Bobby Mathews
Bobby Mathews | |||
---|---|---|---|
![]() | |||
Pitcher | |||
Born: Baltimore, Maryland | November 21, 1851|||
Died: April 17, 1898 46) Baltimore, Maryland | (aged|||
| |||
MLB debut | |||
May 4, 1871 for the Fort Wayne Kekiongas | |||
Last MLB appearance | |||
October 10, 1887 for the Philadelphia Athletics | |||
Career statistics | |||
Win–loss record | 297-248 | ||
Earned run average | 2.86 | ||
Strikeouts | 1,528 | ||
Teams | |||
| |||
Career highlights and awards | |||
|
Robert T. Mathews (November 21, 1851 – April 17, 1898) was an American right-handed professional baseball pitcher who played in the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players, the National League of Major League Baseball and the American Association for twenty years beginning in the late 1860s. He is credited as being one of the inventors of the spitball pitch,[1][2] which was rediscovered or reintroduced to the major leagues after he died. He is also credited with the first legal pitch which broke away from the batter.[1][2] He is listed at 5 feet 5 inches tall and 140 pounds, which is small for a pro athlete even in his time, when the average height of an American male in the mid-19th century was 5 feet 7 & 1/4 inches tall.
Career
Mathews was born in 1851, in Baltimore, Maryland, and he played as a teenager with the Maryland club of that city, and he made the team a dangerous one. For the 1871 season, he and some other Maryland players signed with the Fort Wayne Kekiongas. On May 4, 1871 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, he pitched a shutout in the inaugural game of the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players (NA), the first professional league.[1][2] Mathews umpired a few games between 1871 and 1888[3] and signed with the regular staff of the Players League in 1890, returning to the AA in 1891.
Over his 16-year career, he had 297 wins, 248 losses, 525 complete games, with a career earned run average of 2.86. He had 1,528 strikeouts compared with 532 walks. He won 20 games 8 times, including 42 in 1874 with the New York Mutuals of the National Association, and is the only player to win 50 games or to pitch 100 games[2] in each of three major leagues.[1] He is the 25th winningest pitcher in MLB history.[4]
Mathews died in 1898 in Baltimore, at the age of 46, of paresis caused by syphilis,[5] and is interred at New Cathedral Cemetery, also in Baltimore.[3]
See also
- List of Major League Baseball leaders in career wins
- List of Major League Baseball leaders in career ERA
- List of Major League Baseball leaders in games started
- List of top 100 Major League Baseball Leaders in innings pitched
- List of Major League Baseball earned run average champions
- List of Major League Baseball saves champions
- List of Major League Baseball shutout champions
- List of Major League Baseball pitchers who have struck out four batters in one inning
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Pietrusza, David; Matthew Silverman; Gershman, Michael (2000). Baseball: The Biographical Encyclopedia. New York: Total Sports. p. 720. ISBN 1-892129-34-5.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Charlton, James; Shatzkin, Mike; Holtje, Stephen (1990). The Ballplayers: baseball's ultimate biographical reference. New York: Arbor House/William Morrow. p. 679. ISBN 0-87795-984-6.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Retrosheet". Retrieved 2008-06-26.
- ↑ "The Official Site of Major League Baseball: Stats: Historical Leaders". Retrieved 2008-06-26.
- ↑ "Too Young To Die". thedeadballera.com. Retrieved 2009-03-29.
Further reading
- Wright, Marshall D. (2000). The National Association of Base Ball Players, 1857-1870. Jefferson, N.C: McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-0779-4.
External links
- Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
- Bobby Mathews at Find a Grave
|
|
|