What years did Jon Matlack play?

Jon Matlack played in Major League Baseball from 1971 to 1983.

Was Jon Matlack a pitcher?

Yes. Jon Matlack pitched in the major leagues, recording 125 wins and 1516 strikeouts.

How many home runs did Jon Matlack hit?

Jon Matlack hit 0 career home runs with 57 hits.

What teams did Jon Matlack play for?

Jon Matlack played for 2 teams: the New York Mets (1971–1977) and the Texas Rangers (1978–1983).

Did Jon Matlack win a Cy Young Award?

No. Jon Matlack did not win the Cy Young Award.

What awards did Jon Matlack win?

Jon Matlack won the Rookie of the Year award (1972). He was selected to 3 All-Star Games.

What were Jon Matlack's career stats?

In 361 games, Jon Matlack went 125-126 with a 3.18 ERA, 1,516 strikeouts, 2,363.0 innings pitched, and 3 saves. At the plate he had 57 hits and 0 home runs.

What position did Jon Matlack play?

Jon Matlack played primarily as a pitcher, the position where he appeared in the most games.

How tall was Jon Matlack and how much did he weigh?

Jon Matlack was listed at 6 feet 3 inches and 205 pounds.

What was Jon Matlack's career ERA?

Jon Matlack finished with a 3.18 career ERA, going 125-126 with 1,516 strikeouts.

How many strikeouts did Jon Matlack have?

Jon Matlack recorded 1,516 career strikeouts.

Is Jon Matlack in the Hall of Fame?

No. Jon Matlack has not been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

How many All-Star Games did Jon Matlack make?

Jon Matlack was selected to 3 All-Star Games.

Jon Matlack

Pitcher · Career Stats, Bio & Records (1971-1983)

Jon Matlack was a pitcher who played in Major League Baseball from 1971 to 1983 for the New York Mets and the Texas Rangers, a span of 13 seasons. Across 361 career appearances, he went 125-126 with a 3.18 ERA and 1,516 strikeouts. He also batted .129 with 0 home runs. Jon Matlack was a 3-time All-Star, a Rookie of the Year, and an All-Star Game MVP. His career Pitcher PIV — Baseball Data Hub's era-adjusted measure of pitching impact — is 38810.9.

W (Wins):: Games credited to a pitcher whose team took a lead it never surrendered while he was the pitcher of record.
ERA (Earned Run Average):: Earned runs allowed per nine innings pitched: (ER × 9) ÷ IP. The primary measure of pitching effectiveness.
SO (Strikeouts):: For a batter, times retired on a third strike; for a pitcher, batters retired on a third strike.
WHIP (Walks and Hits per Inning Pitched):: Baserunners allowed per inning: (BB + H) ÷ IP. Under 1.00 is elite.

Data updated October 15, 2026

W–L 125–126

ERA 3.18

WHIP 1.23

SO 1,516

Pitcher PIV 38810.9

Position: Pitcher
Bats / Throws: L / L
Height / Weight: 6'3" / 205 lb
Born: 1/19/1950 in West Chester, PA, USA
MLB Debut: 1971-07-11
Last Game: 1983-09-15
Awards: 3× All-Star · Rookie of the Year · All-Star Game MVP

Full name: Jonathan Trumpbour Matlack

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Career Pitching Statistics

Jon Matlack — Career Pitching Statistics
W	L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO	ERA	Pitcher PIV
125	126	361	318	97	30	3	2363.0	2,276	835	161	638	1,516	3.18	38810.9

Career ERA 3.18 vs. league average 3.72 across their career seasons — 14.4% better than league average.

Season-by-Season Pitching

Pitching Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Jon Matlack Stats, Bio & Career Records
Year	Team	Lg	W	L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA	Lg ERA	Pitcher PIV
1971	NYN	NL	0	3	7	6	0	0	0	37.0	31	17	15	24	4.14	3.47 (-19%)	369.0
1972	NYN	NL	15	10	34	32	8	4	0	244.0	215	63	71	169	2.32	3.26 (+29%)	3887.2
1973	NYN	NL	14	16	34	34	14	3	0	242.0	210	86	99	205	3.20	3.75 (+15%)	4846.0
1974	NYN	NL	13	15	34	34	14	7	0	265.1	221	71	76	195	2.41	3.63 (+34%)	8472.6
1975	NYN	NL	16	12	33	32	8	3	0	228.2	224	86	58	154	3.38	3.71 (+9%)	5050.2
1976	NYN	NL	17	10	35	35	16	6	0	262.0	236	86	57	153	2.95	3.51 (+16%)	3240.1
1977	NYN	NL	7	15	26	26	5	3	0	169.0	175	79	43	123	4.21	4.00 (-5%)	1992.5
1978	TEX	AL	15	13	35	33	18	2	1	270.0	252	68	51	157	2.27	3.69 (+39%)	6981.8
1979	TEX	AL	5	4	13	13	2	0	0	85.0	98	39	15	35	4.13	4.00 (-3%)	329.1
1980	TEX	AL	10	10	35	34	8	1	1	234.2	265	96	48	142	3.68	3.84 (+4%)	4577.3
1981	TEX	AL	4	7	17	16	1	1	0	104.1	101	48	41	43	4.14	3.58 (-16%)	-1035.3
1982	TEX	AL	7	7	33	14	1	0	1	147.2	158	58	37	78	3.53	3.86 (+8%)	676.9
1983	TEX	AL	2	4	25	9	2	0	0	73.1	90	38	27	38	4.66	3.87 (-20%)	-576.6
Career · 13 seasons			125	126	361	318	97	30	3	2,363.0	2,276	835	638	1,516	3.18	—	38,811

