caption finalyear bats birth_place debutyear finaldate statvalue position finalteam statlabel debutdate birth_date image article_title debutteam name throws
morris with the st. louis cardinals 2008 right middletown , new york 1997 april 26 121 -- 92 3.98 1,205 pitcher pittsburgh pirates win -- loss record earned run average strikeouts june 4 9 august 1974 matt morris.jpg matt morris -lrb- baseball -rrb-
 st. louis cardinals matt morris right
matt morris -lrb- baseball -rrb-

matthew christian morris -lrb- born august 9 , 1974 -rrb- is a former major league baseball right-handed starting pitcher .
he retired on april 30 , .
morris attended valley central high school in new york before attending seton hall university , where he played baseball for the pirates under head coach mike sheppard .
he was drafted 12th overall in the june free agent draft by the st. louis cardinals .
morris pitched in the minor leagues in and .
in 1996 , led the texas league with 4 shutouts while pitching for the double-a arkansas travelers and led all cardinal minor league pitchers with 175 innings pitched .
in 1997 , he reached the majors after only one game at triple-a louisville .
in his first season , he won 12 games with a 3.19 era and finished tied for second in the rookie of the year voting , behind scott rolen .
in , he underwent tommy john surgery after he was injured in spring training .
morris became the ace of the cardinals ' pitching staff in , earning his first all-star selection and a 3rd-place finish in the nl cy young voting .
he won 22 games with 185 strikeouts and a 3.16 era .
in , he won 17 games and made his second all-star appearance .
in , morris signed a one-year contract after he won 15 games on a cardinals team that made the world series .
in 2004 , he lost 10 games for the first time in his career and had a 4.72 era , also a career high .
morris underwent surgery during the 2004 / off-season and started the season 8-0 with a 3.16 era , and was 10-2 with a 3.10 era at the time of the all-star break .
in fact , he was considered by many to be snubbed for the all-star game .
morris went 4-7 with a 5.55 era after the all-star break .
he was the number three starter for the cardinals in the playoffs , behind ace chris carpenter , and mark mulder .
in the thin free-agent market of the 2005 / off-season , morris was touted as one of the best available pitchers .
on december 12 , 2005 , morris signed a 3-year contract with the san francisco giants worth $ 27 million .
he had an injury-filled year with the giants in 2006 , going 10-15 with a 4.98 era .
prior to the season , morris changed his uniform number from 35 , which he had worn for his entire career , to wear number 22 as a tribute to retired former teammate mike matheny .
rich aurilia took the number 35 jersey .
on july 31 , 2007 , morris was traded to the pittsburgh pirates for center field prospect rajai davis and pitcher stephen macfarland .
morris started off the 2008 season with a 0-4 record and a 9.67 era in 5 starts .
on april 27 , 2008 , morris was released by the pirates .
he retired three days later .
morris married the former heather reader on december 7 , 2002 and together they have four children .
