Leonard Matarazzo (b. September 12, 1928 in New Castle, PA – d. June 19, 2015 in New Castle, PA) was an American professional baseball player.

Len Matarazzo was originally signed with the Chicago White Sox following his discharge from the United States Navy in late 1948. He was acquired by the Philadelphia Athletics organization before the 1949 season as part of a minor league working agreement.

The hard throwing right-hander spent the next three seasons (1949-1951) in the low minor leagues, winning only 17 games and losing 32, before catching fire and going 22-8 with a 2.21 ERA while pitching 252 innings for the Fayetteville Athletics of the class B Carolina League in 1952. His league-leading 22 wins for the last-place Fayetteville club not only put him on the All-Star team but won him the league's MVP award.

In a September call-up to the Philadelphia Athletics that year, Matarazzo only tasted one inning of his sip of Major League coffee. He pitched one-hit, one-walk ball in relief of Marion Fricano in the 8th inning of the A's loss to the Boston Red Sox in the first game of a double-header on September 6, 1952. In addition to being Matarazzo's only game in the majors, it was also Fricano's debut.

Over the next two years, Len suffered through some tough luck that set back his career quite considerably. In 1953, a case of food poisoning kept him inactive for a lengthy period and he fell to a 6-14 record with the same Fayetteville club he had done so well with the previous year.

In 1954, he was seriously injured in an automobile accident that allowed him only 13 appearances with the Savannah Athletics and Portsmouth Merrimacs. He ended his pro baseball career at the age of 25 in 1954, with an overall 47-61 minor league record with a 4.35 ERA while appearing in 199 games.

Matarazzo made his home in his native New Castle, PA, and retired in 1982 after 25 years as an engineer and later as a foreman of engineers for the Long Island Railroad. He was inducted into the Lawrence County Sports Hall of Fame in 2019.

Len was also featured in a book written by Richard Tellis, “Once Around the Bases: Bittersweet Memories of Only One Game in the Majors.” The book tells stories of 40 men who have one thing in common — a Major League Baseball career that consisted of exactly one game.

(excerpted from Baseball Almanac, BR Bullpen & Wikipedia)