If Hank Aaron was the big gun at the plate for the Braves in 1957, Eddie Mathews was a close second. He already had a homerun title to his credit as well as three 40 homerun seasons. Regardless, having Eddie Matthews AND Hank Aaron as one of the best one/two power combos in baseball went a long way towards the Braves leading the league in runs in 1957.
One thing Mathews could do better then Aaron at this point in their careers was take a walk. Mathews was third in the National League with 90 walks and despite Aaron hitting 30 points higher then Mathews, Eddie finished with a higher OBP then Aaron. He finished fifth in the league in OBP (.387), sixth in slugging (.540), sixth in OPS (.927), fourth in runs (109), fifth in homeruns (32), and seventh in RBIs (94). Those are pretty solid numbers for the second best hitter on your team. All of this put Eddie Mathews in eighth place in the MVP voting.
If there was one thing Mathews didn’t do in 1957, it was hit lefties. He was a pretty poor .202/.312/.306 against lefties while he was all over right handed pitching, which he hit .317/.408/.605. He hit only one of his 32 against a left handed pitcher and he struck out almost as many times against lefties (39) as he did against righties (40) in almost 400 more plate appearances.
Eddie Mathews also hit pretty well in the clutch in 1957. He was .367/.500/.612 with runners in scoring position with two outs. All in all, you couldn’t ask for much more from your second best hitter in the lineup.
Here are Eddie Mathews’ final numbers in 1957
Games 148
AB 572
Runs 109
Hits 167
Doubles 28
Triples 9
Homeruns 32
RBIs 94
Walks 90
Strikeouts 79
Stolen Bases 3
Caught Stealing 1
BA .292
OBA .387
SLG% .540
OPS .927
RC 124
RCAA 58
RCAP 65
RC/G 8.05
ISO .248
