Christopher Mathewson was born at Factoryville, Pennsylvania, on August 12, 1880. He was educated at the Keystone Academy at Factoryville, which had been founded by President John H. Harris. He enrolled at Bucknell University, as a member of the Class of 1902, in September, 1898, and remained a student until he withdrew in June, 1901, to play professional baseball full-time with the New York Giants.

At Bucknell, Mathewson was an excellent student as well as an outstanding athlete. He was the historian of his freshman class and the president of his junior class. He sang first bass in the glee club, played bass horn in the band, and he was a member of the Euepian Literary Society, as well as the Theta Delta Tau honorary leadership society for men and the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity. He participated in three varsity sports: football, baseball and basketball. In fact, he played semiprofessional baseball during the summers of the three years that he attended Bucknell.

After leaving Bucknell, Matty played professional baseball as a pitcher with the New York Giants until 1916. In 1916, he became a manager for the Cincinnati Reds, until 1918, when he volunteered for the army . He attained the rank of captain in the Gas and Flame Division in France. During his training he was exposed to poison gas, which damaged his lungs. After the war, Christy coached full-time for the Giants for a single season, but had to leave to enter a clinic for tuberculosis patients at Saranac Lake, New York. In 1923, he returned to baseball as president of the Boston Braves, where he remained until shortly before his death at Saranac Lake, New York, on October 7, 1925. He is buried in the Lewisburg Cemetery.