Williams was born in Aurora, Missouri, to William and Mary Williams. He began his major league career on September 17, 1913, with the Detroit Tigers.\n', '

Williams\' breakthrough season came in 1915, while with the Salt Lake City Bees of the Pacific Coast League. That year, he pitched 418.2 innings, leading the league in wins (33) and strikeouts (294), while featuring mostly his mid-90s fastball and swooping curve. His contract was then purchased by the Chicago White Sox.\n', '

With the White Sox, Williams settled into the starting rotation and helped the team win the pennant in 1917, going 17–8. After spending 1918 working in Navy shipyards, he came back strong in 1919 with his greatest performance, going 23–11 with a 2.64 earned run average. The White Sox again won the American League pennant. However, before that year\'s World Series, he got caught up in the Black Sox scandal when teammate Chick Gandil offered him $10,000 to lose his starts. Williams only received $5,000, half of what he was promised, a sum that was still almost double his 1919 salary of $2,600.\n', '

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