Henry Mathewson

Henry Mathewson (December 24, 1886 – July 1, 1917) was an American professional baseball player who appeared in a total of three games with the National League's New York Giants in the 1906 and 1907 seasons. He was a younger brother of Hall of Famer Christy Mathewson. His career was primarily spent pitching semi-professional baseball until his death at the age of 30.

Early life Henry Mathewson was born on December 24, 1886, as the fourth of six children. Henry was the third of four Mathewson brothers, after older brothers Christy and Cyril (who died as an infant), and before younger brother Nicholas. His father, Gilbert, was a postmaster for the United States Senate, and his mother, Minerva, was a leader of the local Woman's Christian Temperance Union. Minerva was said to be responsible for teaching her sons to throw. Due to Christy's fame, Henry Mathewson was much written about in the press as the "next Matty" throughout his career.

Henry's debut in 1906, on September 28, saw him replace his brother, Christy, to finish an 8-2 Giants victory against the St. Louis Cardinals. Henry faced five batters in his inning of work and did not allow a walk or a hit; he was, however, responsible for allowing a run during his time on the mound. He was retroactively credited with a save for his efforts.

On October 5, the final day of the regular season, Henry was given a start against the last place Boston Beaneaters. Facing Big Jeff Pfeffer, Mathewson gave up one run over the first six innings, matching Pfeffer, but struggled over the next three by giving up six runs and lost 7-1. Despite giving up only six hits, compared to Pfeffer's nine, he had major control issues, allowing fourteen walks and also hitting a batter. No National League pitcher has allowed more walks in a single game since 1906. (Two American League pitchers, Boardwalk Brown in 1913 and Bruno Haas in 1915, gave up more in a nine-inning game.) Two others from the American League, Skipper Friday in 1923 and Tommy Byrne in 1951 allowed at least fourteen walks in an extra-inning game. Eleven days later, the Giants sent Henry to the Wilmington Peaches of the Tri-State League.

Later life Henry's only documented appearances in the minors, following his time with Wilmington in 1907 (along with a brief stint with the Pottsville team in the unclassified Atlantic League), came in 1909. That year, he split time with two teams, the Columbus Foxes and Savannah Indians of the South Atlantic League, appearing in fourteen games overall. He is documented as having seven hits in forty at-bats combined between the two teams. The younger Mathewson mostly pitched semi-pro baseball after his National League experience until 1915, briefly abandoning pitching in favor of becoming an outfielder for a period of time, and also played on indoor baseball teams during several off-seasons.

In 1916, the younger Mathewson contracted tuberculosis. After a year, Henry died from the disease on June 30, 1917.