Matthew Alexander (born January 30, 1947 in

Shreveport, Louisiana Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the third most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, respectively. The Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area, with a population of 393,406 in 2020, is t ...

) is a retired Major League baseball player. He was a

utility player In sports, a utility player is one who can play several positions competently. Sports in which the term is often used include association football, American football, baseball, rugby union, rugby league, softball, ice hockey, and water polo. The ...

for 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 located ...

1973–1974,

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...

1975–1977 and

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

1978–1981. He holds the record for most appearances as a pinch runner in MLB history.

Playing career

In his later years, Alexander was used mostly as a

pinch runner In baseball, a pinch runner is a player substituted for the specific purpose of replacing another player on base. The pinch runner may be faster or otherwise more skilled at base-running than the player for whom the pinch runner has been sub ...

by manager Chuck Tanner, and so earned the sobriquet "Matt the Scat." Tanner had managed in

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...

in 1976 and brought Alexander to Pittsburgh after he became manager of the Pirates. Alexander helped the Athletics win the 1975 American League Western Division and the Pirates win the

1979 World Series The 1979 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1979 season. The 76th edition of the World Series was a best-of-seven playoff played between the National League (NL) champion Pittsburgh Pirates (98–64) and ...

. He played every non-pitching position in his major league career except catcher and first base. In nine seasons he played in 374 games and had 168 at-bats, 111 runs, 36 hits, 4 doubles, 2 triples, 4 RBI, 103 stolen bases, 18 walks, a .214 batting average, an .294 on-base percentage, .262 slugging percentage, 44 total bases, 8 sacrifice hits and 1 intentional walk. He is one of only seven players (excluding pitchers) to have played at least 100 games and have more games played than at-bats.

References

External links

Pura Pelota (Venezuelan Winter League)
1947 births Living people African-American baseball players American expatriate baseball players in Mexico Rojos del Águila de Veracruz players Baseball players from Shreveport, Louisiana Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Caldwell Cubs players Chicago Cubs players Grambling State Tigers baseball players Major League Baseball center fielders Major League Baseball designated hitters Midland Cubs players Navegantes del Magallanes players Oakland Athletics players Pittsburgh Pirates players Quincy Cubs players San Antonio Missions players Tigres del México players Truchas de Toluca players Wichita Aeros players Winter Haven Super Sox players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople {{US-baseball-outfielder-1940s-stub