Mathews, who played five seasons each in the National Association, National League, and American Association, is the only player ever to pitch 100 games or to win at least 50 in three different major leagues. In 1868 as an innovative 16-year-old, Mathews pitched baseball’s first recorded spitball. The next season, he threw the first “out-curve” tossed in a manner permitted by the rules. On May 4, 1871, he pitched Ft. Wayne (NA) to a 2-0 victory over Cleveland (NA) in baseball’s first professional league game. Pitching all 65 of the New York Mutuals’ (NA) games in 1874, he won a career-high 42. In three successive seasons, 1883-85, he won 30 games for the Philadelphia Athletics (AA), leading them to a pennant in 1883.
