Matty: An American Hero

"Ray Robinson's enjoyable and dramatic new biography, Matty, makes it clear that this was a man who was born under a lucky star....Everything Christy Mathewson touched became a golden triumph."--Philadelphia INquirer "In his carefully researched and very readable story, Robinson has cleared away much of the hero-worshipping claptrap that inevitably attaches to a public figure as widely and extravagantly admired as was Mathewson....The book also incorporates sufficient biographical information to sustain a narrative covering Mathewson's entire professional career. Supplementing the text are seven appendices, treating many aspects of the Mathewson record, and some rare photos."--St. Louis Post-Dispatch "Effectively mixing his ruminations on the nature of heroes with a detailed examination of Mathewson's career, Robinson emerges with a rich portrait of a complex man who lived in a rapidly evolving society. A commendable effort."--Booklist "Straightforward, concrete and interesting."--The Boston Sunday Globe "Robinson crisply lays down the facts of the player's professional and personal life, conveys the exuberance and color of the early days of baseball and amusingly explores the 'implausible' friendship between 'the near-saintly pticher' and Giants manager John McGraw."--The Cleveland Plain Dealer "Ray Robinson traces Matty's career in a way that contrasts Mathewson's time with baseball before and since. A book like this sharpens a young fan's appreciation of baseball, giving some feel for the rhthyms of earlier times."--Houston Chronicle "Robinson recalls this true hero, a fitting resurrection in today's sports' world, a real-life Merriwell who was mourned nationally when he died from TB in 1925 at age 45."--Publishers Weekly "Ray Robinson has not only done a masterful job in revealing what an extraordinary player and person Christy Mathewson was, but he has also shown us, so very vividly, what it was like almost a hundred years ago when baseball first became such a part of New York and of America. A warm and as Christy would have said--a bully read."--Frank Deford, author of Love and Infamy "This book is a great melting pot of baseball lore. It's fun to read about a glorious time in baseball's past, when pitchers like Matty finished almost every game they started."--Tim McCarver, Mets Broadcaster "While Matty was probably the greatest right-hander of all time, this fascinating book explains why he meant so much more to the game than the victories he compiled. he was my own hero and now I know why I chose him."--Tom Seaver, Hall of Fame pitcher "Ray Robinson specializes in writing compelling, intelligent biographies of intelligent athletes. Matty is the latest in this Robinson genre."--Dick Schaap "I guess there are lots of people still around who are older than me, but the fact of the matter is that I actually knew many big leaguers who were close to Matty--his catcher, Chief Meyers, his shortstop, Al Bridwell, his center fielder, Fred Snodgrass, and dozens of others. All of them, without exception, would have loved this book and given Ray Robinson three hearty cheers and a tip of the cap for writing it."--Lawrence S. Ritter, author of Glory of Their Times "For more than half a century, Christy Mathewson has dwelled in the twilight realm of the praised but unwritten about. Ray Robinson has accomplished the amazing feat of giving flesh to a myth--of putting a uniform on a ghost."--Allen Barra, New York Observier