In 1899, Mathewson left college and signed to play professional baseball with Taunton of the New England League. The next season, he moved on to play on the Norfolk team of the Virginia-North Carolina League. He finished that season with a 20-2 record.3
In July of that year, the New York Giants purchased his contract from Norfolk for $1,500.4.3 Between July and December of 1900 Mathewson appeared in six games for the Giants. He started one of those games and compiled a 0-3 record. Displeased with his performance, the Giants returned him to Norfolk and demanded their money back.3 Later that month, the Cincinnati Reds drafted Mathewson in the Rule 5 draft.
During his 17-year career, Mathewson won 373 games and lost 188. His career ERA of 2.13 and 79 career shutouts are amongst the best all-time for pitchers. Employing a good fastball, outstanding control, and, especially, a new pitch he termed the "fadeaway" (later known in baseball as the "screwball"), which he learned from teammate Dave Williams in 1898, Mathewson recorded 2,502 career strikeouts against 844 walks. He is famous for his pitching duels with Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown, who won most of the duels against Mathewson.
Mathewson in NY uniform.
Mathewson's Giants won the 1905 World Series over the Philadelphia Athletics. Mathewson was the starting pitcher in Game 1, and pitched a 4-hit shutout for the victory. Three days later, with the series tied 1-1, he pitched another 4-hit shutout. Then, two days later in Game 5, he threw a 6-hit shutout to clinch the series for the Giants. In a span of only six days, Mathewson had pitched three complete games without allowing a run.
The 1905 World Series capped an impressive year for Mathewson as he had already won the National League Triple Crown for pitchers, and threw the second no-hitter of his career. He claimed the Triple Crown again in 1908, and by the time he left the Giants, the team had captured four more National League pennants, in addition to the aforementioned 1905 appearance in the World Series.1
Along with his brother Henry Mathewson, he holds the major league record for combined wins by brothers playing for the same team: Christy 373, Henry 0.
Three years with the Reds
On July 20, 1916, Mathewson's career came full circle when he was traded to the Cincinnati Reds along with Edd Roush. He won one game with the Reds and served as their manager for the next three seasons.
Mathewson and Brown wrapped their respective careers by squaring off on September 4, 1916. The game was billed as the final meeting between the two old baseball warriors. The high-scoring game was a win for Mathewson's Reds over Brown's Cubs.
Mathewson in Giants uniform.
WWI and after
In 1918, Mathewson enlisted in the United States Army for World War I. He served overseas as a Captain in the newly formed Chemical Service along with Ty Cobb. While in France, during a training exercise he was accidentally gassed and consequently developed tuberculosis.1 Although he returned to serve as a coach for the Giants from 1919–1920, he spent a good portion of that time in Saranac Lake fighting the illness, initially at the Trudeau Sanitorium, and later in a house that he had built.3 In 1923, Mathewson got back into professional baseball when he served as part-time president of the Boston Braves.
Death and legacy
Mathewson's private "cure cottage" in Saranac Lake
In a fight between starts, Mathewson was injured after being punched in the gut during an exhibition fight used to make money between starts. An errant blow caused him to contract the Spanish Flu.
Singer/pianist/songwriter Dave Frishberg's song "Matty" is a sentimental tribute to Christy. The song may be found on Frishberg's albums, Quality Time, Let's Eat Home plus a live version on Retromania: At the Jazz Bakery, which contains other baseball related songs). Frishberg's liner notes and occasional commentary to his audience help explain the background to many of these songs.
In 1936, Christy Mathewson was voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame as one of the famous "First Five" inductees into the HOF, along with Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson and Honus Wagner.
His jersey, denoted as "NY", has been retired by the Giants and hangs in the left-field corner of AT&T Park. Uniform numbers were not used in those days.
In 1999, he ranked number 7 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, the highest-ranking National League pitcher.
ESPN selected his pitching performance in the 1905 World Series as the greatest playoff performance of all time.6 During WW II, a 422 foot Liberty Ship named in his honor, SS Christy Mathewson, was built in Richmond, CA in 1943.
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