Adolph John Matulis (August 3, 1920 – May 25, 2002) was an American college athlete at the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. ...

who earned

varsity letter A varsity letter (or monogram) is an award earned in the United States for excellence in school activities. A varsity letter signifies that its recipient was a qualified varsity team member, awarded after a certain standard was met. Description ...

s in

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

, and football. He went on to a minor league baseball career as a

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, who attempts to e ...

and

player-manager A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

College athletics

Matulis earned

s for the

Arizona Wildcats football The Arizona Wildcats football program represents the University of Arizona (UA) in the sport of American college football. Arizona competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Sout ...

team in 1940 and 1941; the 1941 Wildcats were champions of the

Border Conference The Border Conference, officially known as the Border Intercollegiate Athletic Association, was an NCAA-affiliated college athletic conference founded in 1931 that disbanded following the 1961–62 season. Centered in the southwestern United Sta ...

. He joined the team as a freshman in 1940 and was originally a fullback. He later played

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

for the team. He also played baseball and basketball for the school, lettering on each of those teams in 1941.

Professional baseball

Listed at and , Matulis threw and batted right-handed.

Playing career

Matulis pitched in the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is locate ...

system in 1942 and from 1946 to 1952. With the Class-B

Madison Blues "Madison Blues" is a blues song by American blues musician Elmore James. It is an upbeat Chicago-style shuffle featuring James' amplified slide guitar and vocal. He recorded it in 1960 for Chess Records, during a session that also produced " Tal ...

of the Three-I League in 1942, he had a 9–13

win–loss record In sports, a winning percentage is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. The statistic is commonly used in standings or rankings to compare teams or individuals. It is defined as wins divided by the total number of match ...

with a 4.39

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the numb ...

(ERA) in 37 games. He tied for second in the league in losses and was third in games started. As a hitter, he batted .200 (13-for-65). After serving in the military, Matulis returned to professional baseball in 1946, playing for the Class-A

Macon Peaches The Macon Peaches was the predominant name of the American minor league baseball franchise representing Macon, Georgia, during the 20th century. Although Macon did not field teams during and immediately after World War I, the height of the Gre ...

of the

South Atlantic League The South Atlantic League, often informally called the Sally League, is a Minor League Baseball league with teams predominantly in states along the Atlantic coast of the United States from New York to Georgia. A Class A league for most of its ...

(SAL). He went 17–15 with a 3.39 ERA on the mound and contributed a .206 batting average. That year, he led the SAL in losses, appearances, hits allowed and earned runs allowed. Matulis pitched for the Double-A

Nashville Volunteers The Nashville Vols were a Minor League Baseball team that played in Nashville, Tennessee, from 1901 to 1963. Known only as the Nashville Baseball Club during their first seven seasons, they were officially named the Nashville Volunteers (often sh ...

of the

Southern Association The Southern Association was a higher-level minor league in American organized baseball from 1901 through 1961. For most of its existence, the Southern Association was two steps below the Major Leagues; it was graded Class A (1902–1935), ...

in 1947, going 8–9 with a 5.18 ERA in 38 appearances. He also had a .167 batting average. In 1948, he hit .358 (76-for-212) with four

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run is ...

s and a .514

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at bats for a given player ...

for the Class-D Elizabethton Betsy Cubs of the

Appalachian League The Appalachian League is a collegiate summer baseball league that operates in the Appalachian regions of Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina. Designed for rising freshmen and sophomores using wood bats, its season runs from J ...

. He also went 1–4 with a 4.50 ERA in 22 appearances on the mound. Matulis played for the Class-C Clinton Steers of the

Central Association The Central Association was an American minor league baseball league. It began operations in 1908, as it was essentially renamed from the 1907 Iowa State League. The Central Association ran continuously through 1917. It was reorganized thirty year ...

and the Class-D Janesville Cubs of the

Wisconsin State League The Wisconsin State League was a class D baseball league that began in 1905, changing its name to the Wisconsin–Illinois League in 1908 and operating through 1914. The league re–organized under that name in 1926. Another Wisconsin State Leagu ...

in 1949. 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. 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. 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 The Topeka Owls was the primary name of the minor league baseball franchise based in Topeka, Kansas, USA. History Topeka first began professional play in 1886 as the Topeka Capitals and had numerous names throughout their existence as a minor ...

of the

Western Association The Western Association was the name of five different leagues formed in American minor league baseball during the 19th and 20th centuries. The oldest league, originally established as the Northwestern League in 1883, was refounded as the Wester ...

, where he was 9–2 with a 5.07 ERA in 15 appearances as a pitcher. At the plate, he hit .295 with two home runs. Overall, Matulis played eight years in the minor leagues, going 63–55 with a 3.86 ERA in 214 pitching appearances. In 1,078

innings pitched In baseball, innings pitched (IP) are the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of batters and baserunners that are put out while the pitcher is on the pitching mound in a game. Three outs made is equal to one inning ...

, he allowed 1,125 hits and 461 walks. As a batter, he hit .282 with 13 home runs in 1,007 at bats.

Managerial career

Matulis was a

for part of five seasons. His first season managing was 1948, when he led Elizabethton to a 64–61 fifth-place finish. In 1949, he was one of three managers for Janesville, and one of two managers for Clinton. 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.

Personal life

Matulis was born in 1920 in

East Chicago, Indiana East Chicago is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The population was 29,698 at the 2010 census. The city is home of the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal, an artificial freshwater harbor characterized by industrial and manufacturing ac ...

. He did not play in professional baseball from 1943 to 1945, due to World War II. He enlisted in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

as a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

on October 22, 1942. He served as a

corporal Corporal is a military rank in use in some form by many militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. The word is derived from the medieval Italian phrase ("head of a body"). The rank is usually the lowest ranking non- ...

for the

12th Armored Division The 12th Armored Division was an armored division of the United States Army in World War II. It fought in the European Theater of Operations in France, Germany and Austria, between November 1944 and May 1945. The German Army called the 12th A ...

, where he continued to play baseball as well as basketball. After his sports career, he worked for and retired from a brewery. Matulis was inducted to the East Chicago Athletic Hall of Fame. He died in May 2002, aged 81; a widower, he was survived by a daughter.NWITimes obituary
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Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Matulis, Adolph 1920 births 2002 deaths Minor league baseball managers Arizona Wildcats football players Arizona Wildcats baseball players Arizona Wildcats men's basketball players Madison Blues players Macon Peaches players Nashville Vols players Elizabethton Betsy Cubs players Janesville Cubs players Topeka Owls players Clinton Steers players United States Army personnel of World War II