When all-time pitching great Christy Mathewson died of tuberculosis
in 1925 at the age of 45, it touched off a wave of national
mourning that remains without precedent for an American athlete.
The World Series was underway, and the game the day after
Mathewson's death took on the trappings of a state funeral:
officials slowly lowered the flag to half-mast, each ballplayer
wore a black armband, and fans joined together in a chorus of
"Nearer My God to Thee." Newspaper editorials recalled Mathewson's
glorious career with the New York Giants, but also emphasized his
unstinting good sportsmanship and voluntary service in World War I.
The pitcher known to one and all as "Matty" or "Big Six" was as
beloved for the strength of character he brought to the national
pastime, as for his stunning 373 career victories. "I do not expect
to see his like again," said his best friend and former manager,
John McGraw. "But I do know that the example he set and the imprint
he left on the sport that he loved and honored will remain long
after I am gone."
In Matty, Ray Robinson tells the story of a man who became
America's first authentic sports hero. Until Mathewson, Robinson
reveals, Americans loved baseball, but looked down on ballplayers
and other athletes as hard-drinking, skirt-chasing ne'er-do-wells.
Deprived of real-life role models, millions of readers followed the
serialized exploits of Frank Merriwell, a fictional hero who
excelled at sports from baseball to billiards and never drank,
smoke, or swore. Robinson shows how an eager public greeted
Mathewson as a flesh-and-blood version of Merriwell from his first
year at Bucknell University, where he shone as star pitcher,
premier field-goal kicker, and class president. Lured into the big
leagues before he could graduate, the tall, handsome pitcher soon
won over men, women and children with his sense of fair play and
his arsenal of blazing fastballs, sweeping curves, and infamously
deceptive fadeaway pitches. Robinson skillfully details the
highlights of Mathewson's career, including his showdowns against
the great batters of his day and his encounters with the young
Brooklyn, Chicago, Pittsburgh and St. Louis teams. Here are the six
remarkable days in October, 1905 when Mathewson became the only
pitcher ever to hurl three straight shutouts in a World Series, and
the afternoon at West Point when he won $50 in a bet that he could
throw 20 of his best pitches to exactly the same spot. Robinson
does not underplay Mathewson's occasional failings, but the most
surprising aspect of this fascinating portrait is just how close
America's first Hall of Fame pitcher came to living up to his
image.
Drawing on rare interviews, press clips, and long overlooked
eyewitness accounts, Matty brings baseball's golden age to
life--not only the great teams and the early superstars, but the
long train trips between games, with cramped berths and no air
conditioning; the small town ballplayers let loose amidst big city
vice; and the two-bit gambling that eventually led to the infamous
Black Sox Scandal of the 1919 Series (a scandal that might have
escaped detection if the sportswriters in the press box with
Mathewson had not been able to rely on his experienced eye for
clues to how ballplayers might throw games). Offering rare insight
into the making of an early twentieth century American hero, Matty
is must reading for anyone who loves baseball.
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