Christy Mathewson
Big Six threw harder with his brain than most pitchers did with their arm. Mathewson's 2.13 career ERA came in an era when offense was already climbing, yet his 139 ERA+ proves he dominated hitters far beyond what the dead ball context suggests. That peak 224 ERA+ represents one of the most overpowering seasons any pitcher has ever assembled.
The fadeaway—his reverse curveball that broke away from righties—was baseball's first true out pitch, the ancestor of every modern closer's signature offering. Mathewson struck out 2,507 batters when the average pitcher was lucky to fan 1,000 in a career twice as long.
His 373 wins tell only half the story. Mathewson pitched with surgical precision in an era of wildmen, walking just 2.8 batters per nine innings while most contemporaries scattered free passes like confetti. He was baseball's first thinking man's ace.
Career · Hitting
17 seasons| Year | Team | G | AB | HR | RBI | AVG | OPS | OPS+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1900 | NY1 | 6 | 11 | 0 | 1 | .182 | — | — |
| 1901 | NY1 | 42 | 130 | 0 | 7 | .215 | — | — |
| 1902 | NY1 | 43 | 130 | 2 | 12 | .200 | — | — |
| 1903 | NY1 | 45 | 124 | 1 | 20 | .226 | — | — |
| 1904 | NY1 | 48 | 133 | 0 | 17 | .226 | — | — |
| 1905 | NY1 | 44 | 127 | 2 | 16 | .236 | — | — |
| 1906 | NY1 | 38 | 91 | 0 | 14 | .264 | — | — |
| 1907 | NY1 | 41 | 107 | 0 | 7 | .187 | — | — |
| 1908 | NY1 | 56 | 129 | 0 | 11 | .155 | — | — |
| 1909 | NY1 | 37 | 95 | 1 | 12 | .263 | — | — |
| 1910 | NY1 | 38 | 107 | 1 | 10 | .234 | — | — |
| 1911 | NY1 | 45 | 112 | 0 | 12 | .196 | — | — |
| 1912 | NY1 | 43 | 110 | 0 | 10 | .264 | — | — |
| 1913 | NY1 | 40 | 103 | 0 | 9 | .184 | — | — |
| 1914 | NY1 | 41 | 105 | 0 | 4 | .219 | — | — |
| 1915 | NY1 | 27 | 51 | 0 | 1 | .157 | — | — |
| 1916 | NY1 | 13 | 22 | 0 | 2 | .136 | — | — |
| Career | 647 | 1687 | 7 | 165 | .215 | — | — | |
Career · Pitching
17 seasons| Year | Team | G | IP | W | L | ERA | ERA+ | SO | WHIP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1900 | NY1 | 6 | 33.7 | 0 | 3 | 5.08 | 72 | 15 | 1.693 |
| 1901 | NY1 | 40 | 336.0 | 20 | 17 | 2.41 | 145 | 221 | 1.146 |
| 1902 | NY1 | 35 | 284.7 | 14 | 17 | 2.12 | 150 | 164 | 1.135 |
| 1903 | NY1 | 45 | 366.3 | 30 | 13 | 2.26 | 137 | 267 | 1.149 |
| 1904 | NY1 | 48 | 367.7 | 33 | 12 | 2.03 | 131 | 212 | 1.044 |
| 1905 | NY1 | 43 | 338.7 | 31 | 9 | 1.28 | 220 | 206 | 0.933 |
| 1906 | NY1 | 38 | 266.7 | 22 | 12 | 2.97 | 90 | 128 | 1.271 |
| 1907 | NY1 | 41 | 315.0 | 24 | 12 | 2.00 | 125 | 178 | 0.962 |
| 1908 | NY1 | 56 | 390.7 | 37 | 11 | 1.43 | 168 | 259 | 0.827 |
| 1909 | NY1 | 37 | 275.3 | 25 | 6 | 1.14 | 224 | 149 | 0.828 |
| 1910 | NY1 | 38 | 318.3 | 27 | 9 | 1.89 | 148 | 184 | 1.106 |
| 1911 | NY1 | 45 | 307.0 | 26 | 13 | 1.99 | 169 | 141 | 1.111 |
| 1912 | NY1 | 43 | 310.0 | 23 | 12 | 2.12 | 158 | 134 | 1.113 |
| 1913 | NY1 | 40 | 306.0 | 25 | 11 | 2.06 | 149 | 93 | 1.020 |
| 1914 | NY1 | 41 | 312.0 | 24 | 13 | 3.00 | 98 | 80 | 1.080 |
| 1915 | NY1 | 27 | 186.0 | 8 | 14 | 3.58 | 81 | 57 | 1.177 |
| 1916 | NY1 | 13 | 74.7 | 4 | 4 | 3.01 | 92 | 19 | 1.098 |
| Career | 636 | 4788.8 | 373 | 188 | — | — | 2507 | — | |
Matchups, projections, comps — grounded in Lahman, Retrosheet, and Statcast.