[BigJJ]

Thank you guys. I bought the photo. my review continues.
what I think is special is - the iconic and confident "I'm ready" signal that Mathewson is giving with his arm and the ball, love the image - the Bucknell presentation, which with Gehrig at Columbia, are arguably the two biggest early college connections - and how early the image appears to be.
With regard to date, I agree and believe the photo dates to a number of years earlier, lot of review this past week. while it is arguable, based on a number of factors, I believe the photo dates to 1898-1902:
(i) Mathewson is in his Bucknell sweater. He attended Bucknell through 1899.
(ii) arguably, he would not wear his college sweater in the pros, as most did not attend college, and were fighting to live and eat. at least I do not think he would have worn beyond the initial try-outs, practices, and maybe start of his play with the Giants. he was a very humble and pious person, I do not believe, personally, this would fit his way, to wear his college sweater if he had another suitable sweater available.
(iii) Mathewson is pictured in Giants sweaters during warm-ups post-1905, and specifically in 1909 and 1910.
(iv) it looks to be a winter, or early spring, northern college warmup, or possibly a northern pro tryout/warmup.
(v) agree that the no webb mitt looks like a mid-1890s model. almost like a workmans glove.
(vi) does not appear to be 30 years old, looks to be about 20 or so.
(vii) does not look like Polo Grounds or any stadium I know from 1909 era. could be very early Polo Grounds, maybe someone has knowledge/photos in this regard?
Thank you for the earlier comments and additional background.