Jon Matlack

Jonathan Trumpbour Matlack (born January 19, 1950 in West Chester, Pennsylvania) is an American former Major League Baseball left-handed pitcher. He was selected with fourth overall by the New York Mets in the 1967 Major League Baseball Draft. Matlack compiled 1,023 strikeouts and a 3.03 earned run average as one of the "Big Three" pitchers the New York Mets were built around in the 1970s, along with Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman. Unfortunately, the Mets were also a light hitting team at the time, and his 82-81 record is not nearly indicative of how well he pitched for the club. Matlack's best minor league season was 1968, when he went 13-6 with a 2.76 ERA for the Raleigh-Durham Mets of the Carolina League. During his fifth season in the Mets' farm system, Matlack debuted with the Mets in the second game of a July 11, 1971 double header with the Cincinnati Reds. He pitched seven innings, and left the game with a 3-2 lead, however, Tug McGraw and Tom Seaver were unable to close the game...