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William Frank “Billy” Williams, born in St. Paul in 1877, gained recognition as a skilled Twin Cities baseball player. Throughout his career, Williams played for over 20 teams in Minnesota and Wisconsin, earning a reputation as one of the early African-American sluggers in baseball.
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William Frank Williams, also known as Billy Williams, was born in St Paul in 1877. He gained recognition as a skilled Twin Cities baseball player. Throughout his career, he played for over 20 teams in Minnesota and Wisconsin, earning him a reputation as one of the early African American sluggers in baseball. Unfortunately, Billy Williams did face a lot of prejudice because of his race. He was offered a position on the Baltimore Orioles, and the manager said that he should play as an American Indian because he could “easily be mistaken for one.” Because of the prejudice, Billy took a step back from baseball. He accepted an offer from Governor John Albert Johnson to serve as an assistant in the governor's office. This opportunity was able to help him showcase his influence beyond the baseball diamond. He served as an assistant to 14 consecutive Minnesota governors, from 1904 to 1957, and in 2023, sixty years after Billy's passing, the St Paul Saints and Governor Tim Walz celebrated all of Billy's accomplishments throughout his life by deeming June 10 2023 Frank “Billy” Williams Day.
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