THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 16, 1994 TAG: 9407160418
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ABE GOLDBLATT, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 113 lines
A Portsmouth school administrator has acquired a trophy that conjures up images of a game from a bygone era.
The turn-of-the-century trophy, won by the Norfolk baseball team as champions of the 1900 Virginia State League, features the name of one of baseball's all-time greats: Hall of Famer Christy Mathewson.
``It's my Aladdin's lamp,'' says Clay Shampoe, a collector of sports memorabilia who purchased the silver-plated trophy from a Williamsburg antiques dealer. The dealer had had it for four years after obtaining it in Hampton.
The trophy, stuffed with a baseball blackened with age, is in excellent condition except for the need of a little polish.
``It's not for sale,'' said Shampoe, who did not want to disclose his purchase price.
If the trophy had magical powers like Aladdin's lamp, it could tell the story of one the greatest pitchers of all time - Christy Mathewson. Norfolk was Matty's springboard to baseball immortality.
As a 20-year-old out of Bucknell University, where he had been a star fullback, Mathewson was a sensation in Norfolk, compiling a 20-2 record in only half a season. The Virginia League folded in July 1900, and Norfolk was declared the champion.
Oddly enough, Norfolk fans knew the baseball great only by the name ``Matthews.'' That's the way a reporter first wrote the pitcher's name in The Virginian-Pilot, and that's the way his name appeared in stories and boxscores the remainder of the season. The handsome, 6-foot-1 1/2, 195-pound righthander never bothered to correct it.
The names of the Norfolk players are engraved on the trophy and, appropriately, ``C. Mathewson'' - spelled correctly - heads the list.
He was a phenom. One of his masterpieces was a 1-0 no-hitter against Hampton on June 13, 1900. He walked only one batter to spoil a perfect game.
Mathewson was spotted pitching Taunton (Mass.) to victory over the Portland (Maine) Sea Gulls on the last day of the 1899 New England League campaign. After the game, he ran into John ``Phenomenal'' Smith, the Portland manager.
``You know, the New England League isn't going to operate next year,'' Smith told him. ``I'm going to have a team somewhere, and you can pitch for me.''
Mathewson returned to Bucknell that fall and went with his football team to Philadelphia one Saturday for a game. Smith met with him and said, ``I've made arrangements to manage Norfolk of the Virginia League. If you pitch for me, I'll give you eighty dollars a month.''
``Why, Mr. Smith,'' Christy replied, ``I got $90 a month at Taunton.''
``Yes, but how often did you see the money?'' Smith said. ``I'll give you $80 a month in real cash.''
Mathewson was almost untouchable in the Virginia League.
The late Win Clark played second base for the Portsmouth team and recalled hitting a single through the infield against Mathewson during a game at Norfolk's League Park.
``On the way to first base, I tossed a few boastful remarks at Matty,'' Clark said. ``Matty, very serious, turned to me and said, `You'll never get another hit off me.'
``I never did, either.''
In July 1900, the New York Giants bought Mathewson's contract for $1,500. It was a conditional deal, and when he failed to show much in his first few games, he was returned.
The Cincinnati Reds then drafted him for $100 and traded him back to the Giants. The Norfolk club, feeling it had been swindled out of $1,400, brought suit and finally collected the money from the Giants' management in 1904.
Before joining the Giants, Mathewson pitched his final Virginia League game on July 13, 1900, a 10-7 victory. At bat, he belted a triple, double and single in four trips.
It was a hectic season for Norfolk and Portsmouth baseball fans. The league started with six teams. Richmond and Petersburg were the first to go, then Hampton and Newport News.
After the league collapsed, Norfolk and Portsmouth continued to play to protect their players and help pay salaries. They played each other 40 times in what is considered the longest single-season series in the history of organized baseball. In an effort to boost gate sales, heavyweight boxing champions James J. Jeffries and John L. Sullivan were brought in as umpires.
The Mathewson legend grew through the years and Norfolk took pride in having played a part his rise to baseball's Hall of Fame.
Mathewson was one of baseball's immortals, compiling a won-lost record of 373-188 with an earned-run average of 2.13 over 17 seasons. Over a period of of 12 years, starting in 1903, he never won fewer than 20 games in a season, and four times he won 30 or more.
His performance in the 1905 World Series, when he pitched three shutouts against the Philadelphia Athletics, first brought him national acclaim.
In 1908, he had 37 victories.
His famous fadeaway pitch today is known as the screwball, and he toyed with a pitch he called a nickel curve, which evolved into today's slider.
If he had a fault it was that he liked to let the batter hit the ball, putting steam on his pitches only when there were men on base. Once, he pitched a 14-hit shutout.
Mathewson had magnificent control. In one stretch, he went 68 consecutive innings without walking a man. In 1908 he worked 416 innings, walking only 42 batters. Chief Meyers, his latter-day catcher, boasted he could catch Matty in a rocking chair.
After World War I, in which he served as a captain in the Chemical Warfare Division, Mathewson was president of the Boston Nationals from 1923 to 1925. He died on Oct. 7, 1925, at age 47, during the World Series.
In 1936 Mathewson was one of the first five players elected to baseball's Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., along with Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Walter Johnson and Ty Cobb. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by Richard L. Dunston, Staff
This trophy, inscribed with Christy Mathewson's name, and ball
recalling Norfolk's 1900 title were discovered in Williamsburg.
Sports-memorabilia collector Clay Shampoe has no plans to part with
the 1990 Virginia State League trophy. Names engraved include
Christy Mathewson, above, a charter member of the Hall of Fame.
by CNB