Johnnie Williams
From BR Bullpen
John Brodie Williams (Honolulu Johnny)
- Bats Right, Throws Right
- Height 6' 0", Weight 180 lb.
- Debut April 21, 1914
- Final Game August 19, 1914
- Born July 16, 1889 in Honolulu, Republic of Hawaii
- Died September 8, 1963 in Long Beach, CA USA
[edit] Biographical Information
John Brodie “Honolulu Johnnie” Williams was the first man of part-Hawaiian ancestry to play major league baseball.
Williams, whose British immigrant father, J.J. Williams was a prominent Honolulu photographer and the founder of what is now known as as Honolulu magazine, established himself as a feared fastball pitcher in the first decade of the century, twirling for St. Louis and Punahou Schools as well as the Honolulu Athletic Club, which competed in the so-called Honolulu Senior League.
In 1911, he pitched so well in a series of games against a semi-pro team from the visiting cruiser USS New Orleans that word got back to the West Coast about this phenomena in the middle of the Pacific.
Enter Harold “Babe” Danzig, a former major leaguer who was no stranger to Hawaii. Danzig, married to the sister of legendary Outrigger Canoe Club coach George David “Dad” Center, was dispatched to Honolulu by Charlie Graham, then owner of the Sacramento Solons, to look over the hurler.
Williams was soon in Sacramento for a tryout with the Pacific Coast League club. It was determined that Johnny had raw talent, but required some seasoning. So he spent a season in the low minors at Victoria of the Northwest League.
Williams returned a year later and dominated. After his PCL leading 17-7 season in ‘13, he was purchased by the Detroit Tigers.
His big league debut came on April 20, 1914, on the same field with greats of the game like Ty Cobb, “Wahoo” Sam Crawford, Harry Heilmann and Donie Bush. The manager of the Bengals at that time was Hughie Jennings.
Johnnie’s big league record stands at 0-3 in four games pitched with an ERA of 6.55. However, with a 1-0 losing effort against Walter Johnson of the Washington Senators, you’d think that Jennings would have given Williams a closer look before giving up.
But look between the lines: Cobb, described by “Total Baseball” as “mean, vindictive, selfish, vain, a bully, racist, paranoid, cruel and hot-tempered,” was obviously not likely to accept his “brown-skinned” teammate, whoose Hawaiian blood was derived from his half-Hawaiian mother, Julia WIllis Williams.
We’ll never know for certain if the Georgia Peach was his downfall, but Johnny never pitched another game in the major leagues, bouncing around in the minors, including a stint with San Francisco, until he was compelled to join the Hawaiian Infantry during World War I.
Upon completion of his tour of duty “Over There,” Honolulu Johnnie headed a team of local all-stars to Japan where he started 18 of the 21 games they played. He later pitched in the Commercial League and the Hawaii Major League.
Johnnie Williams worked for the Honolulu office of Standard Oil in the 1920s, then took a job in the City and County of Honolulu’s refuse division, retiring in 1958. Johnnie and wife, Nina Aylett Williams, moved to Long Beach, Calif., where he died five years later at the age of 74.
One of his sisters, Hazel, married a man named Bellinger, and their son, John, became Hawaii’s favorite Horatio Alger story, starting out at the lowest levels of the Bishop Bank in Honolulu and working his way up the ladder to become the president of what is now called First Hawaiian Bank.
A brother, James A. Williams, took over the photography business, leaving it to a son, Alex Williams. The company, “Williams Photography,” documented more than five generations of Honolulu’s history and exists to this day.
Another sister, Mele Williams, married the plantation manager at Waipahu mill, Hans L’Orange, a name any schoolboy baseball player in Hawaii would recognize as the name of a baseball stadium on Oahu.
