Christy Mathewson video

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Posted By: PC

A little OT, but anything related to Mathewson seems "in the ballpark". I believe this is one of only a couple of surviving video clips of Christy Mathewson pitching (and hitting):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mASnW4YVXU

Really amazing to see. Notice he's hitting cross-handed, which was noted in Phil Seib's "The Player", and which I thought was odd and something that Mathewson surely corrected before he came to the Giants. I guess not.

Also cool to see the "World's Champions" jerseys that the Giants wore in 1906 (?). I wonder if any of those survive?

Not sure if this clip was taken from "Christy Mathewson and the New York National League Team", which is a short film from 1907. If anyone has a copy of that film, or a link to where it can be purchased, that would be appreciated.

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

That was cool.. Thanks for posting that.

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Posted By: Matt

Thanks! check out the other related videos including a video of Cobb narrated by himself!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrgG6NOM-m4&feature=related

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Posted By: Kyle

Very cool!

Check out this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aE9D0oAyCC4&feature=related>


and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0WWdxuAsjE&feature=related

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Posted By: Joe D.

looking at the related videos!

great stuff.


Check out the big train -
Even in slow motion - the ball looks like it moves at ROCKET SPEED.

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Posted By: leon

and now we know where some of the cards get their pitching pose of Matty.....thanks for posting....definitely NOT off topic imho....

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

Here's one I found in a different search of my favorite baseball song...for some reason I though Les Brown and Betty Bonney sang this one...maybe other bands did the song too???

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Y4xP3gd_4Q

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Posted By: Anonymous

I posted that Matty video on these boards a while ago and its still neat to watch them. I found some interviews of pre war baseball players on there too, but its only audio interviews for a few minutes each. I found 2 Cobbs and a Cy Young interview lol. He sounded bitter when talking about his perfect game in 1904.

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

Ty Cobb didn't sound anything like I had imagined....great videos. Good timewaster for the day.

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Posted By: Steve

I agree Dan, That was the tone of a kind old man.

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Posted By: Jack

Thanks for a great post.

I've been thinking for awhile now, after reading The Old Ballgame and The Player, that a movie needs to be made about Matty and the Giants. It would be a bit of a tragedy, some bits about the death of his brothers, his role in the Chemical Warfare division, and ultimately his untimely death. But it would capture all the great stories about those NY teams from 1905 through 1913, with wonderful side stories about Charles Victory Faust, Mathewons' checkers fetish, John McGraw in general, the Merkle Boner, etc.

Billy Crystal got *61 done. Maybe he should know that this needs to be made too...anyone have any pull?

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

To my knowledge there has never been a movie made about 19th century baseball...how cool would it be to have a movie about Spalding's World Tour? or the 1869 Red Stockings? How about a movie about Ed Delahanty or Mike Kelly?

I always thought that Mark Harmon would make a good Christy Mathewson, but he's too old for the part now.

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Posted By: barrysloate

Since Matty only won a World's Championship in 1905, should we assume the footage is ca. 1906?

Dan- Thomas Edison studios shot some baseball footage in 1898. But it sure would be great to see film of the 1869 Reds- come on Dan, you're a pro with youtube, let's see you dig up some George Wright footage.

Oops- you said a movie made. Sorry!

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Posted By: fkw

Same era as the 1906 Ullman Postcards. Some of the players in the Ullman set are pictured in those "World's Champions" uniforms, and at least one shows the champion flag in the background (McGinnity).

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Posted By: Anthony S.

Great video. Looks like he pitched over a straight front leg on the follow through. Nowadays, some pitching coach along the way (ie before he was a star) would probably try to break him of that habit saying it put too much strain on his arm. Love the train puttering along in the background toward the end of the vid.

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Posted By: Jeff W.

does anybody have a link to video of keith olbermann showing off his collection on his show?

Jeff W.

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Posted By: Frank Evanov

Those are terrific videos!

Frank

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Posted By: PC

Kudos to whoever posted the video here before -- it is an all too brief view of the great Matty.

Jack/Dan -- a movie about this era, particularly the Giants and Cubs, would be great. Closest movie I can think of is "Cobb", but that's more about Cobb (obviously) than the era.

Anthony -- I've been coaching my son (and his team), so I too have been studying the mechanics of the pitchers in these old clips. I think Matty's warm-up motion was a little more straight up and down than his game motion, but by all accounts he wasn't a long strider. But that's ok. Walter Johnson was unique -- in addition the side-arm sling, it looks like he doesn't turn his right foot against the rubber (wierd, but obviously effective).

The Grover Cleveland Alexander and Satchel Paige clips are also outstanding ... both are textbook examples of pitching motions (the rocker step, leg kick, stride, etc.). Especially Paige, if you ignore the double arm swing thing (which is great to watch). Certain things are timeless.

But what all these guys do the same is the follow-through. Full, smooth extension, ending across the body and low and away. No wonder they were able to pitch so much, for so long -- they knew the best way to avoid injury was to never interrupt the follow-through.

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Posted By: Rob

Awesome videos! Very cool stuff - all of them!

Seeing Walter Johnson pitch reminds me of Randy Johnson. Big Train / Big Unit. Is that where Randy got his nickname from?

Rob

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Posted By: Rhett Yeakley

I have always thought there are several great movies that could be made about baseball. Among the stories that I am actually kinda surpised haven't been made are the stories of both Louis Sockalexis and James Creighton, seriously how dramatic a finish can there be in a baseball movie (a la The Natural) than having the guy die after hitting a ball in a game. Both stories (with some creative additions) would translate well to a full length popular (not just to us nerds) movie.
-Rhett

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Posted By: Paul

I watched the Walter Johnson clip. Tell the truth. How many of you knew he threw sidearm?

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Posted By: Matthew

Here you go. I love this clip. You will see some baseball cards towards the end (around 7:00)

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Posted By: Jeff W.

Thanks Matt

I was hoping to see a few more cards from his collection, oh well.

Jeff

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Posted By: Joe D.

I admit it - I didn't know WaJo threw sidearm.


Could you imagine being a right hand batter at that time....
with that heat and the sidearm release - the batter's box must have been a scary place.

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Posted By: Dennis W.

The thing that really sticks out to me about Johnson is how long his arms were. Wow! With that arm slot and velocity he had to have had some sick movement as well. I agree that right handers batters box had to have been spooky, especially with no helmet!