Christy Matthewson vs Big Ed Walsh

Most baseball fans with at least a little knowledge of its' history have heard of Christy Matthewson.  They will respond that he is a pitcher from a long time ago who was probably really good.  People with more knowledge of the game will tell you that Matthewson was one of the greatest pitchers in the game's history.

However, most people, even some people with extensive knowledge of baseball history, will miss another great pitcher when asked.  His name is Ed Walsh and he pitched during the same time frame as Christy, but in opposite leagues.  Matthewson pitched for the New York Giants, while Ed Walsh played for the White Sox.

During Christy's career, the Giants were probably the best overall team in the NL.  They won the NL Pennant five times, finished in 2nd five times, and won a World Series title.  They lost in three other World Series, and did not play in the 1904 World Series, refusing to embrace that there was any other title to be won other than the National League pennant.  Over the span of 1900-1915, the Giants won over 90 games 9 times, with four 100+ win seasons.

Ed Walsh played for the White Sox, who were not nearly the class of the American League.  Despite winning the World Series in 1906, the Sox over Ed's career only won 90 games three times with no 100 win seasons.  They won just the won league pennant and had just one second place finish.  This being said, the wins each pitcher was able to rack up in their career are drastically different, but almost exclusively due to the teams for which they played.

	IP	CG	W	L	ERA	WHIP	K	K/9	H/9
Ed Walsh	2964.1	250	195	126	1.82	1.00	1736	5.3	7.1
Matthewson	4788.2	435	373	188	2.13	1.058	2507	4.7	7.9

As you can see, in non-accumulative statistics such as H/9, K/9, WHIP and ERA, Ed Walsh bests Christy Matthewson.  Christy wins all of the accumulative statistics, but mainly because he was on a better team and pitched a lot more innings.  Had Ed Walsh pitched for the Giants, it is likely that his win total would have been much higher.  It should be pointed out that Ed Walsh's career ERA of 1.82 is the lowest career ERA for any starting pitcher in MLB history.

When we break down great statistics each put up in individual seasons, we see that Ed has an edge on Christy in a lot of areas.  Both threw two no hitters, although one of Ed Walsh's no hitters was a 5 inning no hitter no longer counted by MLB.  Ed Walsh had a 40 win season in 1908; Christy won 37 that same year which was also his best season for wins.  In 1909, Ed Walsh didn't give up any home runs; Matthewson never had a no home runs allowed season.

Christy Matthewson gets credit for inventing or at least perfecting a pitch that at the least resembled a screwball.  He called it his fadeaway pitch.  While Ed Walsh didn't invent a pitch, he threw a nasty spitball that most in the league thought was right at the top as one of the best.  Neither player won a MVP, but both finished 2nd in MVP voting once.

Overall, I believe that we should throw out wins/losses and any accumulative statistics and just use the statistics that are based on what each pitcher does per-game or per-year.  ERA, WHIP, K/9, H/9, and when doing this, it becomes clear that Ed Walsh was a slightly superior pitcher to Christy Matthewson.

Christy will always get more accolades from baseball fans because his name is more well known, but Ed Walsh has him topped in my opinion and should definitely be as highly regarded as Matthewson.  I'm not saying Christy wasn't one of the greatest of all time, but that people should know that Ed Walsh was a little greater.  Oh and there should definitely be an Ed Walsh statue at US Cellular Field, since he was the White Sox' best pitcher ever and all.