View source for Smokey Joe Williams

{{Infobox baseball biography
| name          = Joe Williams
| image         = Williams_Cyclone_Joe.jpg
| caption       = Williams in 1917
| position      = [[Pitcher]] / [[Manager (baseball)|Manager]]
| bats          = Right
| throws        = Right
| birth_date    = {{birth date|1886|4|6}}
| birth_place   = [[Seguin, Texas]], U.S.
| death_date    = {{death date and age|1951|2|25|1886|4|6}}
| death_place   = [[New York City]], New York, U.S.
| debutleague   = Negro leagues
| debutdate     =
| debutyear     = 1907
| debutteam     = San Antonio Black Bronchos
| finalleague   = Negro leagues
| finaldate     =
| finalyear     = 1932
| finalteam     = Detroit Wolves
| statleague    = Negro leagues{{efn|On December 16, 2020, Major League Baseball declared certain Negro leagues, from the span of 1920–1948, to be "Major League".<ref>{{cite web|title=MLB officially designates the Negro Leagues as 'Major League'|url=https://www.mlb.com/press-release/press-release-mlb-officially-designates-the-negro-leagues-as-major-league|website=MLB.com|date=December 16, 2020|accessdate=December 5, 2024}}</ref> Williams's statistics reflect his time in the Negro leagues from 1923 to 1924, 1929, and 1932.}}
| stat1label    = [[Win–loss record (pitching)|Win–loss record]]
| stat1value    = 16–19
| stat2label    = [[Earned run average]]
| stat2value    = 3.51
| stat3label    = [[Strikeouts]]
| stat3value    = 201
| stat4label    = Managerial record
| stat4value    = 18–23
| stat5label    = Winning percentage
| stat5value    = .439
|teams=
;As player
*[[San Antonio Black Bronchos]] ({{by|1907}}–{{by|1909}})
*[[Chicago Giants]] ({{by|1910}})<ref name="lelandgiants1910">[https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B1Wcncq5-bHdcnh1dUwxelpMUUE "Chicago Giants Will Raise Flag Sunday" Chicago Broad Ax, Chicago, May 14, 1910, Page 2, Columns 4 and 5]</ref>
*[[New York Lincoln Giants]] ({{by|1911}}–{{by|1923}})
*[[Schenectady Mohawk Giants]] ({{by|1913}})
*[[Chicago American Giants]] ({{by|1914}})
*[[Breakers Hotel]] ({{by|1915}}–{{by|1916}})<ref name="breakers1916">[http://johndonaldson.bravehost.com/pdf/01662.pdf "Palm Beach Weekly Review" Indianapolis Freeman, Indianapolis, Indiana, Saturday, February 19, 1916, Page 5, Columns 5 to 7]</ref>
*[[Atlantic City Bacharach Giants]] ({{by|1916}})
*[[Hilldale Club]] ({{by|1917}})
*[[Brooklyn Royal Giants]] ({{by|1924}})
*[[Homestead Grays]] ({{by|1925}}–{{by|1932}})
*[[Detroit Wolves]] ({{by|1932}})
;As manager
*[[New York Lincoln Giants]] ({{by|1923}})
|highlights=
* Pitched a no-hitter on May 4, 1919 in [[Harlem]]<ref name="harlem1919">[http://negroleagues.bravehost.com/pdf/001585.pdf "No Hit, No Run Game" The Sun, New York, New York, Monday, May 5, 1919, Page 19, Column 4]  Harlem, New York, May 4, 1919</ref>
|hoflink = National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
|hoftype = National
|hofdate = [[1999 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting|1999]]
|hofmethod = Veterans Committee
}}

'''Joseph Williams''' (April 6, 1886 – February 25, 1951), nicknamed "'''Cyclone Joe'''" and "'''Smokey Joe'''", was an American right-handed [[pitcher]] in [[Negro league baseball]].  He is considered one of the greatest pitchers of all-time and was elected to the [[National Baseball Hall of Fame]] in [[1999 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting|1999]].

==Baseball career==
Williams was born in [[Seguin, Texas]]. One of his parents was [[African American]], and the other was a [[Comanche]] Native American. Williams grew up to become an outstanding pitcher, but as his path to the major leagues was barred by the [[baseball color line|color line]], he spent his entire 27-year career (1905–1932) pitching in the Negro leagues, Mexico, and the Caribbean.

