1973 Mets Fantazy Cards focus: Jon Matlack___ (Pt. 1)___1967-1973

Left-handed pitcher Jonathan Trumpbour Matlack (born January 19, 1950) was the fourth overall pick by the New York Mets in the 1967 Major League Baseball Draft. Jon'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 a fine game.

Reds infielder Tony Perez tagged Jon for a homer in the 2nd inning and drove in another with an RBI single in the 6th. Matlack left the game for pinch hitter Ed Kranepool in the 8th down by a score of 2-1. Ed drew a walk to open the inning and the Mets rallied and scored 2, putting Jon in line for the 3-2 win.

Tug McGraw came on to start the 8th, got one quick out and then hit a Cincinnati batter with a pitch. Being that this was the last game before the All-Star break and the Reds had their big guns coming up, Gil Hodges called on Mets ace Tom Seaver to close the game. Matlack, watching from the bench, saw Tom on the mound (Seaver had a 1.76 ERA in '71), chalked up the game as his first MLB win and headed to the showers.

Seaver was greeted by a line single from Lee May and Matlack must have been lathering up when red hot Tony "Big Dog" Perez came up and smashed his 2nd homer of the game, this a 3 run job.

New York lost the game and Matlack lost his first win. For the '71 season, Jon went 0–3 with a 4.14 ERA in seven appearances (six starts). His finest pitching performance was his last, when he gave up just one run in eight innings of work against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Matlack made the team out of spring training 1972, and got off to a 6–0 start with a 1.95 ERA in April and May. Pitching for a light hitting Met squad riddled with injuries the tall southpaw ended the season with a 15–10 record and 2.32 ERA.

He became the second New York Met to win the National League Rookie of the Year award.

On September 30 1973, he gave up Roberto Clemente's 3000th, and final, career hit.


The young lefty did not get off to such a great start in '73. On May 8th 1973 Jon was 2-4 and set to face off against the Atlanta Braves at Shea Stadium.

New York established a 2-1 lead going into the 7th inning of this damp, chilly night game. Matlack had surrendered a home run to Davey Johnson in the 4th for the Braves lone run. The Met pitcher had only given up 3 hits through 6 but in the 7th he ran into trouble.

With one out Jon issued a base on balls to Atlanta first baseman Dick Dietz. Catcher Paul Casinova and pinch hitter Rod Gilbreath followed with back to back singles, loading the bases. Ollie Brown popped out to Ed Kranepool at first and with two out Marty Perez came to the plate.

The Braves shortstop connected on a Matlack fastball and smacked a wicked line drive right up the middle. The screaming meemee hit the Mets pitcher on the forehead above his left eye and caromed up and through the air, landing in the Mets dugout. I was watching on TV and it was just horrifying.

Matlack lay on the mound clutching his head as his teammates rushed to his aid. Two runners scored and Perez was credited with ground rule double.

I really thought the worst, that Matlack was seriously hurt and this was the end of his most promising career. He was taken off the field on a stretcher.

Jon suffered a hairline fracture of his skull. Amazingly he recovered and returned to pitch six shutout innings only 11 days later on May 19 in Pittsburgh. This was just one of many injuries that kept knocking the team down in 1973. But they would keep bouncing back.

In August and September, during the stretch run for the playoffs, Matlack was 7-2. He had a 1.40 ERA in four September starts helping the Mets capture the National League East crown.

Overall Matlack's record dipped to 14–16 in 1973. Perhaps his most memorable moment with the Mets occurred on October 7, 1973 when he held the "Big Red Machine" to just two hits in game two of the 1973 National League Championship Series in Cincinnati.

He was equally impressive in the 1973 World Series, giving up just three hits in six innings in game one. The Oakland A's scored two runs on a Félix Millán error in the third, and held on for the 2–1 victory.

Matlack pitched superbly in game four, giving up just one run in eight innings for the win. Most unfortunately Jon lost the seventh and decisive game of the series 5-2. In the third inning of that game he gave up two-run home runs to both Bert Campaneris and Reggie Jackson—the only home runs Oakland would hit in the entire Series.

