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Nelson Elmer Mathews
Kansas City Athletics
Outfield
Born: July 21, 1941, Columbia, IL
Signed: Signed by the Chicago Cubs as an amateur free agent before 1959 season
Major League Teams: Chicago Cubs 1960-1963; Kansas City Athletics 1964-1965
Nelson Mathews played in parts of six seasons with the Cubs and Athletics, appearing in 157 games in 1964 as the Athletics' regular center fielder. He batted .239 with 14 home runs and 60 RBIs, but he also led the league that season in strikeouts with 143. Mathews compiled a .223 career batting average with 22 home runs and 98 RBIs, last appearing in the majors in 1965. In 1966 and 1967 he played in the minor league systems of the Athletics, Tigers and Phillies.
His son T.J. Mathews was a reliever for eight seasons between 1995 and 2002 with the Cardinals, Athletics and Astros.
March 27, 2020 from Cincinnati, OH - Card #87
This is one of seven cards I purchased from Dean's Cards in Cincinnati (via eBay) during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic and in the midst of the first few weeks of the worldwide quarantine. (That's a sentence I can't believe I actually just wrote.) While sorting cards and organizing my collection one Saturday in mid-March, I came across a signed Mathews card from the 2014 Topps Heritage Real One Autographs insert set. We had opened several boxes of 2014 Topps Heritage, and this was one of the rarer cards we found as it's signed in red ink and numbered to 65.
I purchased an original version of the Mathews card for our set, along with copies of cards we had received as buybacks and a few semi-star cards. This Mathews card cost me $3.25 (plus combined shipping).
Doug was more excited with the two boxes of 2020 Topps Gypsy Queen I bought on an impulse than he was with these cards when they arrived, but he was still glad to add a few cards to our growing set. I'm assuming these will be the last cards I purchase for our 1965 set for a little while.
The Card
That's a big #5 on Mathews' left shoulder and this is a great look at the Athletics' home uniforms from 1964. I can't tell if the player visible in the background behind Mathews' hands is wearing uniform #3 or a uniform number in the thirties. If it's just a #3, that's George Alusik who appeared in 102 games in 1964 with the Athletics. On the back of the card, Topps calls attention to the two seasons Mathews led the minor leagues in triples. He had 10 triples with the San Antonio Missions in 1961, and another 10 triples for the Wenatchee Chiefs in 1962.
Athletics Team Set
1965 Season
Mathews started the season with the Athletics, but he had lost his every day center fielder's job to Jim Landis (#376). In 67 games, he hit .212 with 2 home runs and 15 RBIs before being demoted to Triple-A Vancouver Mounties in mid-July. With the Mounties, Mathews played in 37 games and batted .246. He'd not return to the big leagues again.
Phillies Connection
Mathews ended up in the Phillies organization in 1967, the last year he'd play professional baseball. With the Double-A Reading Phillies, he appeared in 21 games and hit .209 with 6 RBIs. Frank Lucchesi was the manager of that Reading team that also featured Dallas Green (#203) and Robin Roberts (#15) attempting to make comebacks.
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First Mainstream Card: 1963 Topps #54
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (3): 1963-1965
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2014 Topps Heritage Real One Autographs #ROA-NM
10 - Mathews non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 4/5/20.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
The Trading Card Database
Wikipedia
Prior Card: #86 Les Narum - Washington Senators
Next Card: #88 Jack Lamabe - Boston Red Sox
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