“STORIES THAT NEVER FOUND THEIR WAY INTO THE NEWSPAPERS”: CHRISTY MATHEWSON’S PITCHING IN A PINCH

MATHEWSON, Christy. Pitching in a Pinch, or Baseball from the Inside. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, (1912). Octavo, original olive patterned cloth.    $450.

Early edition of this inside look at baseball from one of the game’s most dominating pitchers.

First published earlier in 1912 by G.P. Putnam’s Sons, this edition contains four photographic plates, including a frontispiece portrait of Mathewson. Christy “Big Six” Mathewson was both a role model to children and a fierce competitor on the field. “In addition to physical ability, Mathewson had the perfect temperament for a great ball player. He had everything—strength, intelligence, courage and willingness” (DAB). “Besides being a national hero, Matty was one of the closest students of baseball that ever came into the Big League” (John Wheeler). This is his anecdotal account of Big League ball players—“their habits and their methods of playing the game… stories that never found their way into the newspapers.” See Smith 16469; Grobani 27-4.

Text fine, spine of original cloth darkened. An extremely good copy.