The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1906-09-22
WILSON MATTHEWS DREAMS
HE WILL SUCCEED BIG MLlLLANEY.

H
the Montgomery management. 1t hav-
ing the added interest of being abso-.
iuteiy new to President Amerine ard
his associates.
Still. Matthews has taken some PEN
nants In his. day. He is one of the
many picturesque figures baseball has
developed. He Ii q baseball soldier OF
fortune who has made himself known
al over the South. and where ne has
been everybody gives him credit for
knowing the, game
Matthews IL college man and looks
like Jim Corbett. Old University men
OF more than a decade ago will remem-
Der him as good infelder and poor
pitcher He was one season with Ala
bama and the next season with the Uni
versity Of Georgia. pitching now and
then and p Plains u y COED inaeid.
His first professional ball was played
out n Texas where he made some rep
utation. In 1897 he turned up as the
third tbaseman Of the fast independent
ship for Eufaula. This team toured
the South and won twenty-seven out
OF thirty-one games. The town was
down there have a vivid recollection
| of Billy Matthew's The same team
included Noodles" Hahn, who was just
beginning his wonderful career as a
| pitcher Dick Sullivan. considered one
| of the best catchers that has ever or
nam ented a brush league and who was
kept OF the Chicago team only because
his hitting wasn't certain, the two
Buessee brothers started in the South
Atlantic and fMcAfce. the young Geor-
| years ago
| AS player Matthews didn't star in
that company. but he was good and he
knew The game a whole lot better than
the old professionals on the team.
| of the game and on the coaching line.
n MI fha orA xrtl1t 90
| to oct that he was the best coacher the
game has ever brought out He has a
big. fog horn voice, a quick wit and
| fierce, aggressive airs that disconcerts
to watch every opening that shows it.
self In the complex game Of baseball.
So much for the Alabama experience
of Matthews. which brought up the
gossip. When his Alabama experience
had closed he went to Cuba as a men,
| Der of o regiment of engineers during
the Spanish war and helped Roosevelt
| pacify the stricken island. Having
| brought peace to. Cuba he W enf to Texas
and got SOME real excitement managing
ball team. He won two pennants
| out there. one for Dallas in 1903 and
one for Galveston in 1904. He managed
the Baton Rouge team IN 1905 but took
no pennants. He filled up the holes in
his career as umpire and for awhile
! had some sort of job under the Fed
| A Baseball Writer. Too.
| He turned up last spring in Birm-
ingham and umpired the ante-season
| games between the Barons and the
| big League visitors. Incidentally he
| reported sports for a Birmingham pa
per, which announced that IL had sign
| ed Mr.. Matthews for the season to do
some real expert reporting on baseball.
| In less than a week Wilson Maurice
had jumped his job and was leading
the fevered. fitful life of an umpire
| in the Sand League. He was suddenly
made manager of the Savannah team
and piloted 1t safely to the top where
| 1t stayed until the rag was won.
In doing this. Wilson Maurice trod
no primrose path. He had enough
scraps to give him a reputation second
| only to John McGraw's. One of the
least sensational things he did was
| to have the conductor stop a street
car. loaded down with people returning
| from the ball park. until he could lick
a far who had profanely criticised
him. At Matthew's invitation the fan
| got down on the ground and the two
put ND as nice AMI as gentlemanly
scrap as one would care to see, while
| watched. Having licked the fan. Mat
| thews thanked the conductor for his
| kindness ard gave him the signal to go
| ahead.
Matthews is a bright chap and an
| entertaining conversationalist. In fact
| he is too good conversationalist as
| the Richmond incident shows. But he
| knows baseball and he is one of the
| games attractive soldiers of fortune.
| But Mr.. Matthew's dreaw has not come
| true.