1950
Born January 19, 1950
West Chester, PA, USA
Jon Matlack Marquee
He was Rookie of the Year in 1972 with 19 of the 24 first-place votes and pitched behind Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman for the Mets clubs of the middle 1970s. In 1974 he had a 2.41 earned run average and went 13-15, which is the whole story of what those clubs scored for him.
Thirteen seasons gave him 125 wins against 126 with a 3.18 earned run average, 2,363 innings, 97 complete games and 30 shutouts. He led the National League in shutouts in 1974 with seven and again in 1976 with six, and was the most valuable player of the 1975 All-Star Game.
In the 1973 World Series he started three games against Oakland and lost two of them by a run. Texas got him at twenty-eight and got four good seasons before the elbow. The 1989 ballot gave him no votes at all.
Honors
| Award | Times | Years |
|---|---|---|
| All-Star selection | 3 | 1974, 1975, 1976 |
| All-Star Game MVP | 1 | 1975 |
| Rookie of the Year | 1 | 1972 |
| The Sporting News Rookie Pitcher of the Year | 1 | 1972 |
Batting, season by season
| Year | Team | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SB | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | NYM | 7 | 11 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 0 | .273 |
| 1972 | NYM | 34 | 78 | 6 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 44 | 0 | .128 |
| 1973 | NYM | 35 | 65 | 5 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 38 | 0 | .138 |
| 1974 | NYM | 34 | 79 | 3 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 5 | 34 | 0 | .101 |
| 1975 | NYM | 33 | 70 | 6 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 33 | 0 | .100 |
| 1976 | NYM | 35 | 88 | 10 | 17 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 8 | 35 | 0 | .193 |
| 1977 | NYM | 26 | 50 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 27 | 0 | .060 |
| 1978 | TEX | 35 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 1979 | TEX | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 1980 | TEX | 35 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 1981 | TEX | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 1982 | TEX | 33 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 1983 | TEX | 25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Career | — | 362 | 441 | 32 | 57 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 57 | 217 | 0 | .129 |
Pitching, season by season
| Year | Team | W | L | G | GS | SV | IP | H | ER | BB | SO | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | NYM | 0 | 3 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 37.0 | 31 | 17 | 15 | 24 | 4.14 |
| 1972 | NYM | 15 | 10 | 34 | 32 | 0 | 244.0 | 215 | 63 | 71 | 169 | 2.32 |
| 1973 | NYM | 14 | 16 | 34 | 34 | 0 | 242.0 | 210 | 86 | 99 | 205 | 3.20 |
| 1974 | NYM | 13 | 15 | 34 | 34 | 0 | 265.1 | 221 | 71 | 76 | 195 | 2.41 |
| 1975 | NYM | 16 | 12 | 33 | 32 | 0 | 228.2 | 224 | 86 | 58 | 154 | 3.38 |
| 1976 | NYM | 17 | 10 | 35 | 35 | 0 | 262.0 | 236 | 86 | 57 | 153 | 2.95 |
| 1977 | NYM | 7 | 15 | 26 | 26 | 0 | 169.0 | 175 | 79 | 43 | 123 | 4.21 |
| 1978 | TEX | 15 | 13 | 35 | 33 | 1 | 270.0 | 252 | 68 | 51 | 157 | 2.27 |
| 1979 | TEX | 5 | 4 | 13 | 13 | 0 | 85.0 | 98 | 39 | 15 | 35 | 4.13 |
| 1980 | TEX | 10 | 10 | 35 | 34 | 1 | 234.2 | 265 | 96 | 48 | 142 | 3.68 |
| 1981 | TEX | 4 | 7 | 17 | 16 | 0 | 104.1 | 101 | 48 | 41 | 43 | 4.14 |
| 1982 | TEX | 7 | 7 | 33 | 14 | 1 | 147.2 | 158 | 58 | 37 | 78 | 3.53 |
| 1983 | TEX | 2 | 4 | 25 | 9 | 0 | 73.1 | 90 | 38 | 27 | 38 | 4.66 |
| Career | — | 125 | 126 | 361 | 318 | 3 | 2363.0 | 2276 | 835 | 638 | 1516 | 3.18 |
On this day & linked events
1971
Major-league debut: Jon Matlack
Jon Matlack made a major-league debut on July 11, 1971.
1983
Final major-league game: Jon Matlack
Jon Matlack played a final major-league game on September 15, 1983.
Image: Roger DeWitt, CC BY 2.0