The Player: Christy Mathewson, Baseball, and the American Century

Rating:
Summary: Decent but too broad
Review: As a fan of baseball history, I have been looking for a modern, definitive biography of Christy Mathewson ever since I grew to admire him many years ago. I was hoping that Philip Seib's The Player would be that elusive work, but I was wrong. Although it covers the major events of Matty's life, Seib works very hard to put him in context as the first major baseball star and the times that he lived in, so what we're left with is less of a biography and more of a social history.

This is all well and good, and the premise is an interesting one, except that Seib doesn't take it far enough and when he tries to expound on his theory, he ends up giving more info on other figures of the times like Billy Sunday and Woodrow Wilson than on Mathewson.

Almost contradictorally, the main problem is that it all just feels too thin. At less than 200 pages it's a one and a half day read at best and you come away not knowing anything more about Mathewson than you would reading any history of baseball. Were I Seib's editor, I would have recommended that he go in the opposite direction and really blow out his research. Joseph Durso wrote an excellent double biography of John McGraw and Casey Stengel that captured the general history of American society as well as baseball and that is clearly what Seib is aspiring to but falls short.

I don't want to knock the book too much since I enjoy general history as much as anyone, but I guess I just expected so much more. Also, Seib labors in spots to draw his conclusions and ends up being extremely repetitive. His reverence for Mathewson is well-appreciated, but borders on overindulgence.

If you are interested in reading more on Mathewson, I would recommend seeking out the Jonathan Yardley essay "The Real Frank Merriwell" for a terrific mini-bio and tribute to a great pitcher.

Rating:
Summary: Decent but too broad
Review: Considering the book is less than 200 pages long I wondered what this book would tell me about Christy Mathewson I haven't already read somewhere else. Author Philip Seib emphasizes the positive role model Matty played both as a player and as a private citizen. The author also provides us with details of former major leaguer Eddie Grant who lost his life fighting in World War I. His monument used to appear in center field in the Polo Grounds, and I was pleased to read details I hadn't read before. Mathewson enlisted in World War I, and came in contact with poisonous gas in a training drill in Europe shortly before The Great War ended. He returned from Europe to help McGraw as a coach with the Giants, and once again encountered the crooked Hal Chase whom Matty had in his brief tenure as manager of the Cincinnati Reds after his (Matty's) playing days were over. He was an observer of the 1919 World Series between the White Sox and Reds, and to his dismay, observed what he believed to be crookedness in the play of the Chicago team. His cough persisted, and progressed to tuberculosis. Matty spent time at Saranac Lake in upstate New York where the dry air was thought to be helpful to patients. He felt well enough to join the Boston Braves in the front office, but had to return to Saranac Lake where he died during the 1925 World Series. This would be an excellent book for both beginning readers of Christy Mathewson, or those who have a more extensive knowledge of one of the first five members elected to baseball's hall of fame.

Rating:
Summary: I Was Plesantly Surprised
Review: Considering the book is less than 200 pages long I wondered what this book would tell me about Christy Mathewson I haven't already read somewhere else. Author Philip Seib emphasizes the positive role model Matty played both as a player and as a private citizen. The author also provides us with details of former major leaguer Eddie Grant who lost his life fighting in World War I. His monument used to appear in center field in the Polo Grounds, and I was pleased to read details I hadn't read before. Mathewson enlisted in World War I, and came in contact with poisonous gas in a training drill in Europe shortly before The Great War ended. He returned from Europe to help McGraw as a coach with the Giants, and once again encountered the crooked Hal Chase whom Matty had in his brief tenure as manager of the Cincinnati Reds after his (Matty's) playing days were over. He was an observer of the 1919 World Series between the White Sox and Reds, and to his dismay, observed what he believed to be crookedness in the play of the Chicago team. His cough persisted, and progressed to tuberculosis. Matty spent time at Saranac Lake in upstate New York where the dry air was thought to be helpful to patients. He felt well enough to join the Boston Braves in the front office, but had to return to Saranac Lake where he died during the 1925 World Series. This would be an excellent book for both beginning readers of Christy Mathewson, or those who have a more extensive knowledge of one of the first five members elected to baseball's hall of fame.

Rating:
Summary: One Of Baseball's Greats Gets His Due
Review: It's been almost 90 years since Christy Mathewson last threw a pitch in a major league baseball game, and more than 75 years since his untimely death from tuberculosis. Yet time has left his on-the-field achievements and his greater legacy undiminished. His 373 career wins are still third highest in major league history. In this slim, gracefully written volume Philip Seib explores not only Mathewson's role in the game, but in the context of the larger society as well.

Professional baseball at the dawn of the 20th century was still seen as a haven for rowdies. The college-educated Mathewson represented a new standard, one in harmony with President Theodore Roosevelt's affirmation of the active life. As America moved toward involvement in World War I under the idealistic Woodrow Wilson, Mathewson's willingness to serve was once again in synch with the mood of the era. When Matty stood against the corruption that infected the game in the late teens, it was a precursor to greed and scandals that seemed to dominate national life in the 1920s.

Seib's book is a worthy tribute to a great player, and more significantly, a great man.--William C. Hall

Rating:
Summary: Not very deep
Review: This book is a decent read but it is less a biography of Mathewson than it is a commentary on the times and events that he lived through. I had hoped to learn about who Christy Mathewson was and what made him so great and instead I felt like I read an overview of the major events in baseball and history during the late 1800's to the mid 1900's.

Rating:
Summary: Not very deep
Review: This book is a decent read but it is less a biography of Mathewson than it is a commentary on the times and events that he lived through. I had hoped to learn about who Christy Mathewson was and what made him so great and instead I felt like I read an overview of the major events in baseball and history during the late 1800's to the mid 1900's.