Matt Williams’ Four-Homer Night in the Pacific Coast League
This article was written by Steve Gilbert
This article was published in Mining Towns to Major Leagues (SABR 29, 1999)
Matt Williams has had many highlights in his baseball career.
There were the two World Series appearances, the selections to four All-Star Games, and four Gold Glove Awards, just to name a few.
The most memorable moment of his professional career though took place on May 25, 1988 while he was a member of the Triple-A Phoenix Firebirds. That night, Williams hit four home runs in four consecutive at bats to tie a Pacific Coast League record
While the achievement happened 10 years ago and miles away from the bright lights of the big leagues, the memory was still fresh in Williams’ mind when he was asked about it this past spring.
“It was something that you never forget because it just doesn’t happen that often,” the 33-year-old said.
When Williams reported to the ballpark on that Wednesday back in 1988, there was little in the way of clues that it would turn into a big night for him. He had hit just one home run that season for the Firebirds and in fact, the team itself had gone six consecutive games without a homer and had hit just two in the past 11 games. Williams didn’t feel any different during pre-game batting practice and after his first at bat, things didn’t look particularly promising.
“I struck out with the bases loaded my first time up on three pitches,” he recalled with a smile. “But, what started out as a real bad day though turned into a real good day.”
It certainly did.
In the fourth inning, Williams hit Bill Krueger’s first pitch over the left field fence. He led off the fifth inning with another solo homer, this one off reliever Ron Mathis that gave the Firebirds a 6-3 lead.
The Dukes were keeping pace with Phoenix that night and when Williams hit his third solo homer of the game, it tied the score at 7-7.
Ironically, the man who put the Firebirds up for good in the game was reliever Roger Samuels, who singled up the middle in the bottom of the seventh to put Phoenix up 8-7.
The score of the game was secondary because Williams had one at bat left. When he went to the plate in the bottom of the eighth, he admitted he was thinking “home run.”
“It creeps in your mind, sure,” Williams said. “You don’t want it to because it messes with you. You don’t want to think about home runs because it gets you in trouble. But, if you have three, yeah, you want the fourth one. No one said much to me on the bench before the at-bat, it’s almost like somebody is throwing a no-hitter. You don’t want to jinx him or get into his head.”
Williams was his usual modest self after the game, telling reporters, “I saw some good pitches to hit tonight. The guys on the bench said I was a lot smoother up there. I would gladly trade some of those home runs for some RBIs that help the team win.”
Ironically, San Francisco general manager Al Rosen was in attendance that night, but left after three of Williams’ homers. When Rosen met with reporters the next day he said that one of the reasons the Giants had sent Williams to Triple-A was to build confidence, something a four-homer game certainly could do.
“Last night was exactly the kind of thing we wanted to have happen with Matt,” Rosen said.
Williams doubted how much confidence any minor league game can give a player.
“I don’t know if it gave me confidence because I hadn’t made it yet in the big leagues,” said Williams. “It was a good day and everything, but if I was to think about it then I guess I would have thought, ‘Geez, I wish I was doing this in the big leagues.’”
In 1997, Williams almost replicated the feat in Milwaukee against the Brewers when he homered three times on April 25 at County Stadium. He followed that up one night later with two home runs, the 20th time in big league history someone has hit five homers in a two-game span.
And even if Williams does manage to hit four home runs in a Major League game at some point in his career, he won’t forget that night back in 1988.
“It’s not something you forget about,” Williams said.
“I’m sure I won’t have any trouble remembering it.”
Steve Gilbert is the editor of the Arizona Diamondbacks’ website (www.azdiamondbacks.com). As a young sportswriter for the Mesa Tribune, Gilbert witnessed Matt Williams’ four-home run night.
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Photo credit
Matt Williams with the Phoenix Firebirds: Courtesy of the Arizona Historical Society.