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Rucker Archives
Game Stories
May 1, 1900: With encouragement from his manager, Christy Mathewson wins his first start for Norfolk
Early in his career, John Francis Smith was a pitcher of great promise. As a 20-year-old in 1885, the southpaw struck out 147 batters in 11 games for the Newark team of the Eastern League, and he became known as Phenomenal Smith.1 A clever hurler who mastered a variety of deceptive curveballs,2 he pitched for […]
October 17, 1911: Home Run Baker, A’s get the best of Giants’ Christy Mathewson in Game 3
“Mighty Baker Pulls Another Home Run Hit,” squawked the headline on the front page of the Philadelphia Inquirer on October 18, 1911, after Game Three of the World Series.1 The story behind the headline comes from one of baseball’s all-time great World Series matchups. Baseball’s first two dynasties, the New York Giants and the Philadelphia […]
July 5, 1912: ‘Magician-like’ Christy Mathewson sours Brooklyn’s grins while earning 300th career win
Despite watching Cy Young pitch effectively into his 40s in the preceding seasons, many baseball fans and journalists once again characterized 31-year-old Christy Mathewson as old and washed up in 1912, using every average or poor outing by the New York Giants ace as an excuse to wonder aloud if “Big Six” should change his […]