January 13, 2020

By Kevin Glew

Canadian Baseball Network

To say Scott Mathieson is popular in Japan is an understatement.

All you have to do is go back and watch the photographers scrambling for positions at his retirement press conference in October, or view footage of legendary Japanese catcher, Abe Shinnosuke, presenting the Canadian right-hander with flowers at the same event, to see how beloved he is.

For more evidence, you can read the flood of congratulatory messages from his thousands of Japanese Twitter followers or purchase a “Thanks Scott” t-shirt that was manufactured to commemorate his career.

Yes, it’s clear that this mighty but modest Canuck captured the hearts of thousands of Japanese baseball fans during his lengthy tenure in their country, and Mathieson would tell you the feeling is mutual. The Aldergrove, B.C., native announced his retirement after eight seasons with the Japan Central League’s (JPCL) Yomiuri Giants – the country’s equivalent of the New York Yankees – in the fall.

“I don’t know how I developed such a bond with the fans,” said Mathieson at the press conference prior to Baseball Canada’s National Teams Awards Banquet on Saturday. “I think maybe it’s because I always tried to treat everyone with respect and make time for the fans that wanted autographs. The success [on the field] also helped and I think being Canadian helped . . . I think that our cultures are a little bit similar with the [emphasis on] politeness and respect.”

On the field with the Giants, the hard-throwing reliever, who fastball touched 100 mph in his prime, posted a 2.46 ERA and struck out 492 batters in 431 innings in 421 appearances. He was twice named the JPCL’s best reliever and he helped lead the Giants to four JPCL pennants and one Japan Series championship.

Along the way, Mathieson turned down multiple opportunities to leave the Giants and sign with a big league club.

“I had big league offers and it’s one of those things where they were good offers and I grew up my whole life dreaming of playing in the big leagues, but my best memories from baseball aren’t from the big leagues, they’re from Japan and playing for Team Canada,” explained Mathieson. “It’s one of those things where the offers just weren’t enough to pull me away from the great situation I was in in Japan.”

Mathieson’s loyalty and mound prowess made him not only the most successful Canadian ever to toe the rubber in Japan, but also one of the best relievers in JPCL history.

Becoming a dominant pitcher in Japan is not something that Mathieson would’ve envisioned when he was growing up in Aldergrove, B.C. His father, Doug, is the highly respected general manager of the Langley Blaze, which is recognized as one of the best baseball programs in Canada. So Mathieson had excellent coaching and by his teens his powerful right arm was attracting the attention of scouts.

He would compete for the Canadian Junior National Team in 2001 and 2002, which boosted his profile as a prospect, as well as his confidence and the Philadelphia Phillies selected him in the 17th round of the 2002 MLB draft.

Armed with a fastball that regularly registered in the high 90s, he gradually evolved into one of the club’s top prospects. After going 10-3 with a 3.40 ERA in 19 combined starts between double-A and triple-A to begin 2006, Mathieson was called up to make his major league debut on June 17 against the Tampa Bay Rays. He had a solid outing, allowing four runs and striking out five batters in six innings. Unfortunately, less than three months later, in his ninth big league appearance, he tore the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow and was forced to undergo Tommy John surgery.

That would be his first of three major elbow surgeries that sidelined him for the bulk of 2007 and 2008. When he finally returned in 2009, he flourished as a reliever at three minor league levels, posting a 0.84 ERA while fanning 34 in 32 1/3 innings.

In 2010, he served as the closer for the Phillies' triple-A Lehigh Valley IronPigs and notched 26 saves and a 2.80 ERA in 54 contests and earned a big league call up in September. The following campaign he was used as a reliever and a starter in triple-A and posted a 3.28 ERA in 30 appearances before tossing five scoreless innings for the Phillies in September.

By this time, Mathieson had grown disillusioned with his status in the Phillies organization and after the 2011 season, he was sold to the JPCL’s Giants.

“I think I went over to Japan excited for the opportunity. I didn’t look at it as trying to get back to the big leagues. I went over with a clean slate and I had just come off three elbow surgeries and I finally made it back,” shared Mathieson. “I went over there with an open mind and I really enjoyed the culture and the people and it worked out.”

