An All-Star, Gold Glove award winner and World Series champion, Matt Williams made his mark on Major League Baseball both at the plate and in the field. Drafted by the San Francisco Giants out of the University of Nevada at Las Vegas in 1986, Williams made his major league debut a year later and by 1990 he was an All-Star-caliber third baseman, hitting 33 home runs and leading the National League with 122 runs batted in. He would go on to eclipse the 30 home run plateau five more times in his career.

After an exceptional 10-year stint with the Giants that featured four All-Star selections, three Gold Gloves, an NL home run crown and a World Series appearance, Williams was traded to the Cleveland Indians, where he brought them to the brink of a World Series win against the Florida Marlins in 1997. In 1999, with the Arizona Diamondbacks, Williams made his fourth All-Star team and finished third in the NL’s Most Valuable Player voting after hitting 35 home runs and driving in 142 runs.

In 2001, Williams won a World Series with the Diamondbacks when they defeated the New York Yankees in seven games. Williams retired as a player following the 2003 season with 378 career home runs, which at the time were the fifth-most of any third baseman in the modern era. Williams returned to the Diamondbacks organization in 2010 as a coach under manager Kirk Gibson. Following the 2013 season, Williams was named the fifth manager in Washington Nationals history, following Davey Johnson’s retirement from the position, and led the team to its second-ever National League East Division title.