Matt Williams' ties to a couple of newly elected Hall of Famers

The Baseball Hall of Fame grew by four members yesterday, its largest new class since 1955, as Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, John Smoltz and Craig Biggio all received the call that they are heading to Cooperstown.

The selection process and the voting strategies of many baseball writers who receive a ballot (I am not one of them) have come under fire in recent years, and rightfully so. I've seen some submitted ballots that I strongly disagree with, and some viewpoints that I feel are futile at this point, such as leaving anyone off your ballot who you even suspect might have taken performance-enhancing drugs.

Why get into that guessing game?

But I'll take a positive stance here and just say that I'm happy to see four deserving players get elected, and that a few others - Mike Piazza, Jeff Bagwell and Tim Raines - took a step forward in the voting and could see themselves joining Johnson, Martinez, Smoltz and Biggio in the Hall of Fame in the next year or two.

As a guy who played from 1987-2003, Nationals manager Matt Williams has ties to a number of players who have already been inducted into the Hall of Fame, as well as those elected yesterday.

He obviously played alongside Randy Johnson in Arizona; those two were teammates on the Diamondbacks for five seasons, from 1999-2003, and they won a World Series title together in 2001.

They also both are among the Legends Race characters that the Diamondbacks use during their in-stadium mascot race between innings. You might remember this year, when the Nats played in Arizona, that the Matt Williams mascot stopped running and seemed to get confused as he saw Williams in the Nats dugout.

But here's another Williams tie (albeit a slightly random one) to a newly elected Hall of Famer that many of you might not be aware of:

Martinez's 1999 All-Star Game performance will likely go down as one of the most impressive in baseball history. Getting the start for the American League team at that Midsummer Classic held in Fenway Park, Martinez worked two scoreless innings, facing the minimum and striking out five.

It most definitely is one of the most dominant efforts I've ever seen on a baseball field, given the murderer's row of hitters he was facing and that balls were flying off bats in 1999 at a rate that has never been seen before and likely will never be seen again.

If you have 58 seconds at some point today, give the clip right below a watch. First of all, look at Martinez's stats on the graphic that is shown at the beginning of the video: 15-3 with a 2.10 ERA, 184 strikeouts and 24 walks in 132 2/3 innings. Those were his numbers at the friggin' All-Star break, for crying out loud.

Martinez opens the game by striking out Barry Larkin (who hit .293/.390/.420 that year) on a filthy 85 mph changeup. Next, he got Larry Walker (who slashed an insane .379/.458/.710 in '99) staring at a 97 mph heater on the corner. He finishes the top of the first by blowing away Sammy Sosa (.288/.367/.635) on a 96 mph fastball.

In the second inning, Pedro notched strikeouts of Mark McGwire (.287/.424/.697) on a 97 mph fastball, and Bagwell (.304/.454/.591) on another nasty changeup.

The only player to reach base against Martinez in those two ridiculous innings of work: Williams.

Williams reached on an error by American League second baseman Roberto Alomar, then was thrown out trying to steal second on a hit-and-run. Bagwell struck out, Williams was caught stealing and the inning was over.

Williams attempted just two stolen bases in the entire 1999 regular season (both were successful), but there he was, getting sent with a full count to Bagwell, and there he was, getting thrown out to end the inning.

One of the most dominant pitching performances (albeit a brief one) I can remember seeing growing up, and the Nationals skipper was a part of it.