Christy Mathewson, baseball player, 1900-1916

Christy Mathewson

⭐ Hall of Fame 1936

Born: 8/12/1880 in Factoryville, PA, USA

Died: 10/7/1925 in Saranac Lake, NY, USA

MLB Debut: 1900-07-17 | Final Game: 1916-09-04

Bats: R | Throws: R | Height: 6'1" | Weight: 195 lbs

Full name: Christopher Mathewson

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Biography

Christy Mathewson was a legendary pitcher who played from 1900 until his retirement on September 4, 1916. Born in 1880, Mathewson established himself as one of the premier pitchers of his era, notably during the early 20th century when the game was transitioning from the deadball era to a more offensive style. Throughout his career, he compiled an impressive record of 373 wins and 188 losses, showcasing his dominance on the mound. Mathewson finished his career with an earned run average (ERA) of 2.13 and recorded 2,507 strikeouts, making him one of the most effective pitchers of his time. Mathewson's playing style was characterized by his exceptional control and ability to outthink hitters, often relying on his signature pitch, the "fadeaway." He was known for his sportsmanship and professionalism, earning the respect of fans and peers alike. His contributions to the game were recognized with his induction into the Hall of Fame in 1936, solidifying his legacy as one of baseball's all-time greats. Mathewson's impact on the sport transcended his statistics; he became a symbol of the game's integrity and excellence during a transformative period in baseball history.

Career Pitching Statistics

W L G GS CG SHO SV IP H ER HR BB SO ERA Pitcher PIV
373 188 636 552 435 79 29 4788.7 4219 1135 90 848 2507 2.13 0

Career ERA 2.13 vs. league average 2.92 across their career seasons — 27.0% better than league average.

Season-by-Season Pitching

Year Team Lg W L G GS CG SHO SV IP H ER BB SO ERA Lg ERA Pitcher PIV
1900 NY1 NL 0 3 6 1 1 0 0 33.7 37 19 20 15 5.08 3.68 (-38%) -652.7
1901 NY1 NL 20 17 40 38 36 5 0 336.0 288 90 97 221 2.41 3.49 (+31%) 7056.8
1902 NY1 NL 14 17 35 33 30 8 0 284.7 246 67 77 164 2.12 3.17 (+33%) 4573.6
1903 NY1 NL 30 13 45 42 37 3 2 366.3 321 92 100 267 2.26 3.10 (+27%) 7655.4
1904 NY1 NL 33 12 48 46 33 4 1 367.7 306 83 78 212 2.03 2.66 (+24%) 4772.9
1905 NY1 NL 31 9 43 37 32 8 3 338.7 252 48 64 206 1.28 2.82 (+55%) 7151.2
1906 NY1 NL 22 12 38 35 22 6 1 266.7 262 88 77 128 2.97 2.68 (-11%) 1514.2
1907 NY1 NL 24 12 41 36 31 8 2 315.0 250 70 53 178 2.00 2.50 (+20%) 6095.8
1908 NY1 NL 37 11 56 44 34 11 5 390.7 281 62 42 259 1.43 2.40 (+40%) 11564.6
1909 NY1 NL 25 6 37 33 26 8 2 275.3 192 35 36 149 1.14 2.55 (+55%) 6607.0
1910 NY1 NL 27 9 38 35 27 2 0 318.3 292 67 60 184 1.89 2.79 (+32%) 6803.6
1911 NY1 NL 26 13 45 37 29 5 3 307.0 303 68 38 141 1.99 3.37 (+41%) 7397.0
1912 NY1 NL 23 12 43 34 27 0 4 310.0 311 73 34 134 2.12 3.36 (+37%) 6315.5
1913 NY1 NL 25 11 40 35 25 4 2 306.0 291 70 21 93 2.06 3.07 (+33%) 4412.8
1914 NY1 NL 24 13 41 35 29 5 2 312.0 314 104 23 80 3.00 2.93 (-2%) 603.2
1915 NY1 NL 8 14 27 24 11 1 0 186.0 199 74 20 57 3.58 2.90 (-24%) 604.1
1916 NY1 NL 3 4 12 6 4 1 2 65.7 59 17 7 16 2.33 2.78 (+16%) -35.1
1916 CIN NL 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 9.0 15 8 1 3 8.00 2.78 (-188%) 0.0

Career Batting Statistics

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS PIV
647 1687 151 362 50 12 7 165 20 116 218 0.215 0.272 0.271 0.543 -4261.3

Career AVG .215 vs. league average .255 across their career seasons — 15.8% below league average.

Career OBP .272 vs. league average .317 across their career seasons — 14.3% below league average.

Career SLG .271 vs. league average .334 across their career seasons — 18.8% below league average.

Career OPS 0.543 vs. league average 0.651 across their career seasons — 16.6% below league average.

