Mathewson pronunciation? (and book recommendation)

[timn1]

After hearing great things about it for years, I've finally gotten around to reading Eric Rolfe Greenberg's novel The Celebrant (which WP Kinsella, author of [Shoeless Joe]/Field of Dreams, calls the best BB novel ever written). I think WPK may be right, it is tremendous. The characters are really well drawn, and the baseball action done well. Highest recommendation!

Mathewson is central to the book, and one moment in which a character calls him "Matson" got me wondering whether his name might have been pronounced "Matheson" at the time.

This infoplease site gives both pronunciations:
http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0832207.html

I also found this thread from 2011:
http://www.net54baseball.com/archive...?t-137301.html

"Matheson" makes sense to me. Should he join the list of recently revised (or at least proposed) names? "Nap Lajoway," "Johnny Ee-vers," "KyeKye Cuyler," "Earle Coombs," "Dan Broothers"... am I forgetting anyone?

[Bugsy]

add Ha-nus Wagner, not Hoe-nus.

[terjung]

Ed See-cot (Cicotte)

[bn2cardz]

It has happened several times growing up that I would call a player by a pronunciation until I finally would see a televised game of that player and realize I had been saying it wrong all that time.

It would be nice if the cards had the pronunciation on the back of the cards for some of these newer players.

Maybe someone can make a pronunciation set for the vintage players.

[T206Collector]

Most of these debates can be decided when listening to the Glory of their Times CD...

http://www.amazon.com/The-Glory-Thei...their+times+cd

...and the 1939 Hall of Fame Game and Inductions CD...

http://www.amazon.com/1939-Baseball-...+centennial+cd


I believe it is LA-zha-way ...and MATH-eh-son....

[packs]

I remember when I was younger and just getting into cards I would ask dealers at shows if they had cards of Nap Lajoy. It would be a while until I found out it was La-Joo-Way.

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by T206Collector

Most of these debates can be decided when listening to the Glory of their Times CD...

I've noticed different players pronounce players' names differently, even the old guys on this cd who were contemporaries. Makes sense, as we do the same (Gonzaga, etc.), so you can't rely completely on "Glory of Their Times".

I'll re-listen and write down some examples.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by timn1

After hearing great things about it for years, I've finally gotten around to reading Eric Rolfe Greenberg's novel The Celebrant (which WP Kinsella, author of [Shoeless Joe]/Field of Dreams, calls the best BB novel ever written). I think WPK may be right, it is tremendous. The characters are really well drawn, and the baseball action done well. Highest recommendation!

Mathewson is central to the book, and one moment in which a character calls him "Matson" got me wondering whether his name might have been pronounced "Matheson" at the time.

This infoplease site gives both pronunciations:
http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0832207.html

I also found this thread from 2011:
http://www.net54baseball.com/archive...?t-137301.html

"Matheson" makes sense to me. Should he join the list of recently revised (or at least proposed) names? "Nap Lajoway," "Johnny Ee-vers," "KyeKye Cuyler," "Earle Coombs," "Dan Broothers"... am I forgetting anyone?

In the book, as I recall, the character who pronounces it Matson -- I think it was the narrator's uncle who has a thick accent --knows nothing about baseball and the mispronunciation is a humorous way to convey that.