Sunday, December 16, 2007

Memory Lane Auction: Christy Mathewson 1900 Rookie Player Contract

Christy Mathewson easily ranks as one of the 5 greatest pitchers in Baseball history. In 17 years he recorded 373 wins, 434 complete games, 79 shutouts and had an ERA of 2.13. Mathewson was so popular fans would scream, "Matty Matty Send For Matty." From the auction description:
No one American athlete, in any sport, has ever summed up the values of his era more than the pitcher Christy Mathewson. This "Greek God in flannels," as the publicists liked to call him, appeared on the major-league diamond, during the first years of the 20th century, as if in answer to the national yearning for a gentleman-hero. Baseball gloried in its rough-necked, hard-drinking, roustabout spirit when Mathewson first stepped upon its muddy fields. "He handed the game," wrote dean of sportswriters Grantland Rice, "a certain...indefinable lift in culture, brains, personality."
In our tumultuous times filled with steroids, gambling and drugs where is our gentleman-hero? Where is our Christy Mathewson?
This museum quality artifact came from the collection of Barry Halper and sold for an astounding $63,000.00Memory Lane Auction Link: Mathewson Contract:

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