Where Is Mitch ‘Wild Thing’ Williams Today?
Mitch Williams earned his nickname Wild Thing many times over. From his high leg kick and odd delivery awkwardly falling to the third-base side of the mound, to his control issues, the Philadelphia Phillies left-handed relief pitcher was wild defined and the embodiment of Charlie Sheen’s character from the movie “Major League.” Despite looking out of control on every pitch, the one-time All-Star pitcher played for 11 MLB seasons before retiring after the 1997 season. Where is Mitch “Wild Thing” Williams today?
Mitch Williams has solid MLB career
Mitch Williams joined the Texas Rangers as a 21-year-old rookie in 1986. That first season Williams showed his durability and his effective wildness. He made a league-leading 80 appearances, where he pitched 98 innings and recorded 90 strikeouts and 79 walks.
After a couple of seasons in Texas, the Rangers traded him to the Chicago Cubs. In 1989, Williams had the best statistical season of his 11-year career as he appeared in a league-leading 76 games, tossed 81.2 innings, with 67 strikeouts and 52 walks. He had a 2.76 ERA and earned his lone All-Star Game appearance.
While Williams made the All-Star Game in 1989, he’s most known for what happened several seasons later in the 1993 postseason. As a reliever for the Philadelphia Phillies, Williams recorded a pair of victories and saves in the NLCS against the Atlanta Braves.
In the World Series against the Toronto Blue Jays, Williams earned a save in Game 2 and suffered a loss in Game 4. It was Game 6 where Williams etched his name in history. After Philadelphia scored five runs in the seventh inning to take a 6–5 lead, Mitch Williams came in and surrendered a three-run walk-off blast to Toronto’s Joe Carter in the bottom of the ninth inning. He never pitched for the Phillies again.
Williams worked at MLB Network
Mitch Williams played for several more seasons with multiple teams and retired following the 1997 season. Despite most Phillies fans blaming him for the World Series loss, Williams lived in Philadelphia and opened a bowling alley. His willingness to accept responsibility for what happened and not blame others endeared him to the city.
He did make a return to baseball in 2001 in the Independent Atlantic League, where he recorded a 4-3 record. A few years later, Williams made his move into broadcasting. He worked in radio briefly before joining Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia as a post-game analyst for Phillies games during the 2007 season.
A couple of years later, Mitch Williams joined MLB Network as a studio analyst. He was a fixture on the network’s MLB Tonight program until 2014, when he was fired for his conduct at his then-10-year-old son’s Little League game that included an argument. Williams later won $1.5 million in a civil case against the network.
Where is Mitch ‘Wild Thing’ Williams today?
Mitch Williams has largely been quiet since his departure from MLB Network until recently. Earlier this year, he launched a podcast Unleashed with Mitch Williams.
While Williams talks a lot of baseball, he also covers other sports, with a focus on the Philadelphia scene. In his most recent podcast, he questioned Philadelphia Eagles general manager Howie Roseman and his draft mistakes, whether or not the Eagles players care, and of course, he talked baseball, questioning how the Phillies bullpen ended up being the second-worst in MLB history.
Mitch Williams was never shy on the mound. He would throw inside and plunked more than his share of batters during his career. He was opinionated on MLB Network for several years and has brought that same wild and aggressive style to his podcast. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