Lg columns show the league average for that season, with the player's figure as a percentage above or below it. Career totals the seasons listed above.

Career Batting Statistics

Jon Matlack — Career Batting Statistics
G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	PIV
362	441	32	57	3	0	0	23	0	57	217	.129	.230	.136	.366	-3,059

Career AVG .129 vs. league average .258 across their career seasons — 49.9% below league average.

Career OBP .230 vs. league average .323 across their career seasons — 28.9% below league average.

Career SLG .136 vs. league average .379 across their career seasons — 64.1% below league average.

Career OPS .366 vs. league average .702 across their career seasons — 47.9% below league average.

Season-by-Season Batting

Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Jon Matlack Stats, Bio & Career Records
Year	Team	Lg	G	AB	R	H	2B	RBI	BB	SO	AVG	Lg AVG	Lg OBP	Lg SLG	Lg OPS	PIV
1971	NYN	NL	7	11	1	3	0	0	1	6	.273	—	—	—	—	0.0
1972	NYN	NL	34	78	6	10	1	2	10	44	.128	.243 (-47%)	.310 (-27%)	.353 (-60%)	.664 (-45%)	-490.9
1973	NYN	NL	35	65	5	9	0	2	13	38	.138	.256 (-46%)	.325 (-13%)	.378 (-63%)	.703 (-40%)	-364.8
1974	NYN	NL	34	79	3	8	0	8	5	34	.101	.256 (-61%)	.324 (-53%)	.369 (-73%)	.693 (-63%)	-776.3
1975	NYN	NL	33	70	6	7	0	2	13	33	.100	.257 (-61%)	.327 (-26%)	.374 (-73%)	.701 (-51%)	-527.5
1976	NYN	NL	35	88	10	17	1	9	8	35	.193	.255 (-24%)	.320 (-16%)	.360 (-43%)	.681 (-31%)	-380.3
1977	NYN	NL	26	50	1	3	1	0	7	27	.060	.264 (-77%)	.329 (-47%)	.401 (-80%)	.730 (-65%)	-518.7
1978	TEX	AL	35	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1979	TEX	AL	13	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1980	TEX	AL	35	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1981	TEX	AL	17	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1982	TEX	AL	33	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1983	TEX	AL	25	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
Career · 13 seasons			362	441	32	57	3	23	57	217	.129	—	—	—	—	-3,059

Lg columns show the league average for that season, with the player's figure as a percentage above or below it. Career totals the seasons listed above.

Postseason Statistics

Playoff Career Batting

Jon Matlack — Playoff Career Batting
G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
4	6	0	1	0	0	0	0	3	3	.167

Playoff Batting by Year

Jon Matlack — Playoff Batting by Year
Year	Round	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
1973	NLCS	NYN	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	.000
1973	WS	NYN	3	4	0	1	0	0	0	0	2	1	.250

Playoff Career Pitching

Jon Matlack — Playoff Career Pitching
W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
2	2	4	4	0	25.2	12	4	8	20	1.40

Playoff Pitching by Year

Jon Matlack — Playoff Pitching by Year
Year	Round	Team	W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
1973	NLCS	NYN	1	0	1	1	0	9.0	2	0	3	9	0.00
1973	WS	NYN	1	2	3	3	0	16.2	10	4	5	11	2.16

Game Log & Splits

View full game log (723 games) →

Per-game data from Retrosheet (regular season, through 2025).

Batting — Home / Away

Jon Matlack — Batting — Home / Away
Split	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	AVG
Home	175	185	18	24	0	10	.130
Away	187	256	14	33	0	13	.129

Pitching — Home / Away

Jon Matlack — Pitching — Home / Away
Split	G	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
Home	175	1178.0	1075	348	292	791	2.66
Away	186	1185.0	1201	488	346	725	3.71

