Rusie for Mathewson

Abstract

The most lopsided trade in baseball history is the one that sent Amos Rusie from the New York Giants to the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for Christy Mathewson in December 1900.1 Not only was it a rare case of two future Hall of Famers being traded for each other, but it had the added dramatic element of there being almost a perfect symmetry to their careers. Rusie, the most dominant pitcher of the last decade of the 19th century, had won 246 games, all but 12 for the New York Giants. He would play for only two more months in the National League and never win another game. Mathewson, who had already played two months in the league without a victory, would become the greatest pitcher of the first decade of the 20th century, winning 373 regular-season games in his career, all but one for the Giants.2The trade proved to be so one-sided that it is widely believed that John T. Brush, the owner of the Reds, sent Mathewson to New York in preparation for his planned purchase of the Giants. According to this view, Brush recognized what a valuable player Mathewson was about to become and that Rusie's career was essentially finished.There is little doubt that at the time the trade purportedly occurred Rusie was owned by the Giants and Mathewson had been drafted by the Reds. It is also true that in 1901 Rusie did play for the Reds and Mathewson for the Giants. However, whether they were actually traded for one another is much less certain.This article focuses on the three most important aspects of the so-called trade: (1) Did John Brush arrange for Christy Mathewson to go to the Giants in preparation for his buying the team? (2) How and why did Mathewson wind up on the Giants and Amos Rusie on the Reds in 1901? (3) Were they actually traded for each other?Did Brush Arrange for Mathewson to Go to the Giants Because He Was Planning to Buy the Team?The primary reason that this story has gained such wide acceptance is that Brush did end up buying the Giants and selling the Reds. However, this did not occur until late in August 1902, over 20 months after the Rusie-Mathewson trade supposedly occurred.There were many rumors throughout 1900 and 1901 that Brush might sell the Reds. He was widely unpopular with the Cincinnati fans for a variety of reasons including the team's generally poor record under his control and the fact that he did not live in Cincinnati, preferring to remain in Indianapolis where he owned a clothing store.3 However, there were few, if any, stories about his planning to buy the Giants; even if he intended to do so, he would have had a problem finding someone to take the Reds offhis hands.Whenever a possible sale of the Reds was discussed at the time, the most widely mentioned potential buyers were the Fleischmann brothers, Julius and Max. They not only had the financial resources to make such a purchase, being heirs to the yeast fortune that bore their family name, but also the finest of political connections with Julius having been elected mayor of Cincinnati in April 1900. Finally, they were both great baseball fans and owned a notable semi-pro team in Fleischmanns, New York, the Catskills resort town named for their family, for which the brothers at times played.4The Fleischmanns did end up purchasing the Reds from Brush in July 1902 along with Cincinnati political boss George Cox and August Herrmann. However, when they did so the circumstances were markedly different from those in either 1900 or 1901 when the team was faced with a number of challenges that called into question whether it would survive. The 10-year agreement that held the National League together was due to expire after the 1901 season and there were already signs of discord among the owners, especially between those of the big-and small-market teams. The league had jettisoned four small-market teams after the 1899 season and there was speculation that others such as Cincinnati might eventually suffer the same fate if the league reorganized. …