Gary Matthews

HandednessBats Right · Throws Right

Listed at6 ft 2 in · 185 lb

BornJuly 5, 1950 · San Fernando, CA, USA

MLB debutSeptember 6, 1972

Final gameOctober 2, 1987

Seasons16 (1972–1987)

San Francisco Giants 1972–1976; Atlanta Braves 1977–1980; Philadelphia Phillies 1981–1983; Chicago Cubs 1984–1987; Seattle Mariners 1987

Percentile snapshot

1984 season — qualified batters

147

40.3

608

47.1

491

18.5

101

89.9

143

33.6

20.2

18.5

44.5

RBI

65.5

103

99.2

20.2

73.9

21.8

.291

70.6

OBP

.410

98.3

SLG

.428

48.7

OPS

.838

78.2

wRC+

137.8

81.5

OPS+

128.2

69.7

wOBA

.394

89.9

sWAR

4.1

73.9

of 120 qualified 1984 batters (min 499 PA)

Career, era-adjusted

wRC+

122.4

82.5

OPS+

118.2

76.7

sWAR

39.7

97.9

wRC+ measured against qualified careers (3,000+ PA), 2,078 of them; OPS+ measured against qualified careers (3,000+ PA), 2,078 of them; sWAR measured against every career in history, 24,011 of them. Only era-adjusted career stats carry a percentile — a raw career total gets a rank instead, because pooling the 1890s with the 2020s is a choice, not a measurement.

Season by season

Batting

Season	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	wRC+	OPS+	wOBA	sWAR
1972	20	71	62	11	18	1	1	4	14	7	13	0	1	.290	.357	.532	.889	145.4	148.8	.390	0.5
1973	148	605	540	74	162	22	10	12	58	58	83	17	5	.300	.367	.444	.812	123.2	120.5	.371	3.0
1974	154	638	561	87	161	27	6	16	82	70	69	11	9	.287	.368	.442	.810	126.0	122.1	.379	3.3
1975	116	494	425	67	119	22	3	12	58	65	53	13	4	.280	.377	.431	.807	125.2	120.3	.378	2.5
1976	156	671	587	79	164	28	4	20	84	75	94	12	5	.279	.359	.443	.802	128.2	124.5	.373	3.7
1977	148	627	555	89	157	25	5	17	64	67	90	22	8	.283	.362	.438	.799	106.6	102.8	.364	1.8
1978	129	542	474	75	135	20	5	18	62	61	92	8	7	.285	.366	.462	.828	137.4	132.5	.381	3.7
1979	156	695	631	97	192	34	5	27	90	60	75	18	6	.304	.363	.502	.865	130.2	126.8	.389	4.1
1980	155	619	571	79	159	17	3	19	75	42	93	11	3	.278	.325	.419	.744	104.6	103.3	.341	1.6
1981	101	428	359	62	108	21	3	9	67	59	42	15	2	.301	.398	.451	.849	146.6	138.5	.397	3.3
1982	162	690	616	89	173	31	1	19	83	66	87	21	4	.281	.349	.427	.776	120.5	116.4	.359	3.2
1983	132	526	446	66	115	18	2	10	50	69	81	13	9	.258	.352	.374	.727	108.2	103.6	.342	1.6
1984	147	608	491	101	143	21	2	14	82	103	97	17	8	.291	.410	.428	.838	137.8	128.2	.394	4.1
1985	97	362	298	45	70	12	0	13	40	59	64	2	0	.235	.362	.406	.768	112.2	105.6	.359	1.3
1986	123	432	370	49	96	16	1	21	46	60	59	3	2	.259	.361	.478	.839	128.0	122.6	.383	2.4
1987	89	181	161	13	39	4	0	3	23	19	33	0	1	.242	.320	.323	.643	69.5	68.2	.295	-0.5

Career totals

2,033

232nd-most career G

8,189

261st-most career PA

7,147

281st-most career AB

1,083

283rd-most career R

2,011

289th-most career H

319

420th-most career 2B

234

298th-most career HR

RBI

978

330th-most career RBI

940

157th-most career BB

1,125

286th-most career SO

183

426th-most career SB

.2814

OBP

.3638

402nd-highest career on-base percentage

SLG

.4385

OPS

.8023

481st-highest career OPS

A total is called out only where it ranks in the all-time top 500; hover a figure for its rank and the size of the field it was ranked in. Ranks are absolute facts and carry no percentile — the population for "career home runs" would be an editorial choice, and the rank is not.

Best games

Batting

Date	Game	AB	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	BB	TB
1976-09-25	HOU @ SF Gameday	4	3	3	0	3	5	0	12
1978-04-10	SD @ ATL Gameday	4	3	4	0	2	4	1	10
1976-04-20	SF @ ATL Gameday	6	4	4	0	2	3	0	10
1980-08-26	ATL @ PIT Gameday	5	2	4	0	2	3	0	10
1979-06-18	PHI @ ATL Gameday	4	3	3	1	2	4	1	10

Ranked from our own play-by-play game log, which begins in 1901 — not from the record book, so a career played outside it shows nothing here rather than a short list.

Honors

1× Rookie of the Year1× NLCS MVP1× All-Star

Major awards only — the awards table also records Player of the Week, and forty of those would bury seven MVPs. Hover for the years.