Celebrating Christy Mathewson's Birthday With A 1946-47 Propaganda Montiel Cuban Baseball Card!

The one and only Christy Mathewson would be 137 today if he had not died due to complications from being gassed with mustard gas while protecting a fellow soldier during a training exercise in World War I. And, you know, if people lived to be 137.

By chance I stumbled upon this gorgeous 1946-47 Propaganda Montiel card of Mathewson and after debating for days decided to take the plunge and go for it. I was the sole bidder and more importantly the card cost me absolutely nothing out of pocket as I had some eBay Bucks and a $100 eBay gift card from SwagBucks after completing a bunch of surveys and other various tasks. Free makes everything better, always.

Mathewson, aside from being a phenomenal player and one of the first five Hall of Famers, is a fascinating guy to study. His intellect, skill at checkers, and involvement in helping to expose the Black Sox makes for a great read.

I've wanted a Cuban card for some time and had my eyes on a lesser player from the famous 1950-51 Toleteros set which features Josh Gibson's rookie. To land a Cuban card of an equally significant player and have it be from the 40s was enough motivation for me. The card is gorgeous as well which I was thrilled with as it's a condition-sensitive set; it only garnered the authentic tag as it is clearly hand-cut.

If only my years of Spanish classes had actually materialized into understanding the language. The back is clean which is not always the case with these as they were often glued into scrapbooks.

On a side note, as I mentioned I was able to accrue $100 just from doing surveys in my down time. Of course, I put that towards cardboard, and I'd recommend you guys take advantage of that opportunity. Follow this link (I would pick up some extra points as your referral) and add some sweeeeet vintage to your collections.

http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/GregZakwin