Gaines takes on two demanding tasks in Christy Mathewson, the Christian Gentleman. The first is to try to find the man behind the myth in his account of Mathewson, and the second is to attempt to capture the mad-cap atmosphere of professional baseball at the beginning of the twentieth century. He succeeds at both in this enjoyable read. It would be easy to lose Mathewson in a welter of statistics or a mountain of platitudes. Yes, the Big Six was an admirable role model for the nation's youth and he did amass an enviable career record, but the human figure responsible for that compilation of remarkable achievements is clearly visible in this account. A product of his upbringing, education and religious training, Mathewson excelled in a variety of sports in addition to baseball, taught Sunday school, performed on the stage, appeared in silent films and collaborated in the writing of Broadway plays and musicals. Yet, as his wife, Jane, pointed out, if he had been a saint, she wouldn't have married him. He could make a bet, take a drink, play cards into the late hours and occasionally enliven his speech with an expletive.

With great effort he was able to break into the locker room culture and become a "regular guy" without compromising his principles as a church elder and advocate for the muscular Christianity of his day. And of course, he stood out on and off the field against the background of a collection of colorful characters the likes of which are too rare among today's professional athletes. Sports fans and cultural historians alike who are unfamiliar with the role of professional baseball in the years leading up the First World War will delight in Gaines' description of the goings on in the dugouts, playing fields and trains as these 'boys of summer' captured the fancy of an America growing in wealth, influence and national pride.