The Atlanta Braves employed two different men named Eddie Mathews. The first, of course, was their Hall of Fame captain and third baseman in 1966, also a coach before becoming manager from 1972-74.
The other, not related but spotlighted in the Topps Vault for the first time this month, was a right-handed pitcher from Peoria who the Braves signed as a free agent in 1986. In college, at 6-3 he was a two-sport star, part of Bradley Braves' NIT championship team (his dad Donald played on Bradley's 1954 NCAA hoop championship team).
He worked his way through the Atlanta system, alternately being used as a closer, set-up man and starter. And he seemed ready to break through in 1988, when he appeared in a team record 57 games for Class AA Greenville and was 8-0,1.99 in the second half of the season. In '89, after an early season promotion to AAA, he struggled and then found himself out of baseball early in 1990 when he managed only an 11.37 ERA despite being demoted to Durham.
