Seriously Now Folks . . . : Mathews Is a Hard-Working Pitcher for St. Louis, as He Was for Cal State Fullerton

The funny thing about St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Greg Mathews is that he isn’t.

Oh, the former Savanna High School, Rancho Santiago College and Cal State Fullerton pitcher is a nice enough fellow. A good family man from all reports who enjoys a laugh every now and then.

But judging from the press clippings that precede him and the fact that he is, ahem, a left-hander, one expects him to be part Bill (Spaceman) Lee and part Henny “Take my wife, please” Youngman.

There was the remark that appeared in a number of papers about how he thought there wasn’t anything especially difficult to winning in the major leagues.

“You just throw strikes.”

Or the one that appeared about how he thought left-handers, traditionally considered oddballs in baseball, weren’t strange at all.

“We’re the normal ones, everyone else is strange.”

But any hint of wackiness, any degree of nuttiness that might be attributed to Mathews’ character, is quickly dispelled upon meeting him.

“Those are just a couple of things I said that happened to be picked up and made to seem funny,” he said. “I’m really not a guy who goes out of his way to make a funny comment.”

In fact, his reputation among teammates and coaches is just the opposite.

His eyes are steely and focused, his mouth tightly drawn. His face reflects his approach to baseball--most specifically his approach to pitching.

Businesslike. Trial and error. Learn and apply.

His approach must be this way, for his high school and college careers were noteworthy only in how uneventful they were.

“Greg Mathews should be the patron saint of every average ballplayer,” said Don Sneddon, Rancho Santiago coach. “He didn’t have the greatest amount of talent, but he worked and he learned. He made himself a good pitcher.”

What Mathews has made himself, in this his rookie season, is one of the most promising young pitchers in the league. He takes a 4-1 record into the game he will start tonight against the Dodgers.

“I was an average pitcher,” Mathews said. “But I looked at some of the guys pitching in the pros and I could see you didn’t have to be a superstar to play. You just have to work hard and apply yourself. I take pitching very seriously. It’s my responsibility. That’s what baseball is to me, a responsibility.”

Given that, the events of one workout during the regionals of the 1984 College World Series should come as no surprise.

Mathews was shagging balls behind second base during a workout and was hit in the face with a hit ball.

Six dropped teeth, a root canal and 10 stitches later Mathews was flat on his back in a hospital being advised to take it easy.

“But I was supposed to pitch the next day against USC,” he said. “I figured if I didn’t show the scouts would figure I had a sore arm. I had to pitch.”

So he pitched. A lesson learned.

In high school and college, he avoided other sports to work on his changeup and curve. He gulped up any pitching information he could get.

“I learn things then try them out. If they work I keep doing it, if not I go to something else,” he said.

Which means that he has kept nipping at corners. By no means a power pitcher, Mathews knows his success depends on his control.

“He does things with the baseball right now that guys who’ve been in the big leagues 10 years can’t do,” said Whitey Herzog, Cardinal manager. “I think because of his control he’s going to be around for a long time.”

Mathews has walked only 15 batters in 50 innings. He has an earned-run average of 2.66.

Herzog had actually never heard of Mathews--a Cardinal 10th-round pick in the 1984 free agent draft--until he was in the midst of going 13-1 at St. Louis’ single A club at St. Petersburg in 1985. He was quickly promoted to the Triple-A club at Louisville, where he went 6-4 and earned an invitation to spring training as a non-roster player.

Mathews was sent back to Louisville, but when Cardinal starter Tim Conroy sustained an injury in May, Mathews was recalled.

“I figured if I learned properly how to pitch I could make it,” he said. “I realized my capabilities and used them the best I could.”