"Hey Eddie, look at this guy, he ain't got no neck!!". That was the first reaction from Paul Richards, GM for the Houston Colt 45s, when Walt Williams was summoned to meet with Richards and Eddie Robinson. Like some people have flat feet and buck teeth, Williams had the abnormality of no neck. As in no scarf, and no necklace. It made him...cute.

The problem with nicknames is that one usually doesn't have a say in the matter. Being referred to as "The Splendid Splinter" or "Stan the Man" can be rather flattering, but descriptive names such as "Dizzy" or "Pee Wee", well, a lot of people could probably guess what it was. And so it was with Walter "No Neck" Williams.

Walter Williams was born in Brownsville, Texas on December 19, 1943 and legend has it that he came into the world smiling. He was one of the happiest baseball players to don the uniform. At 5'6, 185lbs he was a hustling fireplug and thrilled to be playing ball with the "big boys". He got into 10 games with the 45s in 1964 with 9 at bats but Houston put him on waivers before he was able to get his first major league hit.

He resurfaced with the White Sox in 1967 and had pretty decent year as a reserve outfielder on a team that challenged the Red Sox down to the last game of the season. For that matter he had a realatively decent career. He played 10 years with 4 different teams, his best year being 1969. That year he appeared in 135 games with 143 hits that earned him the leagues 6th best batting average at .304. He finished his career with a .270 average. He did have a few deficientcies in the outfield though, turning routine fly balls into some spectacular adventures.

"You're never going to be a superstar" said White Sox coach Grover Resigner, "so try harder". "No Neck" took this advise to heart, hustling everywhere. When he took a base on balls, he would all but sprint to first base. And when his team went on defense fans must have thought that he was racing the other two outfielders to their positions. He was Pete Rose without the baseball talent.

When professional baseball gave up on Williams after the 1975 season, "No Neck" went global, first to Japan and then Mexico. From 1976 to 1978 he was a Ham Fighter with Nippon of the Japanese League. Over the years many former big leaguers tried baseball in Japan and most were successful if not quite popular, so Walter thought he'd give it a try. He was fairly successful but far from popular. For some unknown reason during the first half of the '78 season Williams was plunked 8 times by opposing pitchers. He finally got fed up and after the 8th time charged the mound, figuring his teammates would back him up. Not only did they not back him up, they helped pull him off their countryman and threw some punches of their own at him.

With those 3 cultural years behind him he figured he'd give Mexico a shot but that didn't work out all that well either so he went home to Brownsville where he was appreciated. There he settled back into the community where he worked with kids as the athletic director for the city, but at 44 he still missed the game.

It was 1987 and a call had gone out in the major leagues for teams to hire more qualified blacks, and even though Williams had not set foot on the field in years he decided to inteview for the vacant first base coaching position with the White Sox and got the job. Now "No Neck" was not much for fashion, but Larry Himes, the GM, demanded neat attire and expected his players and coaches to dress accordingly while on the road. When told that he was going to be required to where a shirt and tie, Williams was quoted as saying "A tie, wear a tie on what?". Keep that chin up Walter.