Born in Midland, Matt was a stand-out player at Bay City Western high school (three-time all-state) before playing ball for the Western Michigan Broncos, where he earned All-American honors three times and set 11 school records (a handful of which stand to this day!).
He was selected by Oakland in the 20th round of the 1989 draft, but chose not to sign and was chosen a year later by the Padres in the 17th round. Matt toiled at the Single-A level in the Padres system until being traded (along with Ricky Bones and Jose Valentin) to Milwaukee in 1992 for Geoff Kellogg and Gary Sheffield. A year later, Matt broke into the Bigs and spent the next four years with the Brewers.
From there came stints with the Cubs, Seattle, Houston and Arizona before Matt hung up his cleats following the 2000 season. In his 8-year, 663-game career, Mieske played exclusively as an outfielder and hit .262/.318/.434 with 56 home runs and 226 RBI.
In an interview a few years ago, Matt recalled his most memorable moment – which occurred during his one season in Chicago. At the end of the 1998 season, the Cubs found themselves tied with the Giants for the final playoff spot. In the sixth inning of the tie-breaking game, with the bases loaded, Matt came in to pinch-hit for Henry Rodriguez. He came through with a two-run single, putting the Cubs ahead 4-0, and that hit would ultimately be the deciding factor in sending the Cubs to the playoffs because the Giants fought back to score three runs in the top of the ninth.
Although never a Tiger, Matt is nevertheless one of Michigan’s baseball heroes. Thanks for signing, Matt!
Received: 14 February 2019
Time: 12 days
2019 TTM Stats
Sent: 3
Received: 1
Success Rate: 33%
