David Matlin has a perfectly good reason for cherishing a favorite Major League Baseball team and also having a clear choice for second favorite. That’s why when his No. 1 team lost its best pitcher late this season, it wasn’t too traumatic.
Matlin, the University of Hawaii athletic director, grew up in Tigers Stadium around guys like Ernie Harwell, Al Kaline, Mickey Lolich, Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker. His dad, Lew, worked in the Detroit front office from the time David was in kindergarten.
The younger Matlin got his first real job in baseball shortly after graduation from the University of Michigan in 1987. But it was not with his beloved Tigers; it was with the Houston Astros.
“I had six great years there, it was a great start to a sports management career,” Matlin said.
So when Tigers ace Justin Verlander ended up on the Astros staff right before the waiver trade deadline, Matlin was OK with it. He’s even happier about it now.
“It’s kind of funny,” Matlin said after the Astros beat the Yankees 4-0 on Saturday to advance to the World Series against the Dodgers. “Verlander is 9-0 with the Astros. When the Tigers traded John Smoltz (to the Braves) for Doyle Alexander, Alexander was 9-0 and they won the division that year (1987).”
Verlander struck out 21 with a 0.56 ERA in winning two starts in the ALCS and was named the MVP of the series. He dominated the Yankees with seven scoreless innings in Game 6 to set up Saturday’s clincher.
Back in the late ’80s and early ’90s, Matlin worked his way up from intern to marketing operations manager and then director of sales with the Astros. One of his most vivid memories involved a game against the Dodgers.
“It went 22 innings and went 7 hours and 14 minutes,” he said. “I slept at the ballpark because we had a clinic the next day. After such a long game we couldn’t get the (star) players to do it, so it was rookies and coaches and the bullpen catcher. We had our trainer, Rex Johnson, do something.”
This was back when Houston still played at the Astrodome, and a long time before the Astros were moved to the American League in 2013. They weren’t particularly good, finishing between third and sixth in the NL West every year; the closest they got to the playoffs was six games back in 1989 (this was pre-wild-card days).
But Matlin did get to see Jeff Bagwell win the NL rookie of the year award in 1991, the start of Craig Biggio’s long run in Houston, and a couple of Nolan Ryan’s final seasons.
He also remembers getting a hit up the middle off Charlie Kerfeld in a fantasy camp game. “I think he let me, though, because the next time up he beared down and I had no shot,” Matlin said.
He keeps in touch with former colleagues, 10 of whom still work for the Astros. When they made their only other World Series appearance, in 2005, Matlin went to a game (they were swept by the White Sox).
Matlin said he’s probably too busy to go this time, but his heart will be with Houston.
“The cool thing is Houston and Texas have been through a lot with (Hurricane Harvey),” he said. “This gives people something to be proud of and enjoy during a tough time.”
Other than Matlin and Chuck Jackson — the UH baseball player who played third base for them in 1987 and ’88 — I can’t remember ever meeting anyone else with a rooting interest in the Astros.
That is, until very recently.
“I liked them since they started playing the Yankees in the playoffs,” said my nephew, Tyler Kraemer.
Yes, anti- Yankees sentiment is and probably will always remain strong among many baseball fans. But even as one who grew up hating the pinstripes because I was raised a Red Sox fan, I wouldn’t have had a problem with a Yankees-Dodgers World Series.
It certainly would’ve been nostalgic, as it’s been 40 years since “Mr. October,” Reggie Jackson, hit three homers in three swings as the Yankees beat the Dodgers. By 1981, though, with the Yankees and Dodgers meeting up for the third time in five years, the matchup was tiring.
Whatever your allegiance, you might agree the two best teams made it to this World Series. And it’s been a long time for both fan bases since the Dodgers haven’t been to the Fall Classic since 1988.
Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. His blog is at Hawaiiwarriorworld.com/quick-reads.
