October 7, 1925: The Death of Christy Mathewson

October 7, 1925: Christy Mathewson dies of tuberculosis at the health-spa town of Saranac Lake‚ New York‚ at the age of 45. At the time of his death, the Giant pitching legend was part owner and president of the Boston Braves.

A native of Factoryville, Pennsylvania, Mathewson had been the greatest pitcher in the National League, maybe in all of baseball, in a career lasting from 1900 to 1916, mostly with the New York Giants. A graduate of Bucknell University, whose football stadium is named for him, known as "the Christian Gentleman" for his demeanor, he proved to the nation at large, which had previously refused to believe it, that a man could play major league baseball and still be a good person.

But when his playing career came to an end, he volunteered for service in World War I, despite already being 36 years old. He rose to the rank of Captain, and was assigned to the U.S. Army's Chemical Weapons Division, serving alongside Captain Ty Cobb. The war ended before he could be sent off to combat. But a training exercise left him exposed to poison gas, and it ruined his lungs.

He also caught the Spanish Flu during the 1918-19 epidemic. And his lungs got a 3rd socking-to with tuberculosis. He went to Saranac Lake because of its health spa, in the hope that its methods, and the air of the Adirondack Mountains, would strengthen his lungs. It didn't work, and he died at the age of 45.

Later in the day, as word reaches Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, the flag is lowered to half-staff, and will remain so there and at Griffith Stadium in opposing Washington for the remainder of the Series. Commissioner Landis orders that black armbands be applied to both teams' uniforms, even though Mathewson had never been involved with either of the teams playing.

In 1936, along with Cobb, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner and Walter Johnson, was 1 of the 1st 5 inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

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October 7, 1925 was a Wednesday. The only sporting event played was Game 1 of the World Series, in spite of the loss of Mathewson. The aforementioned Walter Johnson started for the defending World Champion Washington Senators, and "the Big Train" is aided by a home run by Joe Harris, as the Senators win, 4-1 over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Harold "Pie" Traynor, the 3rd baseman who will join Johnson in the Baseball Hall of Fame, hits a home run for the Pirates.

In 1961, the Senators moved to the Minneapolis area, and became the Minnesota Twins. Since this day in 1925, their World Series record has been 14-4 at home -- 8-0 since losing Game 7 in 1965 -- and 0-14 on the road.