Mathewson’s baseball stats are astounding, but it’s the person behind the sport that is even more impressive. A quiet, church-going, man, Matty brought virtue to the baseball world in an era when players lived lives full of gambling, drinking, and womanizing. Known as the “Christian Gentleman,” Mathewson never played a game on Sunday. A farm boy from Factoryville, Pennsylvania, he attended Bucknell University, where he was class president and an A student. Matty brought honesty to baseball in an era when it was wracked by betting scandals. An umpire once said he knew if he got a call right if Mathewson confirmed it.

Like most great heroes, Christy Mathewson faced down his share of hardship. His younger brother Nicholas died by suicide. Another brother, Henry, died of tuberculosis. In 1918, Matty signed up to serve in WWI and served in the Chemical Warfare Service along with baseball greats Ty Cobb and Branch Rickey. One year later, suffering the effects of gas exposure, Matty developed TB.

Branch Rickey had come to Saranac Lake with TB in 1908. In 1920, Christy Mathewson followed in his footsteps, seeking the fresh air cure. While Matty’s presence in town surely caused a stir, he wasn’t the only famous person here. In the years after WWI, well known visitors included literary giants John Dos Passos and Ernest Hemmingway, actor Al Jolson, and President Calvin Coolidge. Matty was granted the privacy due all TB patients, and his health slowly improved. By spring of ’22, he was well enough to throw the first pitch of the season opener between Saranac Lake and Plattsburgh.

Late in 1924, Matty, his wife Jane and their son Christy Jr. moved into one of the prettiest houses in town. It sits on a hill like a pitcher’s mound and looks over a lot shaped like a baseball diamond. The wide central staircase has very shallow risers, to make it easier for a TB patient to get to the second floor. A decorative “M” still graces the fireplace today. When he felt up to it, Matty would play catch with the neighborhood children. One day a reporter asked what advice the great ballplayer had for the kids. His answer was simple: “Be humble and gentle and kind.”

Christy Mathewson’s gravestone, Lewiston, PA, April 2025. (Provided photo — Historic Saranac Lake)

In the autumn of 1925, Matty’s health took a turn for the worse. He lost his battle with TB that October.

Last weekend, I made the trip to Bucknell to see my son run a race in Christy Mathewson stadium. On the drive, the radio news was full of angry, divisive voices, and I thought about Saranac Lake’s Christian gentleman. His handsome face lives on in memory, because, well, he was very handsome. But, also, because he stands for traits in short supply today — honesty, kindness, intellect and humility.

Most people don’t last in memory for 100 years. Real heroes go unnoticed every day. By remembering Christy Mathewson, by contemplating the world beyond this place and time, we see ourselves not only in the hero, but also in the stranger. At the museum, we dig for the forgotten stories. We look for the complexity in our heroes, and we discover that most of them had far more flaws than Christy Mathewson.

It’s a short walk from Bucknell’s stadium to the cemetery where Matty is buried. His stone was easy to find — it was surrounded by baseballs. I placed a Historic Saranac Lake pin on his grave, and I let him know we miss him.

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Christy “Matty” Mathewson. “The sight of him was something....My heart stopped for a moment. Just looking at him, he affected you that way. He looked so big and sure and, well, sort of good. Like he meant well toward the whole world.” — Fellow NY Giant, Larry Doyle, who came to Saranac Lake with TB in 1942. (Courtesy of Library of Congress)

Amy Catania is the executive director of Historic Saranac Lake.