Bucknell’s “First Five”
When you say first five around Bucknell it does not refer to the starting five of the basketball team. Even “Big Six” would apply to this year’s team if versatile guard Cameron Ayers ends up coming in off of the bench. That would certainly give the Bison a “Big Six” that should dominate the Patriot League. But those terms both refer to baseball great Christy Mathewson.
Mathewson, nicknamed “Big Six,” spent some time at Bucknell University. He was the class president, played on the football team and, of course, played some baseball as well. In 1899 the 19 year old left school to start his professional baseball career. He ended up with the New York Giants, even after their attempt to get their money back from Norfolk, a semi-pro team, after Matty compiled a 0-3 record as a starting pitcher. Cincinnati picked him up and later traded him back to the Giants.
But the Factoryville, Pennsylvania native turned things around soon enough. He is most known for his 1905 performance in the World Series. In game one against the Philadelphia Athletics he threw a four hit shutout. In game three he pitched another four hit shutout. In game five, he slipped up and gave up six hits in his third complete game shutout in six days. They don’t make them like that anymore. That final shutout clinched a World Series victory for the Giants.
Stemming from an accident involving chemical gas in World War I, Mathewson spent the rest of his tragically shortened life trying to fight his battle with tuberculosis. He died at the age of 45 in 1925. But his story does not end there. In 1936 Matty was inducted into the first class of the Baseball Hall of Fame, the famous “First Five”. Others may remember Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner and Walter Johnson, but do not say that in central Pennsylvania.
Mathewson requested to be buried in a cemetery adjacent to Bucknell University. And the school renamed their football stadium after him in 1989 to honor “Big Six,” the member of the great “First Five.’
Read the in-depth men’s basketball preview for this team
