Scott Williamson

When Scott Williamson joined the Cincinnati Reds at spring training in 1999, he was a nonroster invitee with long odds of making the team. Before the year was over, however, the hard-throwing right-hander was an All-Star and the National League Rookie of the Year.

Although injuries prevented Williamson from replicating the success of his rookie season, he enjoyed a nine-year major-league career that included three saves in the 2003 American League Championship Series and a World Series ring with the Boston Red Sox in 2004.

Williamson was born February 17, 1976, in Fort Polk, Louisiana. At the age of 4, he was adopted by Ray and Ann Williamson, a chemical engineer and kindergarten teacher, respectively. In a 1999 interview, Williamson said he declined attempts to find his biological parents, because “God gave me two great parents,” and that it “would be betraying them.”1

Scott was coached by his father in multiple sports growing up, and his baseball talents were evident early. At age 10, he was throwing 70 mph and playing in a league for 12-year-olds. The Williamson family moved from Louisiana to Texas when Scott was 14.2

At Friendswood High School in Friendswood, Texas, Williamson quickly emerged as one of the top pitchers in his area. He was named first-team all-district as a junior,3 before leading his Mustangs to the Class 4A regional finals as a senior.4 Williamson finished his senior season with a 12-4 record and a 0.66 ERA, earning designation as the Galveston Daily News’ 1994 All-County Baseball Player of the Year.5

Williamson’s success in high school led to a scholarship at Tulane University. There, he sparred with coach Rick Jones and grew homesick for Texas.6 Seeking a better fit for his personality, Williamson transferred to play for Tom Holliday’s Oklahoma State Cowboys for the 1997 season, when he was 7-3 and earned first-team All-Big 12 honors.7

“Holliday gave me back my love for the game,” Williamson said. “I lost my love at Tulane.”8

The Cincinnati Reds selected Williamson in the ninth round of the 1997 amateur draft and sent him to pitch at the Rookie level for the Billings (Montana) Mustangs, where he was 8-2 with a 1.78 ERA in 13 starts.

In 1998 Williamson bypassed Single A and was assigned to play for the Double-A Chattanooga (Tennessee) Lookouts. In his first start for the Lookouts, Williamson faced Atlanta Braves veteran pitcher John Smoltz, who was down with the Greenville Braves on a rehabilitation assignment. Williamson allowed two runs in six innings of the 6-5 loss, but Chattanooga manager Mark Berry walked away impressed. “I expected him to be more erratic because of Smoltz, the big crowd and the whole situation,” Berry said. “It’s something he can build on.”9

Williamson started 18 games at Double A before being promoted to the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians toward the end of the season. Cincinnati planned to call him up in September, but his season ended when he stretched a tendon in the middle finger of his pitching hand during a game for Indianapolis.10

Arriving at 1999 spring training as a nonroster invitee, Williamson was a long shot to make the Reds out of camp. However, he arrived with a fastball that was now topping out at 98 mph, giving the team reason to consider moving him to the bullpen.11

The 23-year-old broke camp with the Reds as a reliever and made his major-league debut in an 11-8 Opening Day loss to the San Francisco Giants. Williamson entered in the top of the ninth and opened by allowing a line-drive single to Ellis Burks. He rebounded to strike out Brent Mayne, and then got Rich Aurilia to hit into a double play, ending the inning.

It was a solid start to a dream rookie season for the hard-throwing righty. On April 25, he earned his first major-league save by striking out Jeff Bagwell in a 7-6 win over the Houston Astros, which was Williamson’s favorite team as a youngster.12

A good April turned into a great May. Williamson opened the month with a 3.95 ERA and shrank it to 1.69 to start June. In May he was 2-0 with five saves, no runs allowed, and 24 strikeouts in 18⅓ innings. In a 4-3 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on May 27, he struck out all six batters he faced.

“I’m throwing harder now,” Williamson said. “When you’re a closer, you can just go out there and let it go.” He also utilized a split-finger that he learned from future Hall of Famer Bruce Sutter when he played with Bruce’s son, Chad, at Tulane.13

Reds manager Jack McKeon soon had Williamson splitting closer duties with Danny Graves. Both were subject to heavy use as Williamson and Graves pitched 93⅓ and 111 innings respectively in 1999. In a 2-0 Reds win over the Brewers on June 17, Williamson recorded a rare four-inning save.

