Palmero (AP) - You know there are 24 of the greatest baseball players of all time involved in this league, yet how many names are all that familiar to you. Guys like Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Ted Williams are well known giants of the game, but who here ever heard of Smokey Joe Wood, Addie Joss or Mordecai “Three Finger” Brown. This is the first article in a series that depicts the history behind these legendary figures and the lives, sometimes the very colorful lives they lived.

The first figure that is going to be examined in this series is Christy Mathewson, the mound ace of the Sicily Godfathers. Christy Mathewson was born August 12, 1880 in Factoryville. Pennsylvania, where he was the was the son of a wealthy family. This privileged background allowed him to go to schools and universities, while taking up such sports as baseball and football. Upon his graduation from Bucknell University in 1899, Christy began playing professional ball on the minor league level for Taunton of the New England League. It was there that he discovered how to throw the “fadeaway” or screwball as it is now known. It was this pitch that got Christy onto the New York Giants roster. In his first season with the Giants, Mathewson went 0-2 in 5 appearances with a 5.40 ERA. After the season was over, he was shipped to Norfolk, where he was claimed by the Cincinnati Reds for $100.

	Christy Matthewson's 33 wins in 1902 led the Giants to their first pennant.

At this time, the owner of the Cincinnati Reds was John T. Brush, who was aware that he was going to own the New York Giants very soon, so he sent Christy to the Giants for pitcher Amos Rusie, who was known for an overpowering fastball and won thirty or more games 3 times in the 1890’s, though never won a game for the Cincinnati Reds. Christy’s first full season with the Giants showed just a few of the things to come with his amazing turnaround. Matty, as he was known back in the day went 20-17 with a 2.41 ERA and 221 Ks. The next year, saddled by a mediocre team, Matty went 13-18 with a 2.11 ERA and 159 Ks. Though the Giants were a poor team this season, the most important piece of the puzzle was added to the Giants, from the original Baltimore Orioles (who became the New York Highlanders the next season and eventually the Yankees.) who were also owned by John T. Brush at this time. The important piece of the puzzle was Manager John McGraw. The next season, Mathewson and the Giants first under McGraw, catapulted the Giants into the first division, with a second place finish. Matty’s record was 30-13 with his first thirty win season and finished only one win behind his teammate Iron Joe McGinnity. The next season, the Giants managed to win their first pennant of the twentieth century as Mathewson won an amazing 33 games with an ERA of 2.03 which is his best season yet. There was no World Series, due to the grudge the Giants manager had with AL President Ban Johnson, so there would be no world stage for Mathewson to show his talents. The next season, would finally give Mathewson the world stage that he richly deserved.

In 1905, Christy Mathewson had a season for the ages. He went 31-8 with an amazing league leading 1.27 ERA and 216 Ks. This was just the start of the greatness for Matty, as this year, McGraw’s Giants were forced to play in the World Series versus Connie Mack’s Philadelphia Athletics. Mathewson was superb in the World Series. He had perhaps the single greatest stretch ever by a pitcher. Mathewson threw three consecutive shutouts against the AL Champion A’s in six days on a national stage. Mathewson became one of baseball’s first legends of the twentieth century. This catapulted him to newfound and unwanted fame.

Mathewson had a remarkable career after 1905, including winning a National League record after 1901 37 games in 1908, the year the Giants lost the pennant due to a mental mistake by Fred Merkle in a game against the Cubs and an amazing 1.15 ERA season the year after. Mathewson’s career record was 372-187 with an ERA of 2.13 and 2,502 strikeouts. Mathewson was also a master of control, as he allowed only 838 walks in his career for an average of 1.6 innings per nine innings. Mathewson rates as the fourth best pitcher in amongst twentieth century hurlers behind only Walter Johnson, Grover Cleveland Alexander and Lefty Grove. After his playing days were over, Mathewson became manager of the Cincinnati Reds for two seasons, joined the war effort of WWI and was inadvertently gassed during a training drill and then became the president of the Boston Braves, till tuberculosis took his life at the age of 45, which was thought to have been caused or aggravated by his gassing.

Mathewson was a gentleman of a ballplayer who never played on Sundays, for religious reasons. He was highly regarded by his teammates, who has loved even though he was a bit of an elitist, due to his upbringing. Unlike the average ballplayer of the day, who was normally an uneducated man, Christy was a star attraction, who played fair and with a certain amount of grace that was rare for a player on a McGraw run team, which were known for their rough and tumble style of play. The reason for this was that McGraw took in Mathewson as if he were his own son. The great Christy Mathewson was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1936 in the first class ever along with Babe Ruth, Walter Johnson, Honus Wagner and Ty Cobb.