Christy Mathewson

Pitcher

Class of 1936

Christy Mathewson

Pitcher

Class of 1936
One of baseball’s earliest role models, Christy Mathewson used the fadeaway – the modern-day screwball – to win 373 games.

Games

Birth year

About Christy Mathewson

He was the first great pitching star of the modern era, and is still the standard by which greatness is measured.

Christy Mathewson changed the way people perceived baseball players by his actions on and off the field. His combination of power and poise – his tenacity and temperance – remains baseball’s ideal.

Born Aug. 12, 1880 in Factoryville, Pa., Mathewson attended Bucknell University and played on the school’s baseball and football teams. He signed his first pro baseball contract in 1899 – a rarity for a college-educated player in that era – and in 1900 went from the New York Giants to the Cincinnati Reds and back to the Giants in a round of deals that included a trade for future Hall of Fame pitcher Amos Rusie.

Using his famous “fadeaway” pitch – what today would be called a screwball – the 6-foot-1, 195-pound right-hander baffled batters with pinpoint control. He won 20 games in his first full big league season in 1901, posted at least 30 wins a season from 1903-05 and led the National League in strikeouts five times between 1903 and 1908.

He set a modern era record for wins by an NL pitcher with 37 in 1908, a year when he completed 34 of his 44 starts en route to more than 390 innings pitched.

In the postseason, Mathewson pitched three shutouts in three starts in the 1905 World Series.

“He could pitch into a tin cup,” said Hall of Fame second baseman Johnny Evers.

From 1903-14, Mathewson never won fewer than 22 games in a season and led the NL in ERA five times.

As his career wound down, Mathewson was traded back to the Reds in 1916, finishing his career on Sept. 4 of that year in a match-up against longtime rival Three Finger Brown. In 17 seasons, Mathewson finished with 373 wins against just 188 losses – a figure that leaves him tied with Grover Cleveland Alexander for the most wins in NL history and third-most all-time.

In 1918, Mathewson enlisted in the Army during World War I. While serving as a captain in France, he was accidentally gassed during a training exercise. He spent the next seven years battling tuberculosis and passed away on Oct. 7, 1925.

He was one of the first five players elected to the Hall of Fame in 1936.

“He had knowledge, judgment, perfect control and form,” said Hall of Fame manager Connie Mack of Mathewson. “It was wonderful to watch him pitch – when he wasn’t pitching against you.”

The Basics

Year inducted
1936
Birth Place
Factoryville, Pennsylvania
Birth Year
1880
Died
1925, Saranac Lake New York

Career at a Glance

Primary Team
New York Giants
Primary Position
Pitcher
Played For
New York Giants, 1900-1916
Cincinnati Reds, 1916

Career MLB Stats

Games
636
Wins
373
Losses
188
Winning %
.665
Saves
30
Hits
4,219
Walks
848
Runs
1,620
Games Started
552
Innings Pitched
4,788
Completed Games
435
Shutouts
79
Earned Runs
1,135
Strikeouts
2,507
ERA
2.13
WHIP
1.058

Christy Mathewson Stories

Explore the archives and go deep into the lives, careers, and stories of the Hall of Fame's honorees.

Christy Mathewson: The First Face of Baseball

#Shortstops: Striking Mathewson

A sweater for Big Six

Longtime rivals Christy Mathewson and Mordecai Brown face off one last time

Giants changed history by trading for Mathewson

#GoingDeep: Christy Mathewson, Helene Britton and the theater

#Shortstops: Christy Mathewson, Insurance Agent

#Shortstops: Father and Son

Mathewson Throws Third Shutout in Series to Take Title

Rare Christy Mathewson bat added to Hall of Fame collection