Season-by-Season Batting

Year Team Lg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO AVG Lg AVG Lg OBP Lg SLG Lg OPS PIV
1900 NY1 NL 6 11 1 2 2 0 0 1 0 1 2 0.182 — — — — 0.0
1901 NY1 NL 42 130 10 28 0 1 0 7 1 2 25 0.215 .271 (-21%) .326 (-30%) .359 (-36%) .686 (-33%) -723.3
1902 NY1 NL 43 130 10 26 3 0 2 12 2 6 16 0.200 .266 (-25%) .321 (-23%) .343 (-22%) .665 (-23%) -476.9
1903 NY1 NL 45 124 13 28 3 0 1 20 1 8 14 0.226 .261 (-14%) .316 (-12%) .345 (-21%) .662 (-17%) -316.9
1904 NY1 NL 48 133 15 30 5 3 0 17 3 9 26 0.226 .246 (-9%) .300 (-7%) .321 (-4%) .622 (-6%) -128.5
1905 NY1 NL 44 127 13 30 5 0 2 16 2 10 12 0.236 .248 (-5%) .307 (avg) .322 (avg) .629 (avg) 22.3
1906 NY1 NL 38 91 6 24 4 1 0 14 0 9 16 0.264 .247 (+7%) .307 (+7%) .315 (+5%) .622 (+6%) 89.5
1907 NY1 NL 41 107 8 20 3 1 0 7 1 5 12 0.187 .245 (-24%) .304 (-18%) .308 (-24%) .613 (-21%) -333.1
1908 NY1 NL 56 129 11 20 2 2 0 11 0 9 12 0.155 .240 (-36%) .298 (-26%) .306 (-34%) .605 (-30%) -588.2
1909 NY1 NL 37 95 9 25 4 1 1 12 0 4 9 0.263 .244 (+8%) .306 (-4%) .312 (+15%) .618 (+5%) 36.8
1910 NY1 NL 38 107 9 25 5 1 1 10 1 12 13 0.234 .249 (-6%) .317 (avg) .326 (avg) .644 (avg) 7.5
1911 NY1 NL 45 112 12 22 2 0 0 12 2 5 13 0.196 .266 (-26%) .336 (-29%) .356 (-40%) .693 (-35%) -660.4
1912 NY1 NL 43 110 14 29 4 1 0 10 2 6 8 0.264 .268 (-2%) .335 (-8%) .358 (-11%) .694 (-10%) -191.0
1913 NY1 NL 40 103 7 19 0 0 0 9 1 8 13 0.184 .259 (-29%) .325 (-25%) .345 (-47%) .670 (-36%) -587.7
1914 NY1 NL 41 105 8 23 3 1 0 4 4 11 12 0.219 .255 (-14%) .322 (-9%) .339 (-21%) .661 (-15%) -247.8
1915 NY1 NL 27 51 3 8 4 0 0 1 0 7 11 0.157 .250 (-37%) .318 (-15%) .332 (-29%) .651 (-22%) -163.6
1916 NY1 NL 12 17 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 4 4 0.000 — — — — 0.0
1916 CIN NL 1 5 1 3 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0.600 — — — — 0.0

Postseason Statistics

Playoff Career Batting

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
11 32 2 9 0 0 0 1 3 8 0.281

Playoff Batting by Year

Year Round Team G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
1913 WS NY1 2 5 1 3 0 0 0 1 1 0 0.600
1912 WS NY1 3 12 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 4 0.167
1911 WS NY1 3 7 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 3 0.286
1905 WS NY1 3 8 1 2 0 0 0 0 1 1 0.250

Playoff Career Pitching

W L G GS SV IP H ER BB SO ERA
5 5 11 11 0 101.7 75 11 10 48 0.97

Playoff Pitching by Year

Year Round Team W L G GS SV IP H ER BB SO ERA
1913 WS NY1 1 1 2 2 0 19.0 14 2 2 7 0.95
1912 WS NY1 0 2 3 3 0 28.7 23 3 5 10 0.94
1911 WS NY1 1 2 3 3 0 27.0 25 6 2 13 2.00
1905 WS NY1 3 0 3 3 0 27.0 13 0 1 18 0.00

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Position G GS PO A E DP
1B 3 0 27 2 4 2
OF 4 0 5 1 0 1
P 636 266 281 1503 53 41

Season-by-Season Fielding

Year Team Pos G GS PO A E DP
1900 NY1 P 6 0 1 9 0 0
1901 NY1 P 40 0 21 108 1 1
1902 NY1 1B 3 0 27 2 4 2
1902 NY1 OF 4 0 5 1 0 1
1902 NY1 P 35 0 17 79 7 5
1903 NY1 P 45 0 18 93 3 0
1904 NY1 P 48 46 32 116 6 0
1905 NY1 P 43 37 15 116 4 4
1906 NY1 P 38 35 15 90 1 1
1907 NY1 P 41 36 16 87 6 0
1908 NY1 P 56 44 27 141 2 1
1909 NY1 P 37 33 19 96 4 3
1910 NY1 P 38 35 12 114 4 6
1911 NY1 P 45 0 31 107 2 2
1912 NY1 P 43 0 15 74 4 4
1913 NY1 P 40 0 13 100 3 3
1914 NY1 P 41 0 15 91 5 7
1915 NY1 P 27 0 8 54 1 3
1916 NY1 P 12 0 5 25 0 1
1916 CIN P 1 0 1 3 0 0

Career Games by Position

Position Games
Pitcher 636
First Base 3
Left Field 1
Right Field 3

Awards & Honors

Year Award Notes
1914 Baseball Magazine All-Star P2
1914 Baseball Magazine All-Star P2
1913 Baseball Magazine All-Star P2
1913 Baseball Magazine All-Star P1
1912 Baseball Magazine All-Star P2
1911 Baseball Magazine All-Star P2
1911 Baseball Magazine All-Star P1
1910 Baseball Magazine All-Star P2
1910 Baseball Magazine All-Star P1
1909 Baseball Magazine All-Star P1
1909 Baseball Magazine All-Star P1
1908 Baseball Magazine All-Star P2
1908 Baseball Magazine All-Star P2
1908 Pitching Triple Crown
1905 Pitching Triple Crown

Featured In Rankings

#9
Top 25 Starting Pitchers in History of MLB Baseball
Ranked 9 of 25
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College History

School Name City State Years Attended
Bucknell University Lewisburg PA 1899

Award Voting History

Year Award League Finish Points Won Points Max Votes First
1914 Most Valuable Player NL 16th 4.0 64 0
1913 Most Valuable Player NL 4th 21.0 64 0
1912 Most Valuable Player NL 12th 8.0 64 0
1911 Most Valuable Player NL 2nd 25.0 64 0