This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 10/16/2015
In the time when Giants walked the earth and roamed the Polo Grounds, none was more honored than Christy Mathewson. Delivering all four of his pitches, including his famous "fadeaway" (now called a screwball), with impeccable control and an easy motion, the right-handed Mathewson was the greatest pitcher of the Deadball Era's first decade, compiling a 2.13 ERA over 17 seasons and setting modern National League records for wins in a season (37), wins in a career (373), and consecutive 20-win seasons (12). Aside from his pitching achievements, he was the greatest all-around hero of the Deadball Era, a handsome, college-educated man who lifted the rowdy world of baseball to gentlemanliness. Matty was the basis, many say, for the idealized athlete Frank Merriwell, an inspiration to many authors over the years, and the motivation for an Off-Broadway play based on his life and writings. "He gripped the imagination of a country that held a hundred million people and held this grip with a firmer hold than any man of his day or time," wrote sportswriter Grantland Rice. Offered is one of the finest Type I photographs that we have ever encountered of the famed Chrsty Mathewson. Oversized with a 10" x 13" dimension, Matty is captured in a studio pose with arms folded and in full uniform. The overall dimensions of the museum quality framed item are 24 1/2" x 27", and the item displays as one of the most impressive photos of Mathewson known. There are several imperfections in the item most notably several scratches away from the central image as well as a very small missing piece along the left edge just up from the lower left corner. There is a small notation in the bottom left corner that states "Presented from Christy's Mother" we fully believe that the photo was indeed at onetime gifted by Christy's own mother, although we have no proof of this. Issued circa 1910-15 by Unity Photo Studio, the photo comes with a PSA/DNA Type I Photo LOA.