Williamson was named to the National League All-Star team after earning a 7-4 record with a 1.66 ERA in the first half of the season. However, the rookie did not enter the midsummer classic at Fenway Park that ended with a 4-1 win by the American League.

He tired some in the second half of the season and missed a week from shoulder tendinitis as the Reds made a postseason push.14 Cincinnati finished the regular season with a 96-66 record, tied with the New York Mets for the wild card. The Mets beat the Reds 5-0 in a play-in game at Cincinnati. Williamson didn’t enter the game.

Finishing the season with a 12-7 record, a 2.41 ERA, 19 saves, and 107 strikeouts in 93⅓ innings, Williamson earned 17 first-place votes to win the National League Rookie of the Year. He became the seventh Reds player to win Rookie of the Year, following Frank Robinson (1956), Pete Rose (1963), Tommy Helms (1966), Johnny Bench (1968), Pat Zachry (co-winner 1976), and Chris Sabo (1988).15

Williamson said the award didn’t even cross his mind when he arrived at spring training.

“My biggest goal at that time was just make the big-league team … coming in there, with no chance at all,” he said.16

As the Reds looked to acquire star outfielder Ken Griffey Jr. from the Seattle Mariners before the 2000 season, Williamson’s name was floated among Seattle’s trade targets.17 However, the Reds were able to obtain Griffey without having to give up Williamson or second baseman Pokey Reese. Instead, Cincinnati acquired the future Hall of Famer for pitcher Brett Tomko, outfielder Mike Cameron, and minor leaguers Jake Meyer and Antonio Pérez.

Williamson struggled with control early in the 2000 season, throwing 12 wild pitches in his first 28 outings. Much of the wildness was attributed to his split-finger fastball, which he was releasing too low and seeing it end up in the dirt.18 He finished the season with 21 wild pitches, second most in the National League.

On July 9, Williamson moved into the starting rotation, lasting into the sixth inning of a 5-3 loss to the Cleveland Indians. He earned his first win as a major-league starter six days later in a 7-4 win over the Colorado Rockies in Coors Field.

Williamson said in 2000 that the move to the rotation was a welcomed one. “When I was a little kid, I dreamed about being a starting pitcher in the big leagues,” he said. “There’s a lot more pressure in relieving than in starting. If you give up one or two runs (when you start), your team still has a chance. If you give up a run when you relieve, it’s (usually) a blown save or loss. Relieving is not easy. I’ve learned that the last season and a half.”19

His most successful start of the season came in a 3-0 win over the Chicago Cubs on August 12. Williamson allowed only four hits and struck out seven over seven innings.20

The progress Williamson was a making as a starter was derailed when his season ended in September after he broke two toes in his right foot.21 He made all 10 starts of his major-league career in 2000.

With Bob Boone taking over as Reds manager in 2001, Williamson was moved back to the bullpen. The young pitcher took the decision in stride. “I need to help the team out of the bullpen,” he said. “I’ve had success in the bullpen. I like the bullpen. We both agreed that it’s not a demotion.”22

However, a torn ligament in his throwing elbow forced Williamson to miss the rest of the 2001 season after only two appearances.23 The injury, which some blamed on Williamson’s delivery and the way the Reds used him, required Tommy John surgery. “I was surprised it took that long for Williamson to get hurt, the way the Reds used him,” said Astros general manager Gerry Hunsicker.24

A healthy Williamson returned in 2002, enjoying a 2.92 ERA and 8 saves in 63 appearances.

His 2003 season opened with a bizarre incident during spring training. Williamson said a ghost woke him up from a sound sleep while staying at the Renaissance Vinoy Hotel in St. Petersburg, Florida.

“I was laying on my stomach and all of a sudden, I couldn’t breathe,” Williamson said in 2004. “It was like something was pushing down on me. I turned around, when there was this guy dressed in 1920s, ’30s-style staring at me. I never believed in ghosts before, but, like I said, I couldn’t breathe. I told somebody about it the next day in the clubhouse, and then it was all over the news.25

The encounter has been featured in several books about paranormal activity, including  2007’s Haunted Baseball, 2008’s Haunted Florida, 2014’s Ghosts of Florida’s Gulf Coast, and 2022’s Haunted Hotels.26

The incident was the start to a successful but turbulent 2003 season for Williamson.