Jon Matlack went on to have a fine career and we'll get into that when we focus on 1974-1983 in part two.
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Thanks for the memories Mr. Matlack. Live long and prosper.
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CREDITS:
The New York Mets Encyclopedia By Peter C. Bjarkman provided information.
Centerfield Maz for the photo of the injured Matlack on the mound.
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When Cincinnati Reds closer Aroldis Chapman was struck by a line drive off the bat of Salvador Perez last week I was right in the middle of colorizing the Matlack mound picture for his injury card. I thought that was pretty freaky. I've seen a few custom cards reporting the misfortune and I'll add my own. I sincerely hope that Chapman can recover and return as good as ever, because pitchers of his caliber are fun to watch no matter what team they play for. Get well soon Aroldis.

Talking Shop: Project Colorizations / Part 2 -Al Jackson-1962.

Colorizing Al Jacksons 1962 Polo Grounds action shot.
Or when colorization goes bad. And then good :)

I screwed this one up because I was in a rush. The original digital photo was a decent size and of good quality. I applied the color additions directly to the base image.

At some point I got a blotchy look from an effect and kept going. I should have backtracked there but the faces in the crowd looked to be the correct color.

^Using a freehand lasso ( sometimes you can save time by using the "magic wand" to select the area to be colored ) I went to work on Jackson.

^Then I got into each individual in the stands and colorized their clothing, the rails and bunting. Jackson's coming out good. The rails and bunting look very good. The crowd is okay, but not good enough. It looks like it was colorized as opposed to looking "in color".

I turned to the 'ol Blur The Backround Trick.
I cut out the image of Jackson (including the mound & rails to the stands) and made it it's own layer, placing it above the original work.

Now I could do things to the base layer with the crowd that would not effect how Al Jackson looked. To this basic layer I applied a color adjustment (automatic color balance set to BLUE-cooler)and a blur effect (a guassian blur setting). This brought together the disjointed elements of the crowd in the back of Jackson and blended them together, making the background look more realistically "in color".

I merged the layers so the in-focus cut-out layer of Jackson appeared in front of a now blurry crowd. Many times you come up with tricks in graphics out of necessity. I was very happy with how this turned out. Done.

Because of the newly blurred backround this image is now kinda unique unto itself. But that blurry background was not part of my plan.

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CREDITS: Al Jackson picture courtesy of ESPN
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Stay tuned for more in this series on Project Colorizations. Coming up: 1964 All Star Game.

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Coming up next ( I hope because it's going rather slow ) will be the 1973 Mets Fantazy cards ( if not ready in a few days I'll throw something else up while I stall ).
This will include some cards right outta fantazyland.

1973 Mets Fantazy Card Opening Day Line-Up

The New York Mets would face off against the Philadelphia Phillies at Shea Stadium on opening day 1973. It would be a classic pitching match-up of Tom Seaver vs. Steve Carlton. The Mets would keep their opening day winning streak going, taking their fourth such contest in a row.

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1) Bud Harrelson led off for the Mets on opening day.
Buddy was 28 years old and in the prime of his career. He was not a great hitter, but a smart a skilled batter who found ways to contribute. Fielding wise he was one of the best shortstops in the game. In '73 he only made 10 errors and his .979 fielding percentage was his best as an everyday player..
In 1973 Harrelson would bat lead-off for the Mets twenty-two times.

Buddy led off the Mets season by drawing a walk and was then erased as Felix Millan hit into a double play. All told Harrelson had three at bats and no hits.
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2) Felix Millan would bat 2nd and play 2nd base.
New York acquired Felix Millan in November of 1972 along with pitcher George Stone for pitchers Gary Gentry and Danny Frisella.

After hitting into a double play his first time up as a Metropolitan, Millan's second at bat had better results. Felix ripped a gapper for a two base hit and came around to score on Cleon's 4th inning homer. That was his only hit of the game as he grounded out in his last two trips.
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3) Willie Mays would bat third and play centerfield.
Tommie Agee had been traded to the Houston Astros right after the end of the 1972 season. If anyone else had started in center this day I would have been ticked off. Agee was my favorite New York player. But this was Willie Mays who was my favorite non-Mets player for years. So it made the transition much easier.

Mays opened the season going 0 for 3.
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4) Rusty Staub would bat clean-up and play right field.
After Staub's injury abbreviated 1972 season New York needed a full, healthy and productive Rusty in '73. And they got one.

This opening day Rusty did nothing to speak of at the plate (0-3)but he did in the field. After Larry Bowa singled in the 6th Philly right fielder(& future Met) Willie Montanez came to the plate with two out. He hit a rocket to deep right that Staub tracked down in full flight, grabbing it and smashing into the wall for the third out. Rusty fell and lay on the warning track with the wind knocked out of him. He soon recovered, rose and trotted to the dugout, no worse for the wear. At the far end of the season in the NLCS, Staub would make a similar catch that he wouldn't trot away from without injury.