Last 10 Games — Pitching

Jon Matlack — Last 10 Games — Pitching
Date	Tm	Opp	Dec	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1983-09-15	TEX	OAK	—	2.0	2	1	1	1	2	0
1983-09-13	TEX	OAK	—	1.0	2	0	0	0	0	0
1983-09-05	TEX	MIN	—	0.1	0	0	0	0	0	0
1983-08-25	TEX	KCR	L	8.0	8	3	3	2	5	1
1983-08-19	TEX	CHW	—	1.0	1	0	0	0	1	0
1983-08-15	TEX	BAL	—	1.2	2	1	1	2	1	0
1983-08-07	TEX	CLE	L	3.2	7	5	5	0	5	1
1983-07-30	TEX	BAL	—	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1983-07-22	TEX	TOR	—	0.2	0	0	0	1	0	0
1983-07-17	TEX	NYY	—	1.2	3	2	2	2	3	0

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Jon Matlack — Career Fielding Totals by Position
Position	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
P	361	318	68	346	21	14

Season-by-Season Fielding

Jon Matlack — Season-by-Season Fielding
Year	Team	Pos	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
1971	NYN	P	7	6	1	2	0	0
1972	NYN	P	34	32	8	33	1	1
1973	NYN	P	34	34	4	40	1	3
1974	NYN	P	34	34	5	40	0	1
1975	NYN	P	33	32	3	28	3	1
1976	NYN	P	35	35	10	35	1	0
1977	NYN	P	26	26	4	27	1	1
1978	TEX	P	35	33	17	42	5	2
1979	TEX	P	13	13	3	16	2	1
1980	TEX	P	35	34	5	25	4	0
1981	TEX	P	17	16	2	20	2	0
1982	TEX	P	33	14	4	24	0	1
1983	TEX	P	25	9	2	14	1	3

Career Games by Position

Position Diamond

Circle size = games played at each position.

Jon Matlack Stats, Bio & Career Records
Position	Games
Pitcher	361

Awards & Honors

Jon Matlack — Awards & Honors
Year	Award	Notes
1975	All-Star Game MVP
1972	Rookie of the Year
1972	TSN Rookie Pitcher of the Year

Award Voting History

Jon Matlack — Award Voting History
Year	Award	League	Finish	Points Won	Points Max	Votes First
1976	Cy Young Award	NL	6th	5.0	120	1
1972	Rookie of the Year	NL	1st	19.0	24	19

Most Similar Players

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Career Spans

Jon Matlack (highlighted) compared to peers across the same era.

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Jon Matlack: the record in brief

Between the debut on July 11, 1971 and the final game on September 15, 1983, Jon Matlack built the record summarized on this page. Matlack played for the New York Mets (1971 through 1977) and the Texas Rangers (1978 to 1983). Born on January 19, 1950, in West Chester, PA, USA, Matlack is listed as a pitcher and both batted and threw left-handed. The bio gives 6 feet, 3 inches and 205 pounds. The given name on file is Jonathan Trumpbour Matlack.

Matlack pitched in 361 games, starting 318, and finished with a 125-126 record and 3.18 ERA. Matlack had 1,516 strikeouts, 97 complete games, and 30 shutouts. Against a 3.72 league ERA for the same years, Matlack was 14.4% better. Matlack won 17 games in 1976, the most of any season listed. The strikeout high was 205 in 1973. Among the heaviest workloads, the lowest ERA was 2.27 in 1978, when the league's was 3.69. Pitcher PIV, the site's era-adjusted run-prevention measure, totals 38,810.9 for Matlack's career.

Frequently Asked Questions about Jon Matlack

What years did Jon Matlack play?: Jon Matlack played in Major League Baseball from 1971 to 1983.
Was Jon Matlack a pitcher?: Yes. Jon Matlack pitched in the major leagues, recording 125 wins and 1516 strikeouts.
How many home runs did Jon Matlack hit?: Jon Matlack hit 0 career home runs with 57 hits.
What teams did Jon Matlack play for?: Jon Matlack played for 2 teams: the New York Mets (1971–1977) and the Texas Rangers (1978–1983).
Did Jon Matlack win a Cy Young Award?: No. Jon Matlack did not win the Cy Young Award.
What awards did Jon Matlack win?: Jon Matlack won the Rookie of the Year award (1972). He was selected to 3 All-Star Games.
What were Jon Matlack's career stats?: In 361 games, Jon Matlack went 125-126 with a 3.18 ERA, 1,516 strikeouts, 2,363.0 innings pitched, and 3 saves. At the plate he had 57 hits and 0 home runs.
What position did Jon Matlack play?: Jon Matlack played primarily as a pitcher, the position where he appeared in the most games.
How tall was Jon Matlack and how much did he weigh?: Jon Matlack was listed at 6 feet 3 inches and 205 pounds.
What was Jon Matlack's career ERA?: Jon Matlack finished with a 3.18 career ERA, going 125-126 with 1,516 strikeouts.
How many strikeouts did Jon Matlack have?: Jon Matlack recorded 1,516 career strikeouts.
Is Jon Matlack in the Hall of Fame?: No. Jon Matlack has not been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
How many All-Star Games did Jon Matlack make?: Jon Matlack was selected to 3 All-Star Games.