In letters and emails to friends and acquaintances, Lewis “Lew” Matlin would ritually close with the phrase, “Be of good cheer.”
For Lew, the sport of baseball and the relationships that developed around it fueled much of the positive energy he brought to his life of 96 years (1921-2017). He was one of those special baseball insiders who understood that the real romance of the game lives in the lifelong memories and stories it creates.
Lew formed an attachment to baseball after seeing Babe Ruth in a 1930 barnstorming tour and growing up in Los Angeles, where he attended Fremont High, a hotbed for the sport, with Bobby Doerr, who would become a Hall of Fame second baseman for the Red Sox.
Matlin humbly described his own playing career as “brief and ineffective,” but found his calling as manager and business agent for an American Legion team in the area. Over the years he would kid Yogi Berra about being victorious in their meetings.
After serving in the Army in World War II, Matlin used the GI Bill to attend the University of Southern California, which he parlayed into a job as business manager and, later, general manager of the Bakersfield Indians of the Class C California League in 1948 under the supervision of Bill Veek and later Hank Greenberg.
After stops in Colorado Springs, Colo.; Sherbrooke, Quebec; Jackson Beach, Fla.; Tacoma, Wash.; and Fresno, Calif., he came to Hawaii where he won the Minor League Executive of the year award in 1963, and where his son (and Leading Off Foundation Secretary) David Alexander Kalakaua Matlin was born.
He reached the major leagues with the Seattle Pilots before moving on to the Milwaukee Brewers and then, for the final 20 years of his career, the Detroit Tigers.
Upon retirement from baseball, Mr Matlin served as a volunteer for the Detroit Public Library serving the National Automotive Historical Collection. He also volunteered his time serving the Reviving Baseball in the Inner Cities (R.B.I.) organization that helps to promote amateur youth baseball in the nation’s largest cities.
Lew’s passion for the RBI program, and his commitment to ensuring that every kid has the opportunity to grow with and through the game of baseball, earned him an induction into the RBI Hall of Fame in 1995.
The Leading Off Foundation is honored to carry forth the legacy of Lew Matlin, and dedicate our efforts to him.
Be of Good Cheer.
(The words of Dan Ewald and Ferd Lewis were used in this post)
