The Las Vegas Review journal is reporting that former Oakland A's manager Dick Williams passed away in his Las Vegas home at the age of 82. Williams retired to Las Vegas in 1991 after a 21-year managing career highlighted by his years with the famed Swingin A's where he won a pair of World Series as the A's were in the midst of a World Series three-peat. Williams was inducted into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 2008.
Williams came to the A's in 1971 and proceeded to win 101 games his first season, although the A's were swept in the ALCS by the Baltimore Orioles. In 1972, the A's went 93-62 and won their first world championship in Oakland with a 4-3 series victory over the Cincinnati Reds. They followed that up with a 94-68 season in 1973 and a 4-3 series victory over the New York Mets.
Williams had one year left on his contract after the 1973 World Series but he elected to resign due to his disdain for Charlie Finley's constant meddling. The most famous incident occurred during the 1973 World Series when Mike Andrews made a pair of errors in Game Three that cost the A's a victory. Williams had pushed for the A's to sign Andrews over Finley's objections. After Andrews made the errors, Finley falsified an affidavit saying Andrews was injured and thus removing him from the roster for the remainder of the World Series. Amidst immense team and public pressure, Commissioner Bowie Kuhn forced Finley to reinstate Andrews for Game Four.
Williams resigned that offseason and eventually ended up managing the California Angels. He would go on to manage the Montreal Expos, San Diego Padres and Seattle Mariners.