Mitch Williams (baseball) - Post-Phillies Career

Post-Phillies Career

Despite having the highest amount of lefty saves in his career with the Phillies (102), the Carter blast was the end of the line for Williams in Philadelphia. The Phillies traded him to the Houston Astros prior to the start of the 1994 season. He closed out his career with the California Angels in 1995 and the Kansas City Royals in 1997.

Williams placed the blame on himself for what happened in the 1993 World Series, adding that he had put the ordeal behind him:

—Mitch Williams on his feelings about surrendering the home run to Joe Carter

Although Phillies fans continued to blame him for the Series loss and heap him with scorn and abuse for several years afterward, the fact that he did not make excuses for the blown saves, shift the blame to others, or run and hide from the media or the city of Philadelphia caused many fans to ultimately forgive him and embrace him once again as a local figure.

Williams retired from baseball to operate a bowling establishment outside Philadelphia. In 1996, the MLB All-Star game was held in Philadelphia. The network broadcasting the game set up a bowling game rematch between Williams and Carter at Williams' own lanes. Before the match Williams jokingly stated that Carter had no chance to win because Williams played every day. Williams did not know that Carter had been a talented bowler growing up. Carter got to the bowling alley and on his first warm up roll took a couple steps, spun around 180 degrees and rolled the ball between his legs, backwards, for a strike. Carter won the match handily.

The Atlantic City Surf of the independent Atlantic League lured him back into uniform to pitch in 2001. He went 4-3 for the Surf that season and then became the club's pitching coach for 2002 and 2003. His paperwork and people skills were not shown to be strengths, and he was not renewed as coach after a year and a half. Williams has been out of professional ball since then.

In March 2007, Williams joined the Philadelphia radio station 610 WIP AM as a part-time co-host of the Angelo Cataldi and the morning team show heard from 5:30-10:00 AM on weekdays. Williams generally appears one day per week. In April 2007, Williams joined Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia as a post-game analyst for broadcasts of Philadelphia Phillies baseball games. On January 3, 2009, Williams joined MLB Network as a studio analyst where he is a regular on the network's MLB Tonight program.

Williams serves as a color commentator for Fox Sports occasionally commentating national games. Williams came under some criticism for stating that the correct way to catch a fly ball was with one hand rather than two, after the Cincinnati Reds' OF Fred Lewis made an error in a game vs. the Atlanta Braves on July 23, 2011.

Williams has also entered the food industry with his own salsa known as "Wild Thing Southpaw Salsa." He, his wife, and their five children reside in Medford, New Jersey.

In July, 2011, Williams participated in a House Crashers episode from the DIY Network, in which a local Phillies fan won a makeover of his home's sports den.