Professional Football
While a member of the New York Giants, Mathewson played professional football in the first National Football League (NFL) in 1902. He played as a fullback for the Pittsburgh Stars. However, Mathewson disappeared from the team in the middle of their season. Some historians speculate that the Giants got word that their star pitcher was risking his life and baseball career for the Stars and ordered him to stop, while others feel that the Stars' coach got rid of Mathewson because he felt that, since the fullback's punting skills were hardly used, he could replace him with local resident Shirley Ellis.
Read more about this topic: Christy Mathewson
Famous quotes related to professional football:
“Smoking ... is downright dangerous. Most people who smoke will eventually contract a fatal disease and die. But they don’t brag about it, do they? Most people who ski, play professional football or drive race cars, will not die—at least not in the act—and yet they are the ones with the glamorous images, the expensive equipment and the mythic proportions. Why this should be I cannot say, unless it is simply that the average American does not know a daredevil when he sees one.”
—Fran Lebowitz (b. 1950)