Background and career
Mitchell Steven Williams (born November 17, 1964), nicknamed "Wild Thing", is an American former relief pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB) who played for six teams from 1986 to 1997. He was also a studio analyst for the MLB Network from 2009 to 2014. Williams, a left-hander with a high-90s fastball and major control issues, was largely effective, especially in the early part of his career earning 192 saves in his 11 seasons including a career high of 43 in 1993. He gave up a walk-off home run to Joe Carter of the Toronto Blue Jays in the sixth game of the 1993 World Series, which gave Toronto a World Series championship win over the Phillies. Williams' career went into decline afterward, although he played in parts of three more major league seasons.
Williams was drafted out of high school in West Linn, Oregon, in 1982, by the San Diego Padres. The Texas Rangers acquired him in 1985, and he made his major league debut for the Rangers in 1986. It was with the Rangers that Williams earned the nickname "Wild Thing" due in large part to his awkward delivery to the plate in which he would fall to the third base side of the mound during his follow through, and also because of issues he had with control. The Rangers traded him to the Chicago Cubs after the 1988 season.
Williams' extravagant wind-up and release, as well as his frequent wild pitches, drew comparisons to film character Rick "Wild Thing" Vaughn (played by Charlie Sheen) in the 1989 David S. Ward film Major League. When he joined the Cubs, Wrigley Field organist Gary Pressy began playing The Troggs' "Wild Thing" as he came out of the bullpen, mimicking the scenes in the film. A power reliever, he put his full weight behind every pitch, so that he dropped hard to the right, sometimes falling off the mound. In 1993, Williams started wearing the number 99 (he originally wore the number 28) on his jersey, the same number that Vaughn wore in the film. According to an interview on The Dan Patrick Show on October 22, 2008, the number change had nothing to do with the Major League film. Williams said he had wanted the number 99 for years and years because of an admiration for the football player Mark Gastineau, who also wore number 99. Williams said that he did not change his number until 1993 because that was his first chance to do it. Cubs manager Don Zimmer said Williams "did everything 99 miles an hour", and teammate and close friend Mark Grace said "Mitch pitches like his hair's on fire." A Sports Illustrated article stated that "He has two pitches--fastball #1 and fastball #2." The New Yorker baseball writer Roger Angell chortled over his "scary, hilarious antics", saying "he flung the ball and then... flung himself after it, winding up with his back to home plate... peering over his left shoulder in case anyone accidentally made contact."
One of Williams's best seasons came in 1989 as a member of the Chicago Cubs. Williams had a win–loss record of 4–4 with a 2.76 ERA, 67 strikeouts (in 76 appearances during the regular season) and 36 saves. That year, Williams made the All-Star team for the only time in his career. He also hit the only home run of his career that season. He was a key figure in the Cubs winning the National League East title in 1989. Williams became the first player in MLB history to record a save without throwing a pitch. On April 28, 1989, he entered the game against the San Diego Padres with a 3–1 lead and two outs in the ninth inning. Williams picked off the Padres' Carmelo Martínez at second base to end the game.
In the League Championship Series against the San Francisco Giants, Williams made two appearances, in Games 2 and 5. He did not give up any earned runs and recorded two strikeouts. However, in Game 5, with the score tied at 1–1 in the bottom of the eighth inning, Williams gave up a two-run RBI single to Will Clark. Williams was removed, and NBC's cameras caught him in the dugout with a towel over his head. Moments later, the Giants finished the Cubs off to win their first National League pennant in 27 years.
The Cubs dealt Williams to the Philadelphia Phillies at the start of the 1991 campaign. That year, he won 12 games, including eight in August, and saved 30 for the Phillies. However, he suffered eight losses in 1992 and seven more in 1993. Still, manager Jim Fregosi chose Williams as the team's closer entering the World Series against the defending champion Toronto Blue Jays. On July 2, 1993, in the second game of a 12-hour double-header delayed repeatedly by rain, Williams came up to bat in the tenth inning and ended the game at 4:40 am with an RBI single, the only walk-off hit of his career and one of only three hits overall. Williams recorded it off Trevor Hoffman, one of the only two closers to have 600 or more saves. It was also his only plate appearance of the season and the final one of his career. During Williams' time in Philadelphia, his walkout theme changed artists; instead of the original version by The Troggs, American punk-rock band X’s cover (the same one used in the Major League films) was played when he made his entrance from the bullpen.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
