Nicholas Mathewson

Nicholas Wellington Mathewson
(Nick)

• School Keystone Academy

• Born October 19, 1889 in Factoryville, PA USA
• Died January 15, 1909 in Scranton, PA USA

Biographical Information

Nicholas Mathewson was the youngest of the three ballplaying Mathewson brothers. With his older brothers Christy and Henry both being major leaguers, it was no surprise that Nicholas wanted to follow in their footsteps. Nicholas was a star at Keystone Academy in the family's hometown of Factoryville, PA, and was reported by some papers to have a lot of promise as a pitcher with some sources even saying he could potentially have bypassed both of his brothers talent-wise.

In 1908 he was signed by the Nashville Vols of the Southern League and was expected to pitch for them in 1909. He had also received an offer from the Detroit Tigers, but his dreams of playing pro ball were crushed when his father told him he wanted him to focus on graduating from college first. Nicholas had fallen ill in the winter of 1908 and was staying home a lot of the time. He became overwhelmed with the fact that he was falling behind in school and was frustrated that his father wouldn't let him play baseball.

On January 14, 1909, he told his parents that he was going to the family's barn to take care of the horses. Instead, he climbed up to the hayloft, wrote a suicide note, and then shot himself in the head. He was discovered by Henry who alerted their parents, and he was taken to a hospital in Scranton, PA where he died the next morning.

The gravestone of Nicholas Mathewson (taken by Cody Bellés)