 |
Christy Mathewson Biography |
focusdep.com |
 |
||
| ~back to authors profile on focusdep~ | |||||
|
Christopher "Christy" Mathewson (August 12, 1880 - October 7, 1925), nicknamed "The Big Six", "The Christian Gentleman", or "Matty", was a right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball. He played in what is known as the History of baseball in the United States#The dead ball era: 1900 to 1919 and in 1936 in baseball, was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame. He was one of its inaugural members. Christy and John N. Wheeler wrote Pitching in a Pinch, and the book was published in 1912 in baseball.
Mathewson was born in Factoryville, Pennsylvania. Matty went on to attend Bucknell University, where he was class president. While at Bucknell, Matty played on the school's American football and baseball teams.Historic Baseball website Minor league career & early major league career In 1889 in baseball, after Christy left college, he signed to play professional baseball with Taunton of the New England League. The next season, he moved on to play on the Norfolk, Virginia team of the Virginia-North Carolina League. He finished that season with a 20-2 record.Baseball Library website In July of that year, the San Francisco Giants purchased Matty's contract from Norfolk for $1,500.Baseball Reference websiteBaseball Library website. Between July and December of 1900 in baseball Mathewson appeared in six games for the Giants. He started one of those games and compiled a 0-3 record. Displeased with his performance, the Giants returned him to Norfolk and demanded their money back.Baseball Library Major league career Later that month, the Cincinnati Reds drafted Christie in the rule v draft. On December 15, 1900, Christie was traded by the Reds to the Giants in exchange for Amos Rusie.Baseball Reference website During his 17-year career, Mathewson won 373 games and lost 188. His career Earned run average of 2.13 and 79 career shutouts are amongst the best all-time for pitchers. He had recorded 2,502 career strike outs against 844 walks. Matty's Giants won the 1905 World Series. That series, he won three games, all of which were shutouts.Baseball Library website. The series capped an impressive year for Mathewson as he had already won the National League Triple crown (baseball) for pitchers. He claimed the Triple Crown again in 1908, and by the time he left the Giants, the team had captured four more National League pennants. This was in addition to the aforementioned 1905 appearance in the World Series.Historic Baseball website On July 20, 1916 in baseball, Matty's career came full circle when he was traded to the Cincinnati Reds along with fellow future Hall of Famer Edd Roush. He won one game with the Reds and served as their manager for the next three seasons. Post-playing career In 1918, Christy Mathewson enlisted in the United States Army for World War I. He served overseas as a Captain for that year. During a training exercise he was accidentally gassed and consequently developed tuberculosis.Historic Baseball website Although he returned to serve as a coach for the Giants from 1919 in baseball-1920 in baseball, Christy spent a good portion of that time upstate fighting the aforementioned illness.Baseball Library website In 1923 in baseball, Mathewson got back into professional baseball when he served as part-time president of the Atlanta. Two years later, Christie died in Saranac Lake, New York. He is buried at Lewisburg Cemetery in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Trivia 
Courtesy of: http://www.wikipedia.org/ |
|||||
|
|
Random Biographies |
focusdep.com |
|
|
|
||||