He remained effective to begin the 2003 season but was traded to the Boston Red Sox on July 30 as part of a “salary dump.” The trade came less than a week after his first child, Scott Reese Williamson, was born and only one day after his wife, Lisa, was admitted to the emergency room with high blood pressure. “This is really stressful on my family,” Williamson said. “But it’s a business. You have to do what you have to do.”27

For the Red Sox, acquiring Williamson was a win over the rival New York Yankees, who were also bidding to trade for the former All-Star.28

The trade, however, was not an instant success. Williamson, who was coping with a new environment as well as concerns about the health of his wife and newborn son,29 struggled with a 6.20 ERA through 24 regular-season appearances with the Red Sox. Lisa required hospitalization for hemorrhaging four times after giving birth, and Scott Reese battled a high fever and rash that led to a spinal tap and intravenous injections.30

After working with Red Sox pitching coach Tony Cloninger and after his wife and child recovered, a rejuvenated Williamson took the mound in the 2003 postseason.31

He appeared in all five games of the American League Division Series, helping the Red Sox beat the Oakland Athletics. Williamson was 2-0, allowing only two hits and no runs over five innings. In Game Three, he pitched a perfect top of the 11th before Red Sox outfielder Trot Nixon hit a walk-off home run in the bottom half to give Boston a 3-1 victory.

Williamson’s success followed him into the American League Championship Series against the Yankees. He recorded saves in Games One, Four, and Six. He helped extend the Series to seven games by pitching a perfect ninth inning – striking out Jason Giambi before getting Bernie Williams and Jorge Posada to fly out – in a 9-6 win.

Williamson was available to pitch a day later in Game Seven, but Red Sox manager Grady Little controversially opted to bring Pedro Martínez back for the eighth inning with a 5-2 lead.32 A fatigued Martínez allowed a double to Derek Jeter, a single to Williams, and doubles to Hideki Matsui and Posada that helped the Yankees tie the game 5-5. In the bottom of the 11th, New York’s Aaron Boone hit a game-winning home run off Boston’s Tim Wakefield. Williamson did not enter the game.

His postseason success led to a one-year, $3.175 million deal from the Red Sox for the 2004 season.33 Williamson picked the contending Red Sox, who acquired All-Star closer Keith Foulke in the offseason, over opportunities to be traded to a team that would give him the ninth inning.34

“I’m the closer in the eighth inning now. That’s the way I look at it,” Williamson said in 2004. “But for me to be a part of what happened last year, that’s what I want to do again. That was so much fun.”35

Williamson started the 2004 season strong with a perfect earned-run average through his first eight outings. He continued to pitch well, but injuries to his ankle and elbow forced him to miss games from May 19 through June 11 and July 1 through September 9. On June 30 Williamson removed himself from a game against the Yankees. New York won 4-2, and Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling reportedly questioned Williamson’s manhood after the game.36 Schilling later called the report an example of unethical journalism and said that he had spoken with Williamson but that he never questioned whether he was hurt.37

Either way, Williamson was hurt. After the June 30 game, it was discovered that he suffered an impingement of the radial nerve of his right elbow.38 Williamson returned September 10 and made seven appearances in September and October, allowing only four hits and one earned run over seven innings.

He finished the 2004 season with a 1.26 ERA and 28 strikeouts over 28⅔ innings, but the still-injured Williamson was left off the postseason roster. Instead, he spent Boston’s championship run recovering from his second Tommy John surgery.39

When Dr. Tim Kremchek got inside Williamson’s right elbow with an arthroscope, he learned the injury was much worse than previously thought. “I couldn’t believe what I saw,” said Kremchek, who was the Cincinnati Reds team physician. “It looked like a grenade had gone off in there. The damage was far worse than the MRIs or any examination alluded to.”40

Williamson apparently pitched the final month of the regular season with a completely torn ulnar collateral ligament, mangled cartilage ripped from the bone on the other part of the elbow and several bone chips and loose bodies within the cavity of the joint.41

Calling it a “solid gamble,” Chicago Cubs general manager Jim Hendry, in 2005, signed the 28-year-old Williamson to a minor-league deal for a minimum salary of $316,000 that would increase to $500,000 if he was called up to the majors.42

However, the former Rookie of the Year was never the same after his second Tommy John surgery. Williamson made 17 appearances for the Cubs in 2005 but recorded a 5.65 ERA. Despite the underwhelming season, the Cubs picked up Williamson’s $2 million option for the 2006 season.43

Williamson struggled again in 2006, posting a 5.08 ERA in 31 appearances with the Cubs before being traded to the San Diego Padres for minor leaguers Fabian Jimenez Angulo and Joel Santo on July 22. In 11 outings for the Padres, he was 0-1 with a 7.36 ERA.

