Jonathan Trumpbour Matlack joined the New York Mets starting rotation in 1972. He stood 6′ 3″ and threw left-handed. Overshadowed by other new additions to the team (like Willie Mays and Rusty Staub), Matlack’s contributions to the team were still substantial. That year, he started 32 games and threw 4 shutouts. Matlack would go 15-10, compile a 2.32 ERA and win the National League Rookie of the Year honors. He gave up Roberto Clemente’s 3000th (and final) hit on September 30th of that year.
Matlack returned as a member of the team’s 1973 starting rotation. Early in that season, on May 8th, he suffered a hairline skull fracture in a game against the Atlanta Braves on a line-drive hit by Marty Perez. The ball was hit so hard that it bounced off and careened all the way to the dugout. Matlack’s wife, sitting in the stands, reportedly fainted. Remarkably, Matlack only missed a couple of weeks. He finished the season with a 14-16 record, a 3.20 ERA and struck out 205 batters.
That year, in the post-season, he earned a complete game victory against the Cincinnati Reds in game 2 of the NLCS with a two-hit, 9 strikeout performance. In the World Series against the Oakland Athletics, he pitched three times and went 1-2. He lost game 1 of the series 2-1 when the A’s starting pitcher, Ken Holtzman, doubled in two runs. He won game 4 of the series with a 6-1 victory. He also lost game 7 when pitching on three days rest, the A’s beat the Mets 5-2.
In 1974, Matlack continued his superlative efforts with 7 shutouts. Poor team performances including a general lack of offense kept the Mets from winning and he ended the season with a 13-15 won-loss record. His 2.43 ERA was the third-best ERA in the National League. In mid-August, an incident occurred after a loss in Cincinnati wherein he accused the team of needing a “kick in the ass” and having “no leaders”.
In 1975, Matlack was the first Met player to employ an agent to handle his contract negotiations when he hired Irwin Weiner to act on his behalf with newly appointed Mets General Manager, Joe McDonald. For the year, Matlack went 16-12 with a 3.38 ERA. He was also the National League’s winning pitcher and shared the All-Star Game MVP honors with Bill Madlock.
In 1976, Matlack went 17-10 including 6 shutouts. He ended that year with a 2.95 ERA. He led the Mets with 35 starts and produced 16 complete games. He made his third straight All-Star Game appearance.
In 1977, with a shifting and last-place Mets team behind him (Joe Frazier was replaced by Joe Torre as Field Manager and Tom Seaver & Dave Kingman were both dealt away), Matlack went 7-15 with a 4.21 ERA. That still included 3 shutouts. At the end of year, in December, he was dealt to the Texas Rangers in a complicated three-team deal. The Mets ended up acquiring Tom Grieve and Willie Montanez.
Matlack pitched the rest of his career for Texas and retired in 1983.
Just caught a typo…meant to say that JM was dealt in a four team trade. I meant to fix that in the proof-reading stage. My apologies.
One of the best. Too bad he isn’t in the Mets Hall.
Seaver-Koosman-Matlack-Stone. The good old days!