Tragic story of ex-big league baseballer ends on the streets

The sad tale of Frank Williams.

Frank Williams, a former major-league baseball pitcher who ended up on the streets in Victoria, has died. He was 50.

Rev. Al Tysick of the Pandora Avenue shelter Our Place said Williams had a heart attack about two weeks ago, went into a coma and never came out. He died last Friday.

Williams’s life reads like a Hollywood fantasy. He was an orphan who grew up in foster homes in Seattle, but he made it to baseball’s major leagues, pitching for the San Francisco Giants, Detroit Tigers and Cincinnati Reds between 1984 and 1989. Over six seasons, he pitched 471.7 innings, had a 24-14 won-loss record with eight saves and an earned-run average of 3.00.

He earned $442,500 in 1988 and $425,000 in 1989. By the time he died last week, all that money was gone. He spent his last days bouncing around Victoria shelters and detox centres, a street-level alcoholic.