San Diego released Williamson after the season, and the Baltimore Orioles signed him to a $900,000 contract for 2007. The veteran reliever started strong with a 1.13 ERA through May. However, Williamson dealt with tightness in his right triceps and a bruised foot,44 and his ERA ballooned to 4.40 after seven appearances in June. The Orioles released Williamson in July after what turned out to be his final major-league appearance on June 29, 2007.

He continued to pitch professionally for the next several seasons, competing in the minors for the New York Yankees in 2007, the Seattle Mariners and Atlanta Braves in 2008, the Detroit Tigers and Florida Marlins in 2009, and multiple independent teams into 2011.

With his pro baseball career over, Williamson chose to auction off his 2004 World Series ring in 2011 to “ease the strain of an overbuilt home that sapped his family’s cash reserves” and to help pay for a youth indoor baseball facility on the Indiana-Ohio line.45

Williamson’s World Series ring sold for $89,000 in October 2011.46

According to Jim Prime’s book on the 2004 Red Sox, Williamson was the pitching coach for the 15-and-under Cincinnati Tribe baseball club in 2014.47 He participated in Reds alumni events, attending Opening Day ceremonies as recently as 2023.48

Sources

All statistics and box scores were taken from baseball-reference.com, except where otherwise indicated. The articles cited in several of the Notes come from photocopies of articles from Scott Williamson’s file at the National Baseball Hall of Fame, and were provided to the author by library staff.

Notes

1 Sean Keeler, “Williamson Savoring Reds’ Run,” ESPN.com (Scripps Howard News Service), August 25, 1999. http://espn.go.com/mlb/features/01413113.html. This article is found in Williamson’s player file at the Hall of Fame, but as of summer 2023 was no longer available online.

2 “Williamson Savoring Reds’ Run.”

3 “All-District Baseball Teams,” Galveston (Texas) Daily News, May 27, 1993: 18.

4 Michael Peters, “Cubs Rain on Mustang parade, 8-2,” Galveston Daily News, June 3, 1994: 17.

5 Glenn McLaren, “Mustangs Lead All-County Team,” Galveston Daily News, June 15, 1994: 16.

6 “Williamson Savoring Reds’ Run.”

7 “Sports Briefs,” New Braunfels (Texas) Herald-Zeitung, May 14, 1997: 14.

8 Keeler, “Williamson Savoring Reds’ Run.”

9 Larry W. Fleming, “Smoltz Mows Down Lookouts,” Chattanooga Times, April 3, 1998: E1.

10 Hal McCoy, “Williamson’s on DL,” Dayton Daily News, August 26, 1998: 5D.

11 “Scorecard: Young Gun … Byung Gun,” Sports Illustrated, June 7, 1999: 31.

12 Joey D. Richards, “Williamson Lighting Up Big Leagues,” Galveston Daily News, July 2, 1999: 13.

13 “Scorecard: Young Gun … Byung Gun.”

14 Chris Haft, “Cincinnati Reds Notebook,” The Sporting News, October 4, 1999: 60.

15 Associated Press, “Williamson Named NL Rookie of the Year,” ESPN.com, November 8, 1999. http://a.espncdn.com/mlb/news/1999/1108/159246.html

16 “Williamson Named NL Rookie of the Year.”

17 Joe Kay (Associated Press), “Williamson Facing Uncertainty in Second Year,” Fastball.com, November 10, 1999.

18 Mark Schmetzer, “Cincinnati Reds Notebook,” The Sporting News, June 12, 2000: 52.

19 Stephen Cannella, “Inside Baseball,” VaultSI.com (Sports Illustrated), July 24, 2000. https://vault.si.com/vault/2000/07/24/inside-baseball.

20 Mark Schmetzer, “Cincinnati Reds Notebook,” The Sporting News, August 28, 2000: 27.

21 “Cincinnati 6, Houston 4,” ESPN.com, September 23, 2000. https://www.espn.com/mlb/2000/20000923/recap/houcin.html.