Williams entered professional baseball in 1907 with the [[San Antonio Black Bronchos]] and was an immediate star, posting records of 28-4, 15-9, 20-8, 20-2, and 32-8. After that, the [[Chicago Giants]], a team higher in the pecking order of black baseball, acquired him.<ref name="lelandgiants1910" /> In 1910, the Giants owner [[Frank Leland]] pronounced him the best pitcher in baseball, in any league.

[[File:Smokey Joe Williams.jpg|thumb|left|Williams in 1912]]
In 1911, Williams joined the [[Lincoln Giants]] of New York, helping that club become one of the premier African-American teams of the era. In 1913, he took part in a "Championship Series" that matched up them against the team considered the best of the West in the [[Chicago American Giants]]. From July 18 to August 13, the two teams played fourteen games with each other. He had a decision in Games 1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 10, 11, winning five of the eight appearances as the Lincoln Giants won eight of fourteen games in the Series. In Game 5, he hit a home run. <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.retrosheet.org/NegroLeagues/boxesetc/NgLg/B07270CAG1913.htm|title = Retrosheet Boxscore: New York Lincoln Giants (NYL) 8, Chicago American Giants (CAG) 0}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.retrosheet.org/NegroLeagues/1913PS.html|title=1913 Championship Series}}</ref> When manager [[John Henry Lloyd]] departed in 1914, Williams took over as player-manager, a post he held through the 1923 season. After the Lincolns finished an ignominious fifth (out of six teams) in the [[Eastern Colored League]]'s inaugural season, Williams was released in the spring of 1924.

Williams joined the [[Brooklyn Royal Giants]] for a season, then signed with the independent [[Homestead Grays]], where, except for a brief turn with the [[Detroit Wolves]] in 1932, he spent the rest of his career in top-level black baseball. In 1929, playing for the Grays in the [[American Negro League]] at the age of 43, Williams won 12 games and lost seven.

[[File:1930-31 Homstead Grays.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Williams (standing, center) with the 1931 Homestead Grays]]
[[File:Smokey Joe Williams headstone Lincoln Memorial Cemetery Suitland MD 2022.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Joseph Williams grave marker]]
On August 2, 1930, at age 44, Williams [[strikeout|struck out]] 27 [[Kansas City Monarchs]] in a 1–0, 12-inning, one-hit night game victory.  His mound opponent, [[Chet Brewer]], struck out 19 men.<ref>{{Citation| title=Kansas City ''Star''. p 3B, ("Strikes Out 27 Batters")}}</ref> That same year, he beat a younger Negro league star who was just bursting into superstardom, [[Satchel Paige]], also by 1–0, in their only meeting against each other. Williams retired from baseball two years later.

Although barred from the major leagues, Williams pitched many games against major league stars in postseason barnstorming exhibitions. He proved to be as tough against them as he was against the Negro leaguers, posting a 20–7 record in these games. Among his victims were Hall of Famers [[Grover Cleveland Alexander]], [[Walter Johnson]], [[Chief Bender]], [[Rube Marquard]], and [[Waite Hoyt]]. Three different times, he faced the eventual [[National League (baseball)|National League]] champions. He won two of those games and lost the third, 1-0 to the 1917 [[New York Giants (NL)|New York Giants]] despite throwing a no-hitter. [[Ty Cobb]] stated Williams was “a sure 30-game winner in the major leagues”.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://baseballhall.org/hall-of-famers/williams-joe |website=baseball hall of fame |title=Williams, Joe &#124; Baseball Hall of Fame }}</ref>  

During Williams' years in New York, he acquired the nickname "Cyclone Joe", or simply "Cyclone", frequently being listed in box scores solely by that name.  After joining the Homestead Grays in the late 1920s, his nickname became "Smokey Joe", and the older "Cyclone" appellation was rarely used after that.