Mathieson says one of his most memorable moments in Japan was the first time he pitched for the Giants at the Tokyo Dome. He compares the atmosphere there to that at an American college football game or European soccer game. He says there’s a band that plays, there are cheerleaders and the fans are standing and cheering the whole game.

“At my first game at the Tokyo Dome, there were 50,000 fans there and the fans were so much fun,” said Mathieson. “That’s a game I won’t forget.”

The Canuck hurler is particularly proud of his first two seasons with the Giants. He posted 1.71 and 1.03 ERAs respectively in those two campaigns and averaged 10.8 strikeouts per nine innings in 103 appearances.

“The first two years in Japan were just unbelievable, everything finally clicked for me,” said Mathieson. “Everything that I had worked for my whole career finally came together.”

And despite three surgeries prior to coming to Japan, Mathieson’s elbow proved to be incredibly durable. It allowed him to average 60 relief appearances a season over his first six campaigns and evolve into one of the JPCL’s most reliable relievers.

Unfortunately a knee injury hampered him over the past two seasons and it was one of the key reasons that the now 35-year-old opted to end his pro career. The biggest motive for his retirement, however, is that he wants to spend more time with his wife, Jennifer, and their two young children, son, Lane, and daughter, Brooke, who are 7 and 4 respectively.

“I think the biggest part of it was my family because I felt like I was missing a lot of stuff,” said Mathieson. “With my kids in school, I don’t want to be an absentee father. I want to be very involved in their lives growing up. I was very fortunate that my father was very involved when I was growing up. And part of it was also my knee. I had 57 injections this year just to get me through the year. I need a knee replacement. So it took a toll on me.”

But though he has retired from his pro career, Mathieson has continued to pitch for the Canadian national team to try to help them qualify for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Mathieson toed the rubber for Canada at WBSC Premier12 tournament in November, but the Canuck squad failed to qualify. They will have another chance at the WBSC Baseball Americas Qualifier in Arizona that will take place from March 22 to 26. Mathieson’s goal is to finish his pitching career with Canada at the Olympics in Japan.

“It would just be icing on the cake to finish my career in Japan, where the bulk of my success was,” said Mathieson. “It would just be a lot of fun to be able to finish over there. I’m fortunate that I have a lot of Japanese fans over there that I would love to pitch in front of again.”

Mathieson now resides in Cal Pasco County, Fla., just north of Tampa Bay, but he hopes to visit Canada more in retirement. He’s a regular at Baseball Canada’s National Teams Awards Banquet in Toronto every January. This year he received the organization’s Larry J. Pearson Alumni Award.

“I try to come back [to the banquet] as much as I can,” said Mathieson. “It’s just great to see all of the guys. And I also get to meet some of the young players and some of the young kids coming up. It’s nice to see the torch being passed and Baseball Canada has been such a important part of my career that I like to come up and support them as much as I can.”

Once he settles into retirement. Mathieson hopes to visit the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in St. Marys, Ont. The Canuck ball shrine recently asked Mathieson for some game-used items from his career for their collection and Mathieson obliged, delivering a Giants jersey, a glove, a hat and a pair of his spikes to Scott Crawford, the Hall’s director of operations, on Saturday.

“Every piece of equipment I had in Japan had a maple leaf with the No. 20, so from Day 1 when I was over there, I wanted people to know that I was Canadian. I wanted to represent Canada whenever I could,” said Mathieson. “I’m very proud to be a Canadian and if I can show it off in any small way I do.”

Mathieson is hopeful that his success might help more Canadian pitchers land jobs in Japan in the future.

“I’m hoping that it will open doors for other Canadians to go over there,” said Mathieson. “[Andrew] Albers is over there and doing a great job. Hopefully a lot of young guys will have success in the big leagues, but if they don’t, Japan is another avenue for them, another way for them to make a career.”

But Mathieson has set the bar pretty high. He is easily the most successful Canadian to pitch in the Japanese pro ranks, and his fans there clearly love him for that, as well as for his loyalty and modesty.

For his part, Mathieson will always be thankful for the support he received from those fans.

“Playing in Japan was a lot of fun,” added Mathieson. “The fans were great and I’ll never forget my time there.”