Christy Mathewson

Christy Mathewson was an elite Giants right-hander and one of baseball's first great gentleman-athletes, famed for his 1905 World Series performance.

Born in Factoryville, Pennsylvania, on 12 August 1880, Christopher 'Christy' Mathewson was a rarity for his era: a college-educated pitcher, having attended Bucknell University where he played both football and baseball and served as class president. He signed his first professional contract in 1899 and made his major-league debut with the New York Giants in 1900. Mathewson became the National League's dominant pitcher of the century's first decade, mastering a pitch he called the 'fadeaway' — what would later be known as the screwball — with such precise control that a Giants catcher once said he could 'catch Matty in a rocking chair.' He won at least 30 games in three consecutive seasons from 1903 to 1905 and set a modern NL record with 37 wins in 1908. His signature moment came in the 1905 World Series, when he threw three complete-game shutouts in six days to lead the Giants to the championship, one of the most dominant individual World Series performances in history. Over his 17-year career, Mathewson won 373 games — tied for third all-time — with a 2.13 ERA, and won pitching's Triple Crown twice, in 1905 and 1908. Mathewson enlisted during World War I and was exposed to poison gas during a training exercise, which is believed to have contributed to the tuberculosis that ended his life. He served as president of the Boston Braves from 1923 until his death on 7 October 1925, at age 45. He was one of the inaugural five inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936.

Precise control and a signature 'fadeaway' pitch, an early screwball

Widely considered the greatest pitcher in National League history and baseball's first true gentleman-athlete

• World Series champion (1905)
• part of inaugural Hall of Fame class 1936