The 2024 MLB award season has finally concluded and Atlanta Braves ace represented the club well as he walked away with a good bit of hardware. It was a great start to the offseason for the lefty ace.
However, it's always fun to look to the past and see former Braves players who earned awards for excellent performances.
Today, we travel back to the 1970s to briefly examine the excellent season turned in by former Atlanta Braves catcher Earl Williams.
This Day in Braves History: Earl Williams named the 1971 National League Rookie of the Year
Williams was drafted in the sixth round by the Milwaukee Braves in 1965, one year before the team relocated to Atlanta. He made his MLB debut a few years later in 1970 and appeared in 10 games at 21 years old.
However, it wasn't until 1971 that he was able to play for an entire season and he made it count. Williams' rookie season was extremely good as he batted .260/.324/.491 with 129 hits, 14 doubles, one triple, 33 homers, 87 RBI, 42 walks, 80 K, and a .815 OPS.
This performance was good enough to earn the New Jersey native NL Rookie of the Year. Williams received 18 out of the 24 first-place votes cast by the BBWAA. He had a similar season in 1972 which felt like his final season with the club. However, he would return in 1975 after two seasons in Baltimore.
His time ended with Atlanta during the 1976 season when he was traded to the Montreal Expos for cash after a bad start to the season. He retired from baseball after his 1977 season with the A's.
Williams was a talented power hitter but just couldn't find a way to sustain his early success. After baseball, Williams worked as a supervisor at Warner Jenkinson in South Plainfield, New Jersey for 27 years before retiring.
He sadly passed away on January 19, 2013 after a hard-fought battle with acute leukemia.