Shieber: A sweater for Big Six
From SABR member Tom Shieber at BaseballHall.org on June 22, 2017:
The Hall of Fame’s inaugural Class of 1936 featured two of baseball’s most legendary pitchers: Christy Mathewson and Walter Johnson. Nicknamed “Big Six” and “The Big Train,” respectively, these giants of the mound combined for 790 wins, 6,016 strikeouts, and 189 shutouts in 1,438 big league games.
Though their careers overlapped for 10 seasons (1907 to 1916), the duo never faced one another in an official big league game. Mathewson’s 17-year career was spent entirely in the National League with the Giants and Reds, while Johnson pitched 21 years with Washington of the American League. But the pair did manage to square off in one exhibition game, a remarkable yet overlooked contest that took place more than a century ago.
Today, the Hall of Fame collection features a recently donated artifact that tells the story of that tour.
Read the full article here: http://baseballhall.org/discover/a-sweater-for-big-six
Originally published: June 22, 2017. Last Updated: June 22, 2017.