Christy Mathewson

One of baseball's early 20th century superstars was Christy Mathewson.

In an era when most baseball players were rough and tumble blue collar guys, Mathewson was a cultured and well educated player, who had an unhittable fast ball and who looked good on the field -- and even better in front of the camera. He was tall and had striking good looks. Some of the photos of him are amazing.

Mathewson was what the lords of baseball wanted all of their players to be -- cultured, well-mannered, modest and discrete. Fortunately, that did not happen, and instead we got personalities like Ty Cobb and John McGraw, along with the likes of Mathewson.

Still, there was no denying that Mathews had an "it" about him that few other players possessed on the field and in front of the camera.

And that's probably he has inspired more than one painting or drawing from this artist.

11 x 14, watercolor on Bristol board

Price: $75

About the drawing

I was experimenting a bit with color here and am not sure this works. But, still, it has an appeal, at least to me. If it doesn't sell by New Year's, I think I'm going frame it for my office wall.

(This is an original piece, not a print.)