Matty

[JACKIE42]

[JACKIE42]

[JACKIE42]

[JACKIE42]

Ty Cobb.

[JACKIE42]

1913

[The Commissioner]

Wow, look at the ball in that last photo!!! That couldn't have been fun to try to pick up from the batter's box.

[JACKIE42]

"Game 2 of the 1913 World Series. Here we see Christy Mathewson as he slides into third base in the top of the tenth inning. Earlier in the inning Mathewson had broken the scoreless duel by driving in the first run of the game with a single. His advance to third on this play (as noted by a period pencil notation on the reverse) was the result of his having been hit in the back with the ball on a throw by Eddie Collins during a double-play attempt. The ball ricocheted into left field, allowing Mathewson to advance to third. The Giants eventually scored two more insurance runs in the inning and Matty took care of the rest; setting the A's down in order in the bottom of the tenth for the 3-0 shutout. It would mark the Giants only win of the series. Also visible in this remarkably clear photo are Philadelphia A's third baseman Frank "Home Run" Baker and the Giants third base coach (unidentified, possibly John McGraw), who is wearing a team jacket over his uniform".

[JACKIE42]

1913

[Imapotato]

I am pretty sure that the 3rd base coach was Arlie Latham

[Elysian Fields]

That 1913 photo is definitely a photo taken around 1903 or 1904. That's a youthful Matty in an early McGraw or pre-McGraw uniform.

[KCGHOST]

Great Photos!!

[Brownie31]

Great Photos!!

My thoughts exactly!

Especially the photo with Ty Cobb. The usually
acerbic Cobb idolized Matty and this is quite
evident in his expression in the photo.

Brownie31

[George Lee]

I can't see that there was any reason to have Matty slide into Third Base in that photo. The coach is obviously directing him to do so, but it looks like bad baseball to me--having your ace slide when he doesn't have to.

[SF Kid]

Awesome pics. Thanks for sharing!

[BaseballHistoryNut]

Ty Cobb.

This is the photo which caused Bill James to engage in one of his (in)famous bits of armchair psychology, rambling on about Cobb's inferiority complex or sense of insecurity (I'm not sure which). What I think is noteworthy about the photo is this:

Cobb was a big man, especially for his time. He stood 6'1" tall and weighed over 190 pounds. Yet Mathewson looms distinctly taller in this photo, and I rather doubt the dapperly attired Peach was barefoot. My sources only give a weight, not a height, for Mathewson. And I know not to put too much confidence in the listings of old players' heights, since Hank Greenberg is almost always listed at 6'4", and there is a photo--posted at least once on this site, by Bill Burgess--which incontrovertibly shows Greenberg was a minimum of 6'6" or 6'7", if not 6'8" or 6'9". That is, he's shown with a bunch of his peers who were all about the same height as one another: Cronin, Cochrane, DiMaggio, Foxx, etc. He absolutely towers over them and cannot possibly have been "only" six feet four inches tall.

I can understand why Greenberg did not want his titanic height known, i.e., to avoid getting an accurate strike zone. I do not understand why Matty's height is a matter of relative secrecy. How tall was he? Six feet three? Six feet four? I have seen photos of Cobb with other tall players, including Ruth, and if Cobb was not 6'1", he was surely close to it. From this photo, I'd have to say Matty was quite a tall man, even by today's standards. I am a shade under 6'2" (at 53), and know that mine is a tall but by no means spectacular height. From the posted photo, I'm fairly certain Mathewson was taller than me.

BHN