THAT CAN'T BE Dick Williams. No way. Look at that bobblehead, with no hint of white hair under the cap or on the mustache. It more resembles Billy Martin, right?
Then again, this is Williams circa 1971-73, when he managed the A's to three straight American League West pennants and back-to-back World Series titles.
Thirty-five years later, voila, here he is again.
And not just in bobblehead form (a gift to you and 14,999 friends who show for the A's giveaway Sunday against the Texas Rangers). The real-life Williams, 79, will resurface Sunday in Cooperstown, N.Y., where he'll finally be enshrined into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Remember those good ol' days when Williams guided the A's into a dynasty that produced three straight World Series championships, the final one coming under Alvin Dark after Williams left town in hopes of joining the New York Yankees?
Perhaps your memory only traces to the BillyBall era (that being Martin's fun house with Rickey Henderson in the 1980s, not this current era of Billy Beane fire sales.)
Perhaps, as an A's fan, you've trained yourself to quickly forget any past heroes (e.g. Mark McGwire, Jason Giambi, Miguel Tejada, Tim Hudson, Rich Harden, etc., etc.).
But Dick Williams' name, of course, rings a bell. Thanks to the Veterans Committee's inclusion of Williams in this year's Hall of Fame class, we've all been reminded about one of baseball's
Former Raiders coach John Madden waited 28 years before his bust took its righteous place inside the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Unlike Williams, we never really had a chance to forget about Madden, one of America's elite broadcasters and pitchmen.
Williams, as was the case with Madden, is unabashedly ecstatic that his long wait has come to a happy ending. His invitation arrived via a December phone call that brought tears to him and his wife Norma.
"It's been just so darn wonderful. It's like a new life," Williams said last week in a media conference call. "I figured it was going to be different, but I never realized it was going to be this different. I get chills."
His chances of getting into the Hall of Fame were widely written off following his 2000 arrest for indecent exposure at a Florida hotel. (He pled no contest and spent a night in jail.)
That incident indeed delayed his Cooperstown trip. But it couldn't destroy the positive impact Williams had as a big league manager from 1967-88.
He spent three seasons in Oakland. Only three? Hey, that was quite a feat, when no other manager had lasted so long under then-A's owner Charlie Finley.
"I got along well with all the players," Williams said. "I had one thing in common: They all hated Finley, so they loved me. And it made my job a lot easier."
So did having three current Hall of Famers in his clubhouse: Catfish Hunter, Reggie Jackson and Rollie Fingers. The later two will attend Sunday's ceremony; Hunter passed away in 1999.
Also slated to come Sunday is Brooks Robinson, whose Baltimore Orioles swept Williams' A's in the 1971 American League Championship Series. The A's rebounded to win World Series crowns against the Cincinnati Reds in 1972 and New York Mets in 1973.
Throughout all his managerial stints — Boston 1967-69, Oakland 1971-73, California Angels 1974-76, Montreal Expos 1977-81, San Diego 1982-85 and Seattle Mariners 1986-88 — it was that three-year run with the A's that really bolstered his Hall of Fame bid.
How would he do in today's era? "I'd get fired within a week," Williams replied. "My style of play doesn't fit in with all these millionaires now."
Contact Cam Inman at cinman@bayareanewsgroup.com.
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