Member of A’s ‘Five Aces’ had ‘amazing mind’
Matt Keough, one of the A’s “Five Aces” in the early ’80s and later a strong resource in Oakland’s front office, died Friday in Southern California. He was 64. The cause of death has not been determined. “He was a great competitor, and I just really enjoyed being around him and being his teammate,” fellow A’s starter Rick Langford said. “I was proud to call him my friend. I’m so sad he’s gone.”
Keough, the son of former bigleague outfielder Marty Keough and nephew of outfielder Joe Keough, had been living in Southern California after retiring from baseball. He spent 15 years working as a scout and an adviser for the A’s after his playing days.
“Matt was a tremendous baseball man who was always great to be around,” said Royals senior director of pro scouting Gene Watson, a close friend of Keough’s. “He had an amazing mind for the game and incredible work ethic. When you watched a game with him, it was impossible not to learn something new from him
every time.”
Keough was an AllStar in 1978 as a rookie and on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1981 along with the rest of the A’s starting staff, Mike Norris, Langford, Steve McCatty and Brian Kingman.
“We were competitive amongst ourselves, but we didn’t verbalize it,” Norris said. “Matt probably had the most well thoughtout game plan of any of us. He was a student of the game and he had great knowledge. He grew up around it with his dad and uncle.
“And he signed as a shortstop — he didn’t hit that well, but he had a great arm so they put him on the mound, and the way he made the adjustment was incredible. Obviously, he was a great athlete, to say the least.”
“To be a part of a team with a rotation staff like that was incredible,” said Shooty Babitt, an infielder on that team and now a scout and broadcaster for the A’s, adding that Keough was one of the best players to go to for information. “He would always sit down and talk to you about baseball. Matt was really ahead of his time when it came to analytics. The dude was a baseball genius, especially the way he looked at pitching.
“Matt was smart and fun and brutally honest — you didn’t ask him something if you didn’t want to know the answer. He definitely was a joy to be around, just like his father.”
Over the course of a nineyear career with the A’s, Yankees, Cardinals, Cubs and Astros, Keough went 5884 with a 4.17 ERA — and pitched 53 complete games, 20 of them in 1980 alone.
“Matt achieved things in baseball in terms of innings pitched and complete games that no pitcher will achieve again,” former Cubs general manager Ed Lynch said. “A brilliant baseball mind. My heart goes out to Marty and the rest of Matt’s family.”
In 1982, Keough endured a rough season, losing a leaguehigh 18 games. “He was one of the better pitchers in the league, and he handled that with so much class and professionalism,” Norris said. “I admired that about him. He was a special person, he really was.”
“He had a lot of consecutive losses, not because he wasn’t pitching well — he was,” Langford said. “Something always seemed to go wrong, but he never complained. He just kept working, he competed and was just a great teammate.”
An attempted comeback with the Angels in the spring of 1992 ended when Keough was struck in the head by a foul line drive at Scottsdale Stadium and was nearly killed. He joined Oakland’s front office in 1990 and was instrumental in drafting some of the A’s top players in the 2000s, including Huston Street, Joe Blanton and Nick
Swisher. Keough later worked for the Angels and Rays, and he pitched for the Hanshin Tigers in Japan from 1987 through ’90.
In the past 15 years, Keough had legal issues, including a threemonth stint in jail after a drunkendriving incident in which he injured a pedestrian.
He is survived by his children, former A’s minorleaguer Shane, Kara and Colton. The Keoughs appeared on the first season of “The Real Housewives of Orange County” with Keough’s exwife, Jeana.
“Matt was a great baseball man and a proud Oakland A,” vice president of baseball operations Billy Beane said in a statement. “He had an incredible passion for the game and we were lucky to have him and his wealth of knowledge alongside us for the years he worked as a special assistant. He left an unforgettable impression on everyone he touched in baseball. Our sincere condolences are with the entire Keough family.”
“Matt achieved things in baseball in terms of innings pitched and complete games that no pitcher will achieve again.”
Ed Lynch, former Cubs general manager and majorleague pitcher, on Matt Keough