In seven of the 10 years Williams played for the Cardinals he was the team’s leading hitter. (1957, .404), 1960, .330; 1961, .375; 1962, .369; 1963, .370; 1964, .430 and 1965, .412. In 1964, he became the first player to hit .400 or higher in the highly touted Atlantic Seaboard League, batting .423.One of the game’s top lead-off hitters and second baseman, Williams earned ASA All-America honor three times (1957, 1958 and 1962), and holds team records for most runs scored in a season, 77 in 1957, and consecutive game hitting streak 23 in 1957. Retired as a player after the 1966 season, Williams had a 10 year batting average of .372 with 711 hits in 1,911 at-bats in 582 games with 73 doubles, 42 triples and 411 runs scored. In high school Williams was an outstanding three-sport star and earned All-State football honors at Hillhouse High School in New Haven, CT. He was named New Haven Gridiron Club Player of the Year in 1951 and played three years of basketball at Providence College. He has a Master’s degree in education from Springfield College. Williams was born April 16, 1933.
