E102 NNO Christy Mathewson

Christopher "Christy" Mathewson (1880–1925) appears here in the E102 Anonymous Set of 25, a smaller and scarcer cousin to the better-known E101 Anonymous Set of 50 — both early caramel issues sharing image stock with no player identification on the front, leaving attribution to image collation. The E102 set is among the more challenging deadball runs to complete given its tiny print run and the wear typical of cards distributed loose with candy. Born August 12, 1880 in Factoryville, Pennsylvania, Mathewson was the Bucknell-educated right-hander who anchored John McGraw's New York Giants rotation from 1900 through 1916. He won 373 career games — tied for third all-time — and threw three complete-game shutouts in the 1905 World Series against the Philadelphia Athletics. His signature pitch was the fadeaway, the deadball forerunner of the screwball. Lung damage from accidental gas exposure during World War I training cut his postwar life short; he died of tuberculosis October 7, 1925 in Saranac Lake, New York at 45. He was elected in the inaugural Hall of Fame class of 1936.