22 Joe Kay (Associated Press), “Pitching Rotation for Reds Is Ready,” Greenville (Ohio) Daily Advocate, March 28, 2001: 7.

23 Chris Haft, “Reds Lose Williamson for Season,” Cincinnati.com (Cincinnati Enquirer), April 5, 2001.

24 Stephen Cannella, “Inside Baseball,” Vault.SI.com (Sports Illustrated), April 23, 2001. https://vault.si.com/vault/2001/04/23/inside-baseball.

25 Dan Shaughnessy, Reversing the Curse: Inside the 2004 Boston Red Sox (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005).

26 Mickey Bradley and Dan Gordon, Haunted Baseball (Essex, Connecticut: Lyons Press, 2007); Cynthia Thuma and Catherine Lower, Haunted Florida (Lanham, Maryland: Stackpole Books, 2008); Alan Brown, Ghosts of Florida’s Gulf Coast (Lanham, Maryland: Pineapple Press, 2014); Tom Ogden, Haunted Hotels (Lanham, Maryland: Globe Pequot, 2022).

27 Kyle Nagel, “Reds Trade Williamson to Red Sox,” Daytondailynews.com, July 30, 2003.

28 Hal Bodley, “Red Sox’s Epstein Has Wisdom Beyond His Years,” USAToday.com, August 1, 2003.

29 Jackie MacMullan, “This Is One Pair That Has Beaten Odds,” Boston Globe, October 5, 2003: C2.

30 Bob Hersom, “Scott Williamson: Injury-Filled Career,” Oklahoman.com, July 26, 2005. https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/2005/07/26/scott-williamson-injury-filled-careerbrlife-the-real-worldbrex-osu-standout-knows-the-value-family/61933141007/.

31 “This Is One Pair That Has Beaten Odds.”

32 Brendan Cartwright, “What’s Scott Williamson Up To?” RedReporter.com (SBNation), December 10, 2012.

33 Ronald Blum (Associated Press), “Sasaki Quits Mariners,” Indiana (Pennsylvania) Gazette, January 20, 2004: 15.

34 Howard Ulman (Associated Press), “Williamson Chooses Team Over Closer Role,” CapeCodTimes.com, March 16, 2004.

35 “Williamson Chooses Team Over Closer Role.”

36 Sean McAdam, “Sox Try to Sweep Series under the Rug,” ESPN.com, July 2, 2004. https://www.espn.com/mlb/columns/story?id=1833306.

37 “Being Curt: The Schilling Interview,” Boston.com, October 27, 2004. https://bostondirtdogs.boston.com/Headline_Archives/2004/10/the_schilling_i.html.

38 “Sox Try to Sweep Series under the Rug.”

39 Jeff Horrigan, “Williamson Has Tommy John Surgery,” BostonHerald.com, October 13, 2004.

40 “Williamson Has Tommy John Surgery.”

41 “Williamson Has Tommy John Surgery.”

42 Paul Sullivan, “Cubs Reward Barrett with 3-Year Contract,” ChicagoSports.com (Chicago Tribune), January 18, 2005.

43 Bruce Miles, “Cubs Begin Off-Season Moves,” DailyHerald.com, October 29, 2005.

44 Adam Kilgore, “Reliever Williamson Is Let Go,” WashingtonPost.com, July 5, 2007.

45 John Tomase, “Ex-Sox Hurler to Auction ’04 Series Ring,” BostonHerald.com, October 15, 2011. https://www.bostonherald.com/2011/10/15/ex-sox-hurler-to-auction-04-series-ring/#:~:text=Former%20Sox%20reliever%20Scott%20Williamson,on%20the%20Indiana%2DOhio%20line.

46 Peter Abraham, “A Red Sox 2004 Series Ring Up For Grabs,” Boston.com (Boston Globe), August 15, 2013. https://www.boston.com/sports/extra-bases/2013/08/15/a_red_sox_2004_series_ring_up_for_grabs/.

47 Jim Prime, Amazing Tales from the 2004 Boston Red Sox Dugout (Chicago: Sports Publishing, 2014), 83-84.

48 Molly Schramm, “Reds Opening Day 2023: Bronson Arroyo, Danny Graves to Be Grand Marshals of Parade,” SpringfieldNewsSun.com, March 8, 2023. https://www.wcpo.com/sports/baseball/reds/reds-opening-day-2023-bronson-arroyo-danny-graves-to-be-grand-marshals-of-parade.