1970

John Thomas Matchick was born September 7, 1943, in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, to John Wesley and Anna Matchick. He was sandwiched between older sister Mary Ann and younger sister Anna Mae. He obtained his love of baseball from his father, who was a good catcher during his youth.

Tom enjoyed playing baseball, and his father did his part by helping his son practice. As a young boy, Tom would play baseball with other boys in the neighborhood. They would place electrical tape around the balls and put nails in the bats in order to keep them in use. The boys would play games of three-against-three and would make up their own rules.

Tom played organized ball as well by playing Little League, Babe Ruth, and American Legion baseball, and usually played shortstop. His Babe Ruth team went to the World Series in Stockton, California, and, was the national runner-up. During the summer of 1960, Tom’s father managed the Jeddo Stars, the premier amateur baseball team in the area. Tom attended Hazleton-Freeland High School and in addition to playing baseball, he was the star guard on the school basketball team. A 24-point and 12-assist average caused Stetson University to offer Tom a basketball scholarship. But Tom had other aspirations; baseball was his true love.

Prior to the 1962 season, St. Louis Cardinals scout Ollie Vanek signed Tom to his first professional baseball contract, which included a $17,000 bonus. This began a 15-year journey in professional baseball. Tom started his first pro season playing for Brunswick. He remarked that the bus trips in Georgia and Florida were awfully long and hot. But the heat would not be a concern later in the season as the Cardinals moved Matchick to the cold weather in Winnipeg.

At the conclusion of the 1962 season, major league baseball revised its first-year player rule and permitted the drafting of all rookies in the minor leagues. The Tigers drafted Matchick from the Cardinals for $12,000, which is ironic, as he would later appear for the Tigers in the 1968 World Series against his former organization.

Tom made his Tigers organizational debut for the Class A Lakeland team in the Florida State League in 1963. Later in the season, the Tigers promoted Tom to Class AA Knoxville. After playing in the Florida Instructional League in the late fall of 1963, the Tigers thought about moving Tom to their Triple A club in Syracuse.

Matchick played for Knoxville in early 1964 before the Tigers loaned him in July to the Elmira Pioneers, who played in the Eastern League. Late in the 1964 season, Ray Oyler had his Triple A all-star season come to a halt due to an ulcer, and Tom was summoned to Syracuse to play for the Chiefs. Tom nearly obtained a second title with Syracuse, but the Chiefs fell short in the quest for the Governor’s Cup and lost the International League championship to the Rochester Red Wings.

Matchick spent the 1965 and 1966 seasons playing for Syracuse. The Tigers invited Tom to spring training in Lakeland in 1966. During the 1966 season in Syracuse, Tom played in 145. After the conclusion of the 1966 season, the Tigers regarded Tom as the best young infielder in the system and sent him to the Florida Instructional league to try him at second base.

The Tigers summoned Matchick to spring training in 1967 and after a spectacular spring training that had Tom going 15-for-31 and hitting .467, the Tigers sent Tom to Triple A and kept Oyler on the roster.

The Tigers and Yankees switched Triple A affiliates prior to the 1967 season, the Yankees taking Syracuse and the Tigers claiming Toledo. From a baseball standpoint, Tom had a bad start to the 1967 season. The Tigers sent hitting coach Wally Moses to Toledo in order to help Matchick regain his hitting stroke. Tom eventually regained his stroke and raised his average to .290. Tom became an all-star on the Toledo team. Toledo won the Governor’s Cup championship, but Tom did not play in the playoffs because the Tigers promoted Tom to the majors as part of the September roster expansion.

Tom made his Tigers debut September 2nd against the Minnesota Twins. Matchick came into the game at shortstop and made a putout in the bottom of the eighth inning.

On September 6th, Tom pinch-hit in the seventh inning and stroked a single for his first major league hit. Tom was 1-for-6 during his September call-up. Tom was able to experience a successful pennant race after the season ended, however, as he helped lead Dunedin to the Florida Instructional League Championship and led the team with 29 RBI.

Then, Tom served in the Army National Guard and missed about 20 games. Matchick has great memories of the 1968 season and remembers the sweet smell of Tiger Stadium. He had the opportunity to pinch-hit in three different games, but went 0 for 3.

Tom returned to the Tigers in 1969 and it looked like he would compete for the shortstop job. But Mickey Stanley played mostly shortstop for the Tigers early in the season after his successful World Series play until the Tigers traded him to the Yankees. Tom proceeded to lead the American League in pinch-hitting, going 8-for-16. When Tom started, he played mostly at second and third base during the season, and started at second base while McAuliffe recovered from knee surgery.

At the end of the 1969 season, the Tigers traded Tom to the Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox doubled his salary and looked for Tom to contribute with the glove. Also, Tom had a better batting average than longtime Bosox utility player Dalton Jones in 1969—although Jones had better power numbers. But Tom did not get much playing time and only had one hit in 14 at-bats.

On May 28, 1970, the Red Sox traded Tom to the Kansas City Royals. Unfortunately, in a pre-game drill on May 29th he was struck by a liner and cracked his right thumb and could not make his first appearance until June 21st. Tom did get 158 at-bats for Kansas City and finished with a .196 average.

Tom started the 1971 season with the Royals’ farm club in Omaha. The Royals traded Tom to Milwaukee May 11th. Tom played for Evansville and became an American Association all-star as a utility man. Tom hit .304 for the Triplets and won a promotion to Milwaukee, playing his first game in a Brewers uniform July 30th. At the end of the 1971 campaign, on October 22, the Brewers traded Tom to the Orioles.

Tom played for Rochester during the 1972 campaign and made the International League all-star team. He earned a call-up to the Orioles in September. Ultimately, Tom played in the last three games of his major league career and went 2 for 9. Matchick looked forward to playing for the Orioles in 1973 but Tom was traded on April 5th to the New York Yankees.

Refusing to retire, Tom spent the next four seasons playing in the minor leagues. Tom started the 1976 season with the Red Wings, but Rochester released him July 7th. The Yankees’ Triple A farm team, the Syracuse Chiefs, signed Matchick. He batted .299 for the Chiefs in 1976 in addition to pitching a scoreless inning. After the 1976 season, Tom was told that he was sent an offer to be a player-coach. However, he never received the letter.

During Tom’s career, he played all four infield positions. Tom, however, was a successful professional player for 15 seasons and he was named the top all-star in the International League on four occasions.

After Tom’s playing days ended, he went into the sporting goods business as a manager. Subsequently, Tom became involved in the photography business. In 2007, 40 years after his big-league debut, he was a vice-president of Great Lakes Aerocam, which does aerial photography. In his spare time, Tom liked to hunt for deer and turkey and play golf. He is a member of the Hazeltine, Pennsylvania, Hall of Fame.

Tom Matchick died on January 14th, at age 78, in Ohio where he lived with his family.