Before the HGH. Before the highlight reel catches. Before any semblance of power. Before the Pirates, Mets, Orioles, Padres, Rangers, and Angels. Before the 5-year, $50M contract, Gary Matthews, Jr. was a Cub.
The Cubs acquired Sarge, Jr. from the San Diego Padres for Rodney Myers prior to the 2000 season. Matthews almost made the Cubs miss Myers.
Matthews was a switch-hitter, which did nothing but made him appear completely inept from both sides of the plate. The absurd Spider Man catches which Matthews displayed in Texas last year were notably absent during his time as a Cub. In fact, he kinda sucked in the field.
Fortunately for Matthews, most fans didn’t notice his deficiencies in the field, as their eyes were too busy watering from the hurricane-force gales Matthews generated as he flailed away at the baseball from both sides of the plate.
You know how Derrek Lee always looks completely smooth and in control of his actions, and completely confident in his ability? Imagine the exact opposite of that, and you have a good mental image of the way Matthews played the game. He was all elbows, knees, and .200 batting averages.
After the Cubs traded for fellow Bottom 126er Michael Tucker, they tried to sneak Matthews through waivers, where he was claimed by the Pirates. While that might have angered a bunch of idiots people who thought Matthews had value, it was no big loss for the Cubs. Matthews has had exactly one good year in his career, which he managed to parlay into a massive contract from the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, State of California, United States of America. Plus, he was blocking superstar Corey Patterson in center field, anyhow.
For all those folks worried about how The Bottom 126 system doesn’t work, I offer you these batters who are ranked most similar to Matthews by age: Tuffy Rhodes, Damon Buford, Michael Tucker, and Todd Hollandsworth. The system works! Yay!
Low Point: Holy hell, Gary, did you ever get a hit with your team down and with runners in scoring position? There are quite a few low points from which to choose. I think I’ll go with August 1, 2000, because not only did Matthews suck it up against the Colorado Rockies at Wrigley Field, but Neifi Perez scored the game winning run in the top of the 8th inning of an eventual 2-1 Rockie win. Did I mention Todd Hollandsworth is the guy who drove in Neifi? How do your balls feel? Sarge, Jr. came up four times that game. The first time, with a man on third and two outs, Matthews grounded out to short. In the 4th inning, with the game tied 1-1, Matthews grounded out to first. The highlight of Matthews’ day came in the 6th inning when he actually got to stand on first base. Don’t get me wrong. He still struck out with two men on and two outs, but he swung at a pitch so bad that it got past the catcher and he ended up on first base, leaving Damon Buford to do the honors of striking out in a tie game with two outs and the bases loaded. For good measure, Matthews struck out to start the bottom of the 9th inning with the Cubs down a run. Cubs lose 2-1.
Did You Know? On September 13, 2006, Matthews hit a natural cycle in a game against the Detroit Tigers, with a single for his first hit, a double for his second, a triple for his third, and a home run for his fourth. Due to the recent HGH scandal during which Matthews name was mentioned, September 13, 2006, is expected to be the last time the words “natural” and “Gary Matthews, Jr.” are used in the same sentence. Unless that sentence is, “Gary Matthews, Jr. was a natural choice for The Bottom 126.”
