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.

Get all the latest stats, fantasy news, videos and more on Major League Baseball pitcher Christy Mathewson at MLB.com.

There's only one Christy I know at all, one Christy that I ever saw. He's the one that discovered the fadeaway ball and he pitches for Muggsy McGraw.--RING LARDNER It was in 1903, a century ago, that John McGraw and Christy Mathewson were on the Giants for their first full season together. In many ways, that was the start of baseball as we would come to know it.

Mathewson personified baseball’s gradual shift from a degenerate to a respectable, even wholesome, game.

Read up on Christy Mathewson's biography, career, awards and more on ESPN.com.

Christy Mathewson baseball stats with batting stats, pitching stats and fielding stats, along with uniform numbers, salaries, quotes, career stats and biographical data presented by Baseball Almanac.

In the time when Giants walked the earth and roamed the Polo Grounds, none was more honored than Christy Mathewson. Delivering all four of his pitches, including his famous "fadeaway" (now called a screwball), with impeccable control and an easy motion, the right-handed Mathewson was the greatest pitcher of the Deadball Era's first decade, compiling a 2.13 ERA over 17 seasons and setting modern National League records for wins in a season (37), wins in a career (373), and consecutive 20-win seasons (12). Aside from his pitching achievements, he was the greatest all-around hero of the Deadball Era, a handsome, college-educated man who lifted the rowdy world of baseball to gentlemanliness.

Career: 373-188 (3rd), 2.13 ERA (9th), 2507 SO (32nd), P, HOF in 1936, Giants/Reds 1900-1916, t:R, 5x SO Leader, born in PA 1880, died 1925, Big Six

Christopher "Christy" Mathewson (August 12, 1880 – October 7, 1925), nicknamed "Big Six", "The Christian Gentleman", "Matty", and "The Gentleman's Hurler" was a Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher who played 17 seasons with the New York Giants. He was among the most dominant pitchers in baseball history, and ranks in the all-time top ten in several key pitching categories, including wins, shutouts, and ERA.[1] In fact, he is the only professional pitcher in history to rank in the top ten both in career wins and in career ERA, if taking 19th century pitchers statistics into account.[2] Otherwise, Mathewson and Walter Johnson would hold the distinction of being the only two pitchers ranked in both the top ten in career wins and career ERA [3] In 1936, Mathewson was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame, as one of its first five members.