Eddie Mathews

Baseball Player

• Born: October 13, 1931
• Birthplace: Texarkana, Texas
• Died: February 18, 2001
• Place of death: La Jolla, California

Sport: Baseball

Early Life

Edwin Lee Mathews, Jr., was born in Texarkana, Texas, on October 13, 1931. Encouraged by his father, Eddie was an athlete throughout his boyhood and was heavily scouted in high school. He and his father carefully scouted also. They determined that, of all major-league teams, the Boston Braves would need a replacement most quickly for veteran third baseman, Bob Elliott. Eddie signed with the team on the night of his high school graduation in 1949.

The Road to Excellence

From 1949 to 1952, Eddie played in the minors in High Point, North Carolina; Atlanta, Georgia; and Milwaukee, Wisconsin; with a two-month stay in the Navy, ended by his father’s hospitalization for tubercular pneumonia. Within three years of his high school graduation, Eddie was the starting third baseman for the Boston Braves. Only twenty years old and shy, Eddie, along with pitcher Lew Burdette and shortshop Johnny Logan, gave hope to the seventh-place team. Eddie’s fielding and long-ball hitting were impressive. In the 1952 season, he had 25 home runs, including three in one day on September 26 in Ebbets Field off Joe Black and Ben Wade. Eddie was a strong fielder also; Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick was astounded at one of his foul-ball saves in spring training.

The Emerging Champion

Braves Field drew small crowds, and in the spring of 1953, the Braves franchise was moved to Milwaukee. The team was positively affected by the move. The fans doted on the players, and management acquired excellent new talent in Hank Aaron, Bob Buhl, and Wes Covington, and saw improvement in veterans Joe Adcock and others. Eddie improved also. In 1952, in Boston, he hit .242 with 25 home runs and 58 RBI; in 1953, he had a .302 batting average, 47 home runs, and 135 RBI. Suddenly the Braves were in second place in the National League and remained strong throughout the 1950’s.

With what Ty Cobb called one of the “three or four perfect swings,” Eddie had unprecedented success in his early years. In five years, before he reached the age of twenty-five, he hit 190 home runs, more than Babe Ruth, even while his batting average remained below .300 in all but the 1953 season. His performances in the World Series and all-star games were less impressive: .080 in all-star games with three hits and six errors, and .200 in series play.

The remainder of Eddie’s career was up and down. Always a long-ball hitter, he made important contributions to the Braves’ 1957 World Series win. He and Hank Aaron added a one-two punch to the team, producing 76 home runs and 226 RBI. His own home-run season total of 32 was capped in the seven-game World Series with a game-winning home run in the tenth inning of the fourth game off Yankee Bob Grim. In addition, his play on Bill Skowron’s hit down the third-base line killed the Yankees’ expected seventh-game win.

Eddie’s best years did not coincide with those of his team. His weak .251 average in 1958 did not contribute much to the team’s pennant win. Conversely, his strong 1959 season with a career-high batting average of .306 and 46 home runs did not help the team to avoid defeat in the pennant race at the hands of the Los Angeles Dodgers in a three-game playoff.

Continuing the Story

Although Eddie’s skill declined after 1959—except in the 1965 season—he remained on the team through 1966, the first year the franchise played in Atlanta. Eddie became the only player to belong to one franchise that had played in three cities.

Eddie completed his career with a year divided between Houston and Detroit, a few years coaching for the Braves in the early 1970’s, and three years managing the team, from 1972 to 1974. In those years, the team only attained fourth and fifth place in the division. In 1974, the batting order contained the first three-man set of 40-home-run hitters: Hank Aaron, Davey Johnson, and Darrell Evans. In 1978, Eddie was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in a ceremony attended by his wife Verjean and children Eddie Jr., John, and Stephanie.

In early 2001, Eddie died in his sleep in a Southern California hospital after suffering a respiratory problem aggravated by pneumonia. He was sixty-nine years old.

Summary

Eddie Mathews achieved unprecedented early career success and excellence in both fielding and hitting. Blessed with an ideal athlete’s body, Eddie was a major contributor to the success of the Braves in the 1950’s.

Bibliography

Hirshberg, Al. The Eddie Mathews Story. New York: J. Messner, 1960.

James, Bill. The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract. New York: Free Press, 2003.

King, Kelley. “Eddie Mathews, Braves Hall of Famer.” Sports Illustrated 91, no. 25 (1999).

Koppett, Leonard, and David Koppett. Koppett’s Concise History of Major League Baseball. New York: Carroll & Graf, 2004.

Mathews, Eddie, and Bob Buege. Eddie Mathews and the National Pastime. Milwaukee, Wis.: Douglas American Sports, 1994.