Bobby Mathews Marquee

b. November 21, 1851 · Fort Wayne Kekiongas 1871, Baltimore Canaries 1872, New York Mutuals 1873–1875, New York Mutuals 1876, Cincinnati Reds 1877, Providence Grays 1879, 1881, Boston Red Caps 1881–1882, Philadelphia Athletics 1883–1887

Bobby Mathews pitched the first game in the history of the National Association on May 4, 1871, and won it, which makes his the first pitch thrown in a professional league. He was nineteen.

He then won 297 games over sixteen seasons, completing 525 of his 568 starts and working 4,956 innings, in an era when a club carried one or two pitchers and expected them to finish what they began. He won thirty or more games in five different seasons.

Born in Baltimore in 1851 and listed at 5 feet 5 inches, Mathews is often credited with an early version of the spitball. He died on April 17, 1898, at forty-six.

Batting, season by season

Year	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	AVG
1871*	KEK	19	89	15	24	3	1	0	10	2	0	2	.270
1872*	BAL	50	222	36	50	2	0	0	22	3	2	3	.225
1873*	NYU	52	223	40	43	3	3	0	14	10	3	1	.193
1874*	NYU	65	298	46	72	6	1	0	30	3	4	2	.242
1875*	NYU	70	264	23	48	6	2	0	15	2	5	1	.182
1876	NYU	56	218	19	40	4	1	0	9	3	2	0	.183
1877	CIN	15	59	5	10	0	0	0	0	1	2	0	.169
1879	PRO	43	173	25	35	2	0	1	10	7	12	0	.202
1881	BSN/PRO	35	128	8	23	3	0	0	8	5	11	0	.180
1882	BSN	45	169	17	38	6	0	0	13	8	18	0	.225
1883	PHA	45	167	15	31	2	0	0	11	5	0	0	.186
1884	PHA	49	184	26	34	5	1	0	0	7	0	0	.185
1885	PHA	48	179	22	30	3	0	0	12	10	0	0	.168
1886	PHA	24	88	16	21	3	0	0	10	3	0	1	.239
1887	PHA	7	25	5	5	0	0	0	0	4	3	0	.200
Major leagues	—	367	1390	158	267	28	2	1	73	53	48	1	.192
All seasons	—	623	2486	318	504	48	9	1	164	73	62	10	.203

Pitching, season by season

Year	Team	W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
1871*	KEK	6	11	19	19	0	169.0	261	97	21	17	5.17
1872*	BAL	25	18	49	47	0	406.0	480	144	52	57	3.19
1873*	NYU	29	23	52	52	0	443.0	489	127	62	79	2.58
1874*	NYU	42	22	65	65	0	578.0	652	122	41	101	1.90
1875*	NYU	29	38	70	70	0	625.2	711	173	20	75	2.49
1876	NYU	21	34	56	56	0	516.0	693	164	24	37	2.86
1877	CIN	3	12	15	15	0	129.1	208	58	17	9	4.04
1879	PRO	12	6	27	25	1	189.0	194	48	26	90	2.29
1881	BSN/PRO	5	8	19	15	2	125.1	143	42	32	33	3.02
1882	BSN	19	15	34	32	0	285.0	278	91	22	153	2.87
1883	PHA	30	13	44	44	0	381.0	396	104	31	203	2.46
1884	PHA	30	18	49	49	0	430.2	401	159	49	286	3.32
1885	PHA	30	17	48	48	0	422.1	394	114	57	286	2.43
1886	PHA	13	9	24	24	0	197.2	226	87	53	93	3.96
1887	PHA	3	4	7	7	0	58.0	75	43	25	9	6.67
Major leagues	—	166	136	323	315	3	2734.1	3008	910	336	1199	3.00
All seasons	—	297	248	578	568	3	4956.0	5601	1573	532	1528	2.86

Seasons outside MLB's recognized major leagues appear in All seasons, but not in Major leagues or the leaderboards. For Bobby Mathews, that is 1871–1875. Why totals can differ.

On this day & linked events

1851

Born November 21, 1851

Baltimore, MD, USA

1898

Died April 17, 1898

1871

Major-league debut: Bobby Mathews

Bobby Mathews made a major-league debut on May 4, 1871.

1887

Final major-league game: Bobby Mathews

Bobby Mathews played a final major-league game on October 10, 1887.

Image: Kalamazoo Bats Cabinets, public domain