Matt Williams Marquee

b. November 28, 1965 · San Francisco Giants 1987–1996, Cleveland Indians 1997, Arizona Diamondbacks 1998–2003

On the day the 1994 players' strike stopped the season he had 43 home runs in 112 games, a pace that would have carried him past Roger Maris's 61 had the remaining 50 been played. There was no rest of the season. He led the National League in home runs that year anyway, with a total nobody argues about and everybody qualifies.

Seventeen seasons gave him 1,878 hits, 378 home runs, 1,218 runs batted in and a .268 average, with four Gold Gloves at third base, four Silver Sluggers and five All-Star selections. He led the league in runs batted in in 1990 with 122.

He went to Cleveland for a season, then to Arizona, where he drove in 142 runs in 1999 and won the World Series in 2001. He appeared in the Mitchell Report on performance-enhancing drugs in 2007 and acknowledged having taken them after a 2002 injury. The writers gave him seven votes of 539 in 2009.

Honors

Award	Times	Years
All-Star selection	5	1990, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1999
Gold Glove	4	1991, 1993, 1994, 1997
Silver Slugger	4	1990, 1993, 1994, 1997
The Sporting News All-Star	4	1990, 1993, 1994, 1997
Player of the Month	2	1995, 1999
Player of the Week	2	1994, 1999

Batting, season by season

Year	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	AVG
1987	SFG	84	245	28	46	9	2	8	21	16	68	4	.188
1988	SFG	52	156	17	32	6	1	8	19	8	41	0	.205
1989	SFG	84	292	31	59	18	1	18	50	14	72	1	.202
1990	SFG	159	617	87	171	27	2	33	122	33	138	7	.277
1991	SFG	157	589	72	158	24	5	34	98	33	128	5	.268
1992	SFG	146	529	58	120	13	5	20	66	39	109	7	.227
1993	SFG	145	579	105	170	33	4	38	110	27	80	1	.294
1994	SFG	112	445	74	119	16	3	43	96	33	87	1	.267
1995	SFG	76	283	53	95	17	1	23	65	30	58	2	.336
1996	SFG	105	404	69	122	16	1	22	85	39	91	1	.302
1997	CLE	151	596	86	157	32	3	32	105	34	108	12	.263
1998	ARI	135	510	72	136	26	1	20	71	43	102	5	.267
1999	ARI	154	627	98	190	37	2	35	142	41	93	2	.303
2000	ARI	96	371	43	102	18	2	12	47	20	51	1	.275
2001	ARI	106	408	58	112	30	0	16	65	22	70	1	.275
2002	ARI	60	215	29	56	7	2	12	40	21	41	3	.260
2003	ARI	44	134	17	33	9	0	4	16	16	26	0	.246
Career	—	1866	7000	997	1878	338	35	378	1218	469	1363	53	.268

On this day & linked events

1965

Born November 28, 1965

Bishop, CA, USA

1987

Major-league debut: Matt Williams

Matt Williams made a major-league debut on April 11, 1987.

1997

Matt Williams's Three-Home-Run Game, 1997

Matt Williams hit three home runs for the Cleveland Indians against the Milwaukee Brewers on April 25, 1997.

2003

Final major-league game: Matt Williams

Matt Williams played a final major-league game on May 31, 2003.

Image: Keith Allison, CC BY-SA 2.0