Mathews at the Bamboo

Eddie Mathews at bat in 1954.

As much as I like Chipper Jones, and I do, my all-time favorite third baseman for the Braves is still Eddie Mathews. In some small part that's because I met Mathews in the Bamboo Café, in the late-'80s. As this week the Bamboo is celebrating its 50th anniversary, it brought this little story to mind.  

It goes back to when I was publishing a periodical called Slant. The episode took place when I was at the Bamboo to drop off its regular stack of copies of the newest issue. So it was on a Thursday, probably about 3 p.m. Maybe I was running a little ahead of schedule on a hot day, because I took the liberty to stay and have a quick, thirst-quenching beer. 

At that pre-happy hour time there weren't many customers on hand. By habit, I stood at my usual spot close to the corner of the old marble bar, facing the back of the room. Maybe I should call that particular area the "Lee Huband Elbow." 

Anyway, as I remember it, there were three or four chatting regulars there in a booth and one guy, alone, seated at the bar. He looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t place him. He wore glasses and had the hands of a bricklayer. There was a big-ass ring on one finger. He looked sort of like a quiet character in an Edward Hopper painting. 

Then it hit me, that's Eddie Mathews! He was one of my heroes when I was a Little Leaguer, so I had to speak to him. 

Like, this was the batter who was on the cover of the first issue of Sports Illustrated! As we talked baseball lore, no one else in the bar seemed to have have any idea who he was, which seemed almost sad to me. 

The Hall-of-Famer told me he was a roving batting instructor for the Braves, so he was in town for a couple of days. I complemented him on being able to find a cool bar in an unfamiliar town. He laughed and said he had always been pretty good at that. 

Mathews was friendly and soft-spoken. He smiled naturally and seemed happy enough to talk with a guy who remembered him as a player. No swagger or bragging stories. 

After my beer, I shook hands with Eddie and went on to my next delivery location. Never saw him again.

Happy 50th birthday, Bamboo Café. At the party a glass should be raised to Eddie Mathews and to longtime baseball fan and Bamboo regular, the late Lee Huband. 

-- 30 --