Ken Williams: GM's gutsy moves put Chicago White Sox in playoff hunt

Jet, Oct 3, 2005

Chicago White Sox General Manager Ken Williams says his job is one that "everyone thinks they know more than you do."

Despite the "friendly" criticism, Williams' aggressive transactions have put the Sox into a position where the team could clinch its division and head to the postseason, the first time since 2000, when the Sox won the American League Central Division.

Ironically, Williams says his front office position isn't one he relished during his major league playing days as an outfielder from 1986-1991.

"Hell no, I didn't want to do this," joked Williams, who is responsible for all baseball operations decisions. "No, I wanted to be a better player than I was and have a longer playing career. When I retired, I was retired ... I wanted nothing to do with the sport actually. I kind of backed into the management side of things and got a few opportunities and did well with them, and, here we go, I guess."

Williams became the first Black general manager in Chicago sports history when he was named to his position in October of 2000. At 41, he is currently one of the youngest general managers and one of the league's two minority general managers. The married father of five has words of advice to other Black men or women who want to pursue a general manager position of a professional sports team:

"You have to be ready to live the game. The hours that you have to put in are sometimes 9 a.m. to, every day on a homestand, which might be 10 days or more, to 11 p.m. Through the early years it wasn't uncommon for me to be gone 150 to 160 days during the year. So there's a sacrifice of personal life. People think that there's glamour to this job, and there isn't.

"It's a job ... where everyone thinks they know more than you do. We're not safe from anyone in this job. Even the (Chicago) mayor (Daley) criticized me and (Sox Manager) Ozzie this year for one of our moves. And he's one of our biggest fans! So you have to have a sense of humor along with all of it to know that every morning you wake up and every night you go to sleep, there's a certain segment of the population who thinks you're the village idiot, and I'm all right with that."