Williams played winter baseball with a Palm Beach, Florida team for more than 20 years during his active career.<ref name="Florida">{{cite news |title=Joe Williams obituary 1951. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/113407635/joe-williams-obituary-1951/ |access-date=21 November 2022 |work=Evening Star |date=4 March 1951 |pages=36}}</ref>

==Family==
Williams married Beatrice A. Johnson on March 22, 1922, in New York City. Upon retiring from baseball in the late 1930s, Williams became a bartender and continued this until his death from a heart ailment.<ref name="Florida" /> Beatrice Williams survived him.<ref>{{cite news |title=Williams, Joe Cyclone Joe In Memoriam |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/869828071/?terms=%22Beatrice%20Williams%22%20baseball&match=1&clipping_id=113399424 |access-date=21 November 2022 |work=Newspapers.com |publisher=Evening Star (newspaper) |date=2 March 1951 |pages=12 |language=en}}</ref>

Williams is interred at [[Lincoln Memorial Cemetery (Suitland, Maryland)|Lincoln Memorial Cemetery]], a historic African American cemetery in Suitland, Maryland. He is buried in a grave shared with his wife's mother and step-father.

==Legacy==
In 1950, there was a "Smokey Joe Williams Day" at the [[Polo Grounds]]. The following year, Williams died at age 64 in [[New York City]].

Considerable debate existed and still exists over whether Williams or Paige was the greatest of the Negro league pitchers. Most modern sources lean toward Paige, but in 1952, a poll taken by the ''[[Pittsburgh Courier]]'' named Williams the greatest pitcher in Negro league history.

In 1999, after extensive research on the early years of black baseball revealed his outstanding record, Williams was elected to the [[National Baseball Hall of Fame]]. In the 2001 book ''[[The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract]]'', writer [[Bill James]] ranked Williams as the 52nd greatest player in baseball history, behind [[Sandy Koufax]] and ahead of [[Roy Campanella]]. This would rank Williams as the 12th greatest pitcher, behind Koufax and ahead of [[Bob Feller]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=James|first1=Bill|title=The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract|url=https://archive.org/details/newbilljameshist00jame|url-access=registration|date=2001|publisher=Free Press|location=United States|pages=[https://archive.org/details/newbilljameshist00jame/page/365 365]|isbn=9780684806976}}</ref>

==Quotes==
“The important thing is that the long fight against the [[Baseball color line|ban]] has been lifted. I praise the Lord I’ve lived to see the day.” <ref>{{cite web |url=https://baseballhall.org/hall-of-famers/williams-joe |website=baseball hall of fame |title=Williams, Joe &#124; Baseball Hall of Fame }}</ref>  

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book
|last=Riley
|first=James A.
|chapter= Williams, Joseph (Smokey Joe, Cyclone, Yank)
|pages= [https://archive.org/details/biographicalency00rile/page/854 854–56]
|title=The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues
|url=https://archive.org/details/biographicalency00rile
|url-access=registration
|publisher=Carroll & Graf
|year=1994
|isbn=0-7867-0959-6
}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
* {{bbhof|williams-joe}}
* {{Baseballstats|br=w/willijo99}} and [https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=willia001smo Baseball-Reference Black Baseball stats] and [https://www.seamheads.com/NegroLgs/player.php?playerID=willi01joe Seamheads]
* {{baseball-reference manager|willijo99}} and [https://www.seamheads.com/NegroLgs/manager.php?playerID=willi01joe Seamheads]

{{New York Lincoln Giants}}
{{1999 Baseball HOF}}
{{Baseball Hall of Fame members}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Smokey Joe}}
[[Category:1886 births]]
[[Category:1951 deaths]]
[[Category:National Baseball Hall of Fame inductees]]
[[Category:Baseball pitchers]]
[[Category:Bacharach Giants players]]
[[Category:Brooklyn Royal Giants players]]
[[Category:Chicago American Giants players]]
[[Category:Chicago Giants players]]
[[Category:Detroit Wolves players]]
[[Category:Hilldale Club players]]
[[Category:Homestead Grays players]]
[[Category:New York Lincoln Giants players]]
[[Category:San Antonio Black Bronchos players]]
[[Category:Schenectady Mohawk Giants players]]
[[Category:Club Fé players]]
[[Category:Habana players]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from Seguin, Texas]]
[[Category:Baseball players from San Antonio]]
[[Category:American expatriate baseball players in Cuba]]