Card of the Day: 2010 Topps baseball #80b Christy Mathewson SP

My first short print out of ’10 Topps! Considering I didn’t pull a single short-print out of all the ’09 Topps I opened, this is bliss for me.

That last line of stats caught my interest so I had to investigate. Mathewson pitched his entire career for the Giants until he was traded to the Reds on July 20, 1916. His 1 and only outing for the Reds, the second game in a double header on September 4, was billed as the final showdown between two of the biggest names in baseball, Christy Mathewson and Mordecai “Three Finger” Brown. It must have been quite a show! Mathewson came away with a complete game win, giving up 8 runs to the Cubs giving up 10. It was one of the highest scoring games of the year for both teams.

Origins of Baseball – eBay Purchase

Lately I’ve been craving reading up on the history of baseball and seeing those old baseball photos from the 19th century. So I found myself on eBay picking up this set of 100 cards illustrating just that. This set is chock full of funny named teams, big mustaches and Hall of Famers I’ve never heard of!
Can anyone name this park? I don’t know either. This card is the last of the set and it doesn’t really talk about the picture. It looks like some building named “Washington Heights is perched on top of that cliff back there if that helps.
The Boston Beaneaters (what does that even mean??) was the most successful team of the 1890’s taking 5 National League pennants during that decade.
Mordecai “Three Finger” Brown was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1949. He had a record of 239 – 130 and had 6 20 win seasons in a row. His Chicago Cubs won 4 pennants and 2 World Series with Brown leading the team. It says on the back that at age 7 Mordecai accidentally stuck his hand under a corn chopper, slicing his index finger off and badly breaking his thumb and middle finger. His hand was placed in a splint, but he fell on it while chasing a hog around the yard, badly contorting the broken fingers.