The Man Batting Third
This story was left in our comments by
Matt Leach, via Facebook
Some players get lost in the shadow of a teammate. Eddie Mathews spent 13 years batting right in front of the man who would become the home run king, and somehow that became the whole story.
It shouldn't be. Mathews was the first face on the first cover of Sports Illustrated in 1954. He led the league with 47 homers at 21 years old. He is the only man to play for the Braves in Boston, Milwaukee, and Atlanta, and when they traded him to Houston after the 1966 season, he cried.
75
games in which Mathews and Aaron both homered — still a record
Mostly he hit third and Aaron hit fourth, and they homered in the same game 75 times, still a record. Years later, Mathews was managing the Braves in 1974 when Aaron passed Babe Ruth. Same dugout, two decades apart, still sharing the moment.
Baseball tends to remember the names at the top of lists. Mathews belongs on a shorter one: the players who made the legend next to them possible, and were legends in their own right.
