San Francisco Giants: Top 30 players of all-time

NY/SF Giants best players all-time: No. 3-Christy Mathewson

90 WAR

Christy Mathewson played in a Giants uniform for the first 17 seasons of his career and cemented himself as one of the greatest pitchers ever.

He had a 90 WAR, which is just unheard of among pitchers, especially when you consider that most position players that are hall of famers don’t get anywhere near that total. His WAR total is also higher than a couple of pitchers that many people recognize as some of the best pitchers ever in Pedro Martinez (83.9) and Nolan Ryan (81.3).

Despite being in just one World Series with the Giants in 1933, he won two Triple Crowns on offense (1905, 1908), was a four-time NL wins leader (1905, 1907, 1908, 1910), a five-time NL ERA leader (1905, 1908, 1909, 1911, 1913), a five-time NL strikeout leader (1903-1905, 1907-1808), and was a part of MLB’s All-Century Team.

The longevity of Mathewson is what is so spectacular, as he at one point in his career was able to throw at least 260 innings in a season for 14 straight years (1901-1914). In 11 of those seasons he threw over 300 innings including in 1908 when he led the league (obviously) with 390.2 innings pitched.

In his only World Series title, he was the “Madison Bumgarner” of the 1905 postseason. He pitched World Series Game 1, throwing a four-hit shutout. Then he started Game 3 with the series tied at a game apiece and pitched another four-hit shutout. Two days later in the fifth game of the series he would throw a six-hit shutout to secure the series win over the Philadelphia Athletics. So he ended the series with three complete games, no runs allowed, and just 14 hits given up.

As expected Mathewson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936 with more than 90 percent of the vote.

Mathewson would pass away in Saranac Lake, New York on October 7, 1925 after he was diagnosed with tuberculosis.