The Major League Baseball playoffs have arrived and in the wake of doping,
BALCO, and ignominious testimony before congress by some of the
more...colorful...characters in the game I thought it might be nice to look
back 100 years to the advice given by one of baseball's greats.
Matheson began his professional career with Norfolk, a minor
league team in the Virginia-North Carolina League, and in the 1900 season he
got the call up to the majors to pitch for the New York Giants. Between July
and September he played in six games, starting one, and by the end of the
season he hadn't won a single game. The Giants, angered with what they perceived
as Matheson's lack of talent, not only sent him back to Norfolk, they demanded
a refund. The same month the Cincinnati Reds acquired Matheson, but quickly
traded him back to the Giants where he stayed.
Matheson dabbled with professional, playing fullback for the Pittsburgh Stars in
the first NFL's 1902 season, but he disappeared from the roster in mid-season.
The reasons for his ending this dalliance with full-contact sports is a bit of
a mystery, but Matheson spent the remainder of his MLB career with the Giants
and still holds the National League record for career wins (373).
Matheson's sage words about sports come from the October 1913
issue of Boy's Life Magazine.
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