Wid Matthews

Who was Wid Matthews?

Wid Curry Matthews was an American outfielder, scout and front office executive in Major League Baseball. Matthews served as general manager of the Chicago Cubs for seven full seasons and became one of the first front-office employees in the history of the New York Mets in 1961, the year before they began play in the National League. A native of Raleigh, Illinois, Matthews stood 5 ft, 8½ in tall and weighed 155 pounds in his playing days. He threw and batted left-handed.

After playing in the three highest classification minor leagues — the American Association and the International and Pacific Coast leagues — Matthews made the major leagues for 2½ seasons for the Philadelphia Athletics and the Washington Senators, batting .284 with one home run and 39 runs batted in in 192 games played. He did not appear in the 1924 World Series, won by the Senators in seven games.

Matthews' career as a scout and general manager began in 1936, when he joined the St. Louis Cardinals, the pioneers of the MLB farm system. Seven years later, he moved with Redbird GM Branch Rickey to the Brooklyn Dodgers, where he served as the Dodgers' director of Midwest scouting through the 1949 season.