"When my kids grow up, I want them to be like Mike Matheny."
-- Jeff Cirillo, Brewers infielder

Mike Mathenys five years as a Cardinal are over. In that time Matheny became the poster boy for the no hit all field catcher. He won some gold gloves, made a few million dollars, and in the end what are we left with? In 2000 Matheny came to the Cardinals and had his best year at the plate ever (.261/.317/.362/.679). It's no secret to anybody who follows the Cardinals, or baseball, that Mike Matheny was a terrible hitter. But with Matheny out of our lives, it's time we took one final look at the grisly set of stats that were Mike Matheny.

Matheny has a career OBP of .293.

For 2004:

                     AVG   OBP   SLG    OPS
Average NL Catcher 0.258 0.321 0.392  0.713
Mike Matheny       0.247 0.292 0.348  0.640

Mike Matheny spots 30 points of OBP and 30 points of SLG to an average NL Catcher. That's bad. Noted batsman So Taguchi managed to beat that last year. I won't belabor the point, but Matheny isn't a very good hitter.

Let me add one more line to that chart:

                     AVG   OBP   SLG    OPS
Average NL Catcher 0.258 0.321 0.392  0.713
Mike Matheny       0.247 0.292 0.348  0.640
Yadier Molina      0.267 0.329 0.356  0.684

Yadier Molina, Cardinal catcher of the future (with Daric Barton gone, he most definitely is) was better than Matheny last year. He drew more walks, and had a higher batting average. He was also 12 years younger than Matheny and plays for the league minimum.

Over the years I've probably spent my share, your share, and maybe the left coast of the United States' share (although now that he's in SF that should change) of time bemoaning how bad exactly Mike Matheny the hitter was. But now that is over. I am no longer cursed with that burden.

When Matheny signed his first big contract with the Cardinals I remember reading an article where Mike described calling his dad and telling him about the contract, and how he didn't have to work any more, and that him and Mikes mother were set for life. When I heard about this new $10 million dollar contract I couldn't help but feel good for Mike. He made his money by working hard and by all accounts being a nice guy, so congratulations to him.

But I am really glad that somebody else has a chance to vent about Matheny for a few years. I think I'm going to enjoy projecting for Molina much more.

So long Mike, won't miss you at all.