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Adolph Matulis
Adolph John Matulis[a] (August 3, 1920 – May 25, 2002)[3] was an American college athlete at the University of Arizona who earned varsity letters in baseball, basketball, and football. He went on to a minor league baseball career as a pitcher and player-manager. College athleticsMatulis earned varsity letters for the Arizona Wildcats football team in 1940 and 1941;[4] the 1941 Wildcats were champions of the Border Conference. He joined the team as a freshman in 1940 and was originally a fullback.[5][6] He later played quarterback for the team.[7] He also played baseball and basketball for the school, lettering on each of those teams in 1941.[8][9] Professional baseball
Listed at 5 feet 10 inches (1.78 m) and 183 pounds (83 kg), Matulis threw and batted right-handed.[1] Playing careerMatulis pitched in the Chicago Cubs system in 1942 and from 1946 to 1952.[1] With the Class-B Madison Blues of the Three-I League in 1942, he had a 9–13 win–loss record with a 4.39 earned run average (ERA) in 37 games.[1] He tied for second in the league in losses and was third in games started. As a hitter, he batted .200 (13-for-65).[1] After serving in the military, Matulis returned to professional baseball in 1946, playing for the Class-A Macon Peaches of the South Atlantic League (SAL).[1] He went 17–15 with a 3.39 ERA on the mound and contributed a .206 batting average.[1] That year, he led the SAL in losses, appearances, hits allowed and earned runs allowed. Matulis pitched for the Double-A Nashville Volunteers of the Southern Association in 1947, going 8–9 with a 5.18 ERA in 38 appearances.[1] He also had a .167 batting average.[1] In 1948, he hit .358 (76-for-212) with four home runs and a .514 slugging percentage for the Class-D Elizabethton Betsy Cubs of the Appalachian League.[1] He also went 1–4 with a 4.50 ERA in 22 appearances on the mound.[1] Matulis played for the Class-C Clinton Steers of the Central Association and the Class-D Janesville Cubs of the Wisconsin State League in 1949.[1] He hit a combined .256 in 71 games, and had a 3–2 record pitching with Janesville, with a 2.45 ERA in 16 games.[1] He spent all of the 1950 and 1951 seasons with Janesville, with pitching records of 12–6 and 4–4, and batting averages of .300 and .305, respectively.[1] In 1950, He led the Wisconsin State League in ERA (1.84). In 1952, Matulis' final season, he played for the Class-C Topeka Owls of the Western Association, where he was 9–2 with a 5.07 ERA in 15 appearances as a pitcher.[1] At the plate, he hit .295 with two home runs.[1] Overall, Matulis played eight years in the minor leagues, going 63–55 with a 3.86 ERA in 214 pitching appearances.[1] In 1,078 innings pitched, he allowed 1,125 hits and 461 walks.[1] As a batter, he hit .282 with 13 home runs in 1,007 at bats.[1] Managerial careerMatulis was a player-manager for part of five seasons.[1] His first season managing was 1948, when he led Elizabethton to a 64–61 fifth-place finish.[10] In 1949, he was one of three managers for Janesville, and one of two managers for Clinton.[1] In 1950, he led Janesville to a 70–54 third-place finish and a berth in the playoffs, where the team lost in the final round. He managed Janesville to a 56–64 seventh-place finish in 1951. In 1952, he managed Topeka to a 63–76 record.[1] Personal lifeMatulis was born in 1920 in East Chicago, Indiana.[11] He did not play in professional baseball from 1943 to 1945, due to World War II. He enlisted in the United States Army as a private on October 22, 1942.[12] He served as a corporal for the 12th Armored Division, where he continued to play baseball as well as basketball.[13] After his sports career, he worked for and retired from a brewery.[2] Matulis was inducted to the East Chicago Athletic Hall of Fame.[2] He died in May 2002, aged 81; a widower, he was survived by a daughter.[2][14] NotesReferences
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