Sundays with Matty

Bob Palazzo interviews Christy Mathewson with the help of Eddie Frierson

Well - we got our scoop! As promised, through the efforts of his good friend Eddie Frierson, I was able to interview Christy Mathewson. Matty has a lot to say and he says it well. From opponents, to personal triumphs and failures, he shares with us his approach to the game of baseball and philosophy of life.

Eddie Frierson as Matty

The questions and answers have been grouped into six big (or "big six") segments, in homage to his world famous nickname. The sections are: "In Matty's Opinion", "Matty's Take on Others", "Pitching - The Art", "Pitching - Of a Different Variety", " The Early Years and Nicknames", "It's Personal". A different section will appear each Sunday until all have been posted. In addition, there will be a special feature that will be posted after week six. There has been no editing, other than grammar.

This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to sit back, let your mind travel, and imagine yourself with this baseball giant as he shares his innermost thoughts on baseball with you.

Section Six: It's Personal 

Palazzo:
Could you hit? 

Matty: 
Most every ball-player in my day could hit whether they be a pitcher, outfielder, infielder or catcher. Of course I could hit. All the Giants' pitchers took pride in being able to move runners around and get on base. I would get my one to two home runs a year by hitting balls deeply at the Polo Grounds as well. We pitchers were also a part of John McGraw's plan to have a "running team." We would run and hit, steal bases and stretch for the extra base on hits to the outfield. I, in fact, enjoyed studying opposing pitchers and once stole home twice in a single season. To my knowledge this remains a base-running record for pitchers in the Big League. 

Palazzo:
How did you react when you were traded to Cincinnati in 1916? 

Matty: 
I remember it was raining. The sign on the clubhouse door said, "RAIN - No Game To-Day." 

As I began to clear out my locker I remember saying to myself, "Feelin's is feelin's... no matter who has 'em..." It was quiet. All the fellows were sitting around and noone knew what to do or say. I started emptying my locker and found a deck of cards, uniforms, a checker board and several small slips of paper. Old debt tabs from games long ago over many a year in the League. I broke the ice saying, "There's a tab here and the 'Club Bookkeeper' is here to settle up. Come on, now, fellows --- kick in. I'm leaving now and this things got to be straightened out. And, say, I haven't forgotten that Larry and Poll owe me a dollar on that last checker-game." Then I gave Fred and Fletch a couple of old towels. I found a slip of paper from an old twenty-one score. Then I turned to Larry Doyle and said, "Larry, I don't know whether I want to become the manager of another Club. This is the only locker I have ever had in my life." And they dealt me in to my last card game as a Giant.  

On the train to Cincinnati I sat with Bill McKechnie and Edd Roush. Edd asked McKechnie, "Say, Bill, aren't you glad to be getting away from McGraw?" I turned to him and said, "I'll tell you something, Roush. You and Billy had only been with the Giants for a few months. It's just another ball club to you fellows. But I was with that team for sixteen years. That's a mighty long time. To me, the Giants are home and they always will be. Leaving them like this, I feel the same as when I leave home in the Spring of each year. I realized that I am through as a pitcher. That's the only reason I'm departing New York. And, as for McGraw, I appreciate him making a place for me in baseball by getting me this managing job. He's done me a favor and I thanked him for it. Perhaps you should, too, Edd. The last thing he said to me was, 'You put Roush in centerfield, you'll have a great ballplayer!' So, starting tomorrow, you're my center fielder." Roush became the Reds' center fielder that next day and became one of the greatest the game has ever known. To my knowledge, he never spoke ill of Mac again.   

Palazzo: 
We are familiar with the unfortunate circumstances surrounding the game that had to be finished because of Merkle's play as well as the circumstances surrounding your brother's death. Other than those two events in your life, do you have any regrets?

Matty: 
I don't think you or anyone else could possibly be familiar with the true circumstances surrounding my brother's death. That is a family matter and one I choose not to discuss.

The Merkle incident is covered very succinctly in PITCHING IN A PINCH. I don't regret either of those events as there was not really anything that I could do at the time to change them. When you look back over your shoulder there are things every day in your life that you could change. Do you regret that? I don't think you do. Would you like to change some things. Of course you would. Life is a series of learning events. To have regrets would make you never come out of the house.You must look forward, not back. Where you throw your next pitch is always more important than where you just threw your last one. Just always keep throwing your best pitch in the pinch 

I suppose the closest thing I have to a "regret" is not completing my full term in college at Bucknell. I only had one more year of studies to receive my degree in forestry. That is something that I could have done in the off-season before my son was born but I chose to seek endorsement opportunities and to even play a winter of professional football. I would rather have the degree.   

Palazzo: 
If you could give any advice to the young men and women in this country (or around the world), what would you tell them? 

Matty: 
By all means, play ball. It brings you to rub elbows with the world. It will teach you much if you will but learn. It will help you to play the life game better, and the business game, too. 

I have been asked on many an occasion to "map-out" a training schedule for schoolboy ballplayers, including diet and general conduct... Anything like that would look good in print, but it's a lot of foolishness. There is NO use of fooling youngsters with a lot of hokum. I won't make out any schedule but I'll tell you the truth, if you want that: 

You can tell all of the boys that if they are interested in what they are doing and are proud of their progress as ball players they won't NEED any rules or regulations. All they've got to do is be in earnest. That goes for the Big Leaguers also. If a young fellow wants to be a good ball player and he discovers that too much eating interferes with his work, why, he'll stop it... that's all. 

I don't drink, for instance (although I know the difference between beer and wine) - I don't drink because I know it would affect my work the next day. That's common sense, isn't it? If I find that eating lunch makes me logy and indifferent on the ball field in the afternoon, why, I quit eating lunch. That's all there is to it. Cigarette and pipe smoking is likely to be bad for youngsters because they may smoke to excess. It might affect their wind. 

You tell those boys just to apply common sense to everything they do. There are tricks about keeping in condition if he wants to. The trouble is some of them do not want to. A man is kidding himself when he asks another fellow to tell him how to take care of HIMSELF. The main thing is to be ambitious and earnest... the rest will take care of itself. 

Young men of all abilities often asked me if they should try for the Big Leagues. I always said, "Yes, try - IF YOU LOVE THE GAME." But, if you cannot make the Big League, give it up. TRY not to spend your best years in the minors. Try ANOTHER game. Find a vocation that will make you happy. One that gives you the opportunity to make worth while and helpful friends. I found that it's not applause, it's not glory on the ball field, and it's not money that "buys" contentment for us in our lifetime. It is the family and the friends we make and hold that create our best success and most enduring happiness. 

Young players who have achieved sudden or SEEMING great success? You've heard the applause, you've experienced some of the glory. But, DO NOT allow it to turn your heads. Conceit and overconfidence are the two worst enemies a player can have. Soon or late, you MUST fall or go back. We ALL do. But, if you have been humble and appreciative, and have not taken yourself too seriously in your sudden burst of bloom - you can fall gracefully; you can STILL feel that grip of hands of many kind and true friends. Above all, keep well informed. It's hard to turn the head of an educated man. It's not easy. 

*  Give your friends names they can live up to.
*  Throw your BEST pitches in the "pinch."
*  Be humble and gentle and kind.

And, remember - if you are able to touch just ONE life in a positive manner, you have succeeded in your own.