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5) Batting 5th and playing left field for New York is Cleon Jones.
Injuries would limit Jones to 92 games in 1973.

Cleon Jones enjoyed facing Steve Carlton. It's no wonder. He owned a lifetime .303 average against the southpaw. On opening Day 1973 Cleon was the player of the game. He was 3 for 3 with 2 home runs and drove in all three New York runs.

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6) John Milner would bat 6th and play first base.
Milners 17 gophers in 1972 gave him the inside track in the first base department. He would play 95 games there. He also would play 29 game in left field.

On opening day Milner had three at bats and no hits.
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7) Jim Fregosi would play third base and bat 7th.
Fregosi could not have been having a good time of it. After being traded for Nolan Ryan (& a bunch of other Mets) Fregosi had an absolutely horrible year at the plate in 1972. He was brought in to be a prime offensive addition. Now he was starting the '73 season batting 7th. It didn't help that Ryans '72 season was his breakout year in which he struck out 329 and 9 of his 19 wins were shut-outs. Mets fans were already crying in their beer over the trade, that even after 40 years is considered by some the worst trade in the history of baseball.
Fregosi would play in 45 games in '73, and on July 11th he was sold to the Texas Rangers.

Jim singled in the 5th, popped out to second and struck out on opening day 1973.
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8) Batting eighth and catching for the Mets is Duffy Dyer.
Dyer had his best season in 1972. He played in a career-high 94 games and achieved career bests with eight homers and 36 RBIs. He led the National League catchers with 12 double plays and threw out the majority of runners that tried to steal (40 of 79). Injuries to Jerry Grote gave Duffy more playing time and he took advantage of it. When Grote returned in '72 Yogi continued to use Dyer, and considered him his starting catcher at the start of 1973. After an awful start which saw him batting .114 going into May, Duffy found himself backing up Grote once again. On May 11th Grote suffered a broken arm after being hit by a pitch and Dyer would again be the Mets starting catcher until Jerry returned in July.

Dyer had no hits in three trips tom the plate to start the '73 season.
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9)Batting 9th and pitching for the New York Mets, George Thomas Seaver.
Seaver pitched a beautiful game to start the season. Up against Phils ace Steve Carlton, Tom held up his side of the duel. Both all-stars gave up only 5 hits but Carlton could not keep Cleon in the park. The Franchise was cruising when Jose Pagan doubled in the 5th. The threat was quickly stifled as Seaver struck out the side. In the 8th inning Tom looked to be running out of gas. The Met righty gave up a double to pinch hitter Bill Robinson and walked Phils centerfielder Del Unser. With two out Tom made way for Tug McGraw, who came on for the 4 out save.

After defeating the Phillies on Opening Day, Seaver’s consistency outshone that of his teammates. On May 29, he struck out 16 San Francisco Giants and was named National League Player of the Week. The Mets were 30-35, Seaver was 9-4. When Berra rhetorically asked sportswriter Terry Shore where the Mets would be without Seaver, the writer replied, “In last place with a 17-game losing streak and certainly out of any division race.”
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Honorable Mention: Reliever Tug McGraw

Tug came on with 2 out in the 8th to extinguish Toms flare up. He faced Willie Montanez with runners on first and second. Tugger got the Phils slugger to line out to third and ended the threat. Then he set Philadelphia down in order in the 9th and picked up the 4 out save.

Tug had a real nice April. In 7 appearances he compiled 5 saves with a 1.59 ERA.
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CREDITS:

>Hank M for his game memory post regarding this game (Rusty's catch) at the Ultimate Mets Data Base

>Adam Ulrey of the SABR provided the info used for Duffy Dyer.
>Maxwell Kates of the SABR wrote the closing bit on Tom Seaver.

1971 Mets Leaders / 1972 Mets Fantazy Cards

Cleon bounces back to over .300. Tommie repeats his healthy 1970 season and continues to convince 13 year old me that he was the best Metroplolitan on the planet. Long time Met Ed Kranepool puts together 14 boomers and a .280 BA, a very fine season and I tip my Mets cap to you Mr. Kranepool.

