Matchick played professional baseball for 15 years from 1962 to 1976 as a shortstop, third baseman, second baseman and utility infielder. He was named the top all-star in the International League on four occasions. He played parts of six seasons in Major League Baseball for the Detroit Tigers (1967–1969), Boston Red Sox (1970), Kansas City Royals (1970), Milwaukee Brewers (1971), and Baltimore Orioles (1972). In his six major league seasons, Matchick compiled a .215 batting average with four home runs and 64 runs batted in in 292 games.\n', '

Matchick appeared in 80 games for the 1968 Detroit Tigers team that won the World Series. The UPI wrote in July 1968 that his two-run walk-off home run against the Baltimore Orioles "looms as the biggest blow so far in the 1968 pennant races" and called him the Tigers\' most unlikely hero since Floyd Giebell in 1940.\n', '

Matchick was born in 1943 in Hazleton, Pennsylvania. His father, John Wesley Matchick was a crane operator for Bethlehem Steel Corporation. He attended Hazleton-Freeland High School where he starred in both baseball and football. Matchick did not play baseball in high school but was discovered playing Junior American Legion baseball.\n', '

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