The personal collection of Hall of Fame pitcher Christy Mathewson will be sold at Hunt Auctions in June, the auction house announced Tuesday.
The 126-lot auction includes a wide variety of items from the life and career of Mathewson, a right-handed pitcher who was one of five players elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame’s inaugural class, a group that included Babe Ruth, Walter Johnson, Honus Wagner and Ty Cobb.
The collection was gifted to Mathewson’s high school in Factoryville, Pennsylvania, Keystone Academy, in 1967 by his wife, Jane. For the first time, pieces from this collection are being brought to the public market.
"Christy Mathewson is one of most prominent names in the history of the game of baseball to which we are humbled to present such an important archive of materials," Hunt Auctions president David Hunt said. "The Mathewson Collection may well be the most significant grouping of its type to have ever been presented to the collecting public with special note to scarcity of the players from the Deadball Era.”
Among the items offered in the upcoming auction are dozens of Type 1 photos, clothing and materials from Mathewson’s time serving in World War I, autographed postcards, rare promotional displays and more.
During Mathewson’s time in the Army, he was a captain in the Chemical Service (along with Ty Cobb). In 1918, Mathewson was accidentally exposed to gas during a training exercise, contracting Turburculosis years later before dying at the age of 45 in 1945.
A ‘doughboy jacket’ worn by Mathewson during his military career and an accompanying Type 1 photograph displaying Mathewson in the uniform are listed with an estimate of $25,000-$50,000.
Other relics from Mathewson’s time serving overseas include his personal footlocker (estimate: $7,500-$15,000), his signed uniform belt (estimate: $7,500-$15,000) and his U.S. Army Officer’s hat (estimate: $5,000-$10,000).
The No. 1 lot in the auction is a circa 1904 Type 1 photo of Mathewson taken by Carl Horner, one of the most important baseball photographers of the era, along with Charles Conlon.
Described as the first example offered publicly in decades, Hunt notes “nearly every other Horner portrait extant is of far smaller size,” and “it is not unreasonable to suggest that this was more than likely created as a presentational piece from Horner to Mathewson himself.”
The photo carries an estimate of $50,000-$100,000 (the highest of any lot in the auction).
A 1907 Ty Cobb photo of similar style (cabinet), used in the production of Cobb’s T206 red and green portrait cards in addition to other issues, sold for $396,000 in August 2019 at Heritage.
A lower-priced piece in the collection aids in explaining the significance of Mathewson Type 1 photos. The two-page letter written by Conlon details the connection between the photographer and the player, who was his first subject. An excerpt from the letter reads:
“Twenty-one years ago, I went up to the Polo Grounds with a note of introduction to John McGraw ... and it just happened that the first picture I made was Matty's. Since then I took a great many. ... They constitute practically a photographic biography of the game's greatest pitcher, from the days of his youth and strength, through to the crest of his career, and on to the time of his last fadeaway in Cincinnati."
The letter, which is signed and authenticated in a PSA/DNA slab, assigned a grade of 7, has an estimate of $2,000-$4,000.
A 1914 handwritten and autographed letter written by Mathewson to a young fan, graded PSA/DNA 7, includes the following excerpt:
“I haven't a baseball to send you, but the next time you are at the Polo Grounds if you will make yourself known to me I will give you one that has been used in a League game. Your Friend, Christy Mathewson, Los Angeles Calif. Feb 17 1914.”
The estimate is $10,000-$15,000.
Also included is a trophy presented to Mathewson in 1908 during the showing of a musical at the Herald Square Theater in 1908. Hunt has provided an estimate of $7,500-$15,000.
Hunt has a history of handling similar player collections in the past, most notably that of Babe Ruth, which the auction house sold in a live auction at Yankee Stadium in 2019. Among the more than 400 lots offered in the Ruth auction, Hunt set a record with the $5.64 million sale of a Ruth game-worn jersey.
Will Stern is a reporter and editor for cllct. You can follow him on X at @Will__Stern.