He had a killer first professional season, though. As an 18-year-old in 1992, he went 8-0 with a 1.35 ERA in rookie and Low-A ball.

In 2003, he signed a card through the mail for me care of the Cardinals in 11 days.

Anyway, I've sent him two autograph requests in my day. The first was through the Charlotte Knights in 2008 and the second was nearly a decade later through his home address, in 2017. He has yet to respond.

Where'd THIS guy come from???

Bob’s family had a small farm of sorts near our place in the Spring Grove area of Illinois.My grandfather Pa used to go to their place for eggs.

Bob was my grade school and high school hero - he was a really great kid AND leader. I NEVER saw Bob put down or, in any way, demean a boy with lesser skills. He was the perfect combination of great player and great leader, imo. When at St Peter’s, Bob insisted ALL the boys in the upper grades must be allowed to play. We often had ten men on a team or more, just so everyone could play. Sure, it wasn’t REALLY baseball, or football, but, this was long before there was were little leagues. Now, how many jocks would do that, instead of making sure they, themselves, had fun?

Bob was also good football player and was the starting QB at Grant HS in Ingleside, ill.

I don’t think things went as well as they could have for Bob in his early adult years, but I lost track of him as we moved on.

I can only hope he had a good life - because he deserved it.

...but by the end of April, he was hitting .256. And he never really recovered, and all he gave the Mets, for the most part, was headaches and frustration. He resuscitated our hopes in July by hitting .336 that month, though by and large highlights became few and far between.

Still, he finished 6th in Rookie of the Year voting in 2004—and it wasn't a weak crop that year, either. Future Met Jason Bay won, while Matt Holliday, Aaron Miles and Khahil Greene also earned support.

Anyway, by 2005 he was a non-factor and by 2006 all he could get the Mets in a trade was journeyman Eli Marrero from the Rockies.

(And, of course, when he leaves the Mets he puts it together to hit .345 with Colorado, then .288 the next year and .293 with Houston in 2008).

Matsui was just an underwhelming guy. He had great power and speed and averages in Japan and didn't give us any of them.

After his stay in the majors, he returned to Japan, where he played until 2018, when he was 42. He finished his career with nearly 2,900 hits, 250 homers, 500 steals and over 1,500 runs at all levels.

Jose Bautista. Jason Bay. Carlos Gomez. Jason Vargas. Gary Matthews.

I remember Matthews playing with New York in 2002—not that I saw him play, I just remember his name from stat logs—but back then he was just a nobody. The Mets ditched him to the Orioles early in '02 for John Bale, who never played for New York, and it was after leaving the Big Apple that he embarked on a decent run that lasted nearly a decade.

From 2002 to 2009, he showed good pop and speed, while making an All-Star team in 2006. He had 19 home runs that year; the next, he had 18, with 18 stolen bases.

So of course New York decides to bring him back ... in 2010 ... when he was 35.

That was a bad year, and Matthews exemplified it all the more. I couldn't understand why they kept him around so long. He was awful, he was a headache, he was a dud.

Few players stick out in my mind as being 'especially bad' with New York. Matthews is one of them.

Also, I've sent him two autograph requests in my day. The first was through the Oklahoma RedHawks in 2004 and the second was through his home address in 2020. He has yet to respond.

That sort of quirkiness is what endeared him to Mets fans, including those who vote in the Mets Hall of Fame project I run on another website. He was elected with 100% of the vote on his third try.

In 2015, he signed a card for me through the mail in just 20 days.

He did pretty well for their Triple-A club in both 2008 and 2009, as well, though in limited duty. In the former year, he hit .291 and he followed that with a .290 mark the next campaign.