A busy season for Agee, Jones and Kranepool. 14 home runs tops the team but three players hit that many. If I had time I'd photoshop the three of em into one person and have one HR leader with 42.

Seaver with another great year. A 1.76 ERA. Amazin'. Gary Gentry was holding his own as a serviceable arm. Ray Sadecki picks his spots for Fantazy appearances. This would more than likely be Nolans last appearance on a Mets Fantazy card. Oh wait, I have a mid 70s pic of Seaver and Ryan that I have to work in somehow and also he'll return to face Doc Gooden in the '86 NLCS. Cya then Mr. Ryan.

Pat made a request for some Don Rose and Stubby from Baseball Birthdays made it possible to get these up today. Thanks for the request Pat and thanks for the assist Stubby. If I can ever be of help in any way please let me know. Pat get's trumped by Stubby's assist! Stubby, your name is on the OPC card.

Catching Up On Requests

Here are some cards that were requested.
They will be added to existing pages.

I went with the 71-OPC full sentence style. Or in Charlies case, a small paragraph.

These go out to Anonymous#1. If you would rather have a more serious Charlie Williams lemme know. I tried to stop myself but I had to go there.
If you look close there's a question mark on the fence in the Stanton card. Anonymous is too long a name.
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Pat, the pictures at Centerfieldmaz were usable. I wish I had a more appropriate pic for the circle on the 63 card. Maybe someday I'll come across one.

It really should be a 1964 card, I suppose.

Chico was first signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1951 as an amateur free agent. After 6 years in the minors watching Pee Wee Reese play short and a cup of coffee with the team in 1956, Chico was traded to the Phillies. He ended up playing full seasons for the Philadelphia Phillies and the Detroit Tigers on his journey to New York.

A very slick fielding shortstop, his hitting was unremarkable with little power until he exploded with 20 homers for Detroit in 1962. Then he somehow got traded twice in one day and ended up with the Mets, where he again became an unremarkable player whose slick fielding had deserted him. Read more about him here: Centerfieldmaz: Early Sixties Mets Short Stop: Chico Fernandez (1963)

When the Mets traded him at the end of the 1963 they got Charley Smith in return. In 1964 Charley would give the Mets the home runs that Chico didn't when Smith led the team with 20 long balls.

Chico wore number 7 in 1963 while Ed Kranepool was number 21.
Was Chico Fernandez the first Met to wear #7?
I have no idea.

Go take a look at METS BY THE NUMBERS and find out.
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And I just realized I spelt Smith's name wrong on the '64 fantazy card. DOH!
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For the Billy Wynne: I had a Billy Wynne pic that I had colorized for the 1967 Sgt. Pepper/Mets tribute collage. It was a quick rush job just to get him included so it wasn't very good. I tried to continue on with that.

I used the WIZ card pic as the source. Bad source, small pic, washed out. That's 3 strikes but I still tried to use it.

The Wynne for the 67 Mets team tribute^. Just good enough to say its "in color" and use.

I used the 67 Tribute Wynne as the base (all I had was his head), added Ralph Terrys body for the uni and a Shea backround.

I tried to add shadows and depth to the washed out face. It's not great but it don't suck. If I put more time into that (took app 2 hours) I could have continued to work it and hopefully made it better. Now it looks more like color-by-numbers pic than an actual photo. But that'll have to do. I have to get to work on the 73 cards.
Pat, your name is on the billboard beyond the outfield fence.

I found this nice quality Don Rose photo and I will colorize this for use here, but I have no idea when I will even start on that and I will give that one all the time it needs. So someday this will be colorized.

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If anyone (or any other cardmakers out there) wants to make a 1972 manager card for the team of your choice using the rehashed Fantazy Card design, here's a template minus team name & colors.

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CREDITS & THANKS
Thanks to both Pat S. & anonymous#1 for their comments and requests.

As always thanks to Centerfieldmaz for the photos (in this case Ken Singleton & Chico Fernandez), info & stories he shares.

The Trading Card Data Base for the Billy Wynne WIZ card.
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Late addition:
I read a review of the 1972 Topps design in which it states that Topps returned to a white border this year after the black 1971 design. Now I always considered those '71 cards to be a black card with no borders. But it could be said that they had black borders. I looked at the white frame around the players picture as the border.

That got me to thinking what if they went with the '72 design but kept the black border look. It looks kinda kool, and Dave Marshall gets a well deserved 1972 Fantazy Card.