Auspicious beginnings for sure on this day in baseball back in 1900 when New York Giants John McGraw gave the ball to some 19-year-old kid who was trying to get his feet wet in the big leagues. It was the first career start (and only one for that summer) for some rookie named Christy Mathewson, who ended up not only taking the loss that afternoon to the Chicago Orphans (nee Cubs), but finished with a less-than-impressive 0-3 record and a 5.08 ERA. But the wily skipper must have seen something in that slim hurler.
Matty went on to win 20 games the next season, the first of 13 for his career. If that wasn’t impressive enough, the Factoryville, Pennsylvania native also had 30 wins four times, including three consecutive seasons (1903-1905).
In a 17-year career, Mathewson had a 373-188 record, 2.13 ERA, 435 complete games and 2,507 strike outs. He was inducted into the first class (1936) of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
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