Mike Matheny was a career .239 hitter during his Major League Baseball playing days and he was also known as a hard-nosed catcher and one piece of proof in that regard is a video from back in the day when he was with the Brewers, taking a fastball to the face and not even reacting, showing off some toughness.
According to Deadspin, who posted the video from MLB.com, Matheny was playing back in 1998 with Milwaukee against the Pittsburgh Pirates and the situation was Matheny up at bat down 2-1 when he was facing Rich Loiselle. Matheny took a hard fastball right to the grill and instead of going down to the ground, writhing in pain or yelling or even reacting, the tough guy just stands there with his hand on his bat, waiting aside as the catcher and umpire calls over the medical staff to check him out.
The post says that according to MLB.com, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported the pitch at 90 mph and others have it faster, but either way, Matheny took one to the grill and took it like a man. The video shows Matheny walking away from home plate and spitting out blood and after that he was pulled out of the game. The Deadspin post plays out the rest of the game and part of it rested on Matheny's toughness, as he took the pitch and then Bobby Hughes took his base to run for him.
After that the team got a single to get home two runs and they won the game and Deadspin writes that Matheny was taken to the hospital and had stitches and he also lost teeth. Matheny then showed his toughness again, catching all 10 innings the next day.
Click here for the video from MLB.com.
MLB.com also had an exchange between Matheny and his friend Jeff Cirillo after the game:
"After the game, Matheny approached Jeff Cirillo, a fellow '91 Draft pick and his oldest friend in the organization.
"He comes over to me and asks if he went down," Cirillo said. "With an open mouth, I said, 'No.'
"And he said, 'Good.'"
