Christy Mathewson autographed baseball frenzy ends tonight
This entry was posted on June 21, 2018
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An autographed baseball by one of the greatest pitchers in MLB history will be sold tonight, commanding some serious cash when it's all said and done.
The pitcher? It's Christy Mathewson -- a 373-game winner who died at age 45 back in 1925 after a legendary career with the New York Giants and Cincinnati Reds. He was posthumously elected to the Hall of Fame in its first class alongside Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Babe Ruth and Honus Wagner.
About nine hours remain in the Mile High Card Company auction ... and the interest is strong.
After 10 bids, the ball sits at $62,058 after an opening bid of $40,000. Mathewson autographs in general aren't that easy to land -- he has just 14 cut autograph cards total made since 2001 -- and this baseball is a notable specimen much more impressive than any of those elusive cards.
He only won one World Series (1905) but his dominating career is one that won't be matched. He won 30 -- yes, 30 -- games four times (three of those seasons in a row) and had a career-high 37 victories in 1908 when he went 37-11 with a 1.43 ERA and 259 strikeouts to claim the Triple Crown. He also had 11 shutouts, five saves and 34 complete games that season. He enlisted in the Army to help fight World War I in late 1918 when he was manager of the Reds and was accidentally gassed during training. He developed tuberculosis but was discharged in early 1919. He fought the disease until his death.
"Perfectly preserved to be found almost a century later, this [Official National League] baseball houses the cleaning, boldest signature of Christy Mathewson known to exist, not just on a baseball but on any surface," reads the auction listing. "With a 'yours truly' inscription penned above the perfectly delivered steel top fountain pen signature on a side panel, this Spalding baseball provides the perfect display for one of the most elusive signatures of any Hall of Famer."
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