The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-04-02
WAGNER CONFIDENT OF ANOTHER SEASON IN MAJORS
w. D. SMITH


 1 tigated and Eraser, shuddering at such a l long journey was sent on the mission. A day and a night and day were spent l in travelling before he found the little hamlet, and it took blackboard ride of 12 miles with rural free delivery car- rier to reach the place.
 Wearied, Undiscovered and hungry as a bear, with not restaurant or hotel in the place, Fraser hunted up the manager. There was a game that after
 noon in a larger town some six miles away and Fraser hiked over there to await the arrival of the club that had the phenom. With a good meal slowed
 away there, Chick felt a little better. The game began and Chick asked a fan to point out the player described in the postal.
 That's him on first base" replied the fan.
 Fraser. looked in the direction and saw the first sacker scoop up a grounder in practice. A closer look, and Chick nearly fell out of his seat. MT. First Sacker was as black as the ace of spades. Re- covering his composure, Fraser started on a hunt for the writer of the postal, but he could not learn the identity of the chap who had brought him on a fools errand
 q never had gun in my life,' de- clared Fraser, but if one had been handy that day I certainly would have used it on that first baseman and the guy that sent me the tip if could have found" him.
 ACTED AS SCOUT I secuted once or twice for Dreyfuss, , but never landed a live one on my jaunts About 15 years ago l was sent to Johns- town, Pa, to look over one or two play | vyriv, frnnf6 6nT,t that day that I never will forget. l thing it was Irwin, Pa., playing-at least, Bill Leamon and lot of those old timers, including Jock Menefee, were in the game.
 In the eighth inning with the visitors two runs ahead, the home team man. aged to get two men on bases and the next batter hit one over the center field er's head. The ball rolled behind an old sign board and stuck in a tomato can.
 The outfielder tried to pull the ball out of the can but only cut his finger on the edge In desperation, he threw can and all The second baseman gragged it up cleanly and shot it to the plate in an effort to head off the winning run. The catcher grabbed the tomato can and pinned it on the runner as he slid in. The visitors claimed the out, but the umpire allowed the run, claiming run ss~oo~~-o ~---~~ with tin can, and that the runner had not been tagged with the ball. Hitting a baseball into a tin can may be remarkable, but wilder tales are told, and one of them credits Frank Bower man with the longest home run in his tory. Bowerman many years ago hit one over the left field fence in the old Columbus avenue grounds in Boston and the ball went into the express car of passing train and never stopped until it reached Grand Central station in New York But if the lamented Rube Wad- dell were alive he could tell Of hitting ball from ball park on the rivers edge in a Monongahela valley town into the river Ruhc always vowed that the ball
 took it's course to the gu;f by the cur
 rents of the Monongahela, Ohio and Mis- sissppi rivers.
 But the end is not yet and the claim of the longest swipe is made for Ad Gum bert who pitched for Anson's Colts, the
 Brotherhood, and the old National league many years ago. Gumbert is now coun- try commissioner in Allegheny county, Pa., and New York newspaper files ard records will bear testimony that Gumbert made the longest home run in the his- 1 tory of creation-a drive rom Staten ls- land to Liverpool.
 I All this happened in the year 1891, fol- lowing the disruption of the Brotherhood.
 The New York Giants, awaiting comple- I ton of their park in Manhattan, were 1 playing their games at St. George, on Staten Island. The improvised park ad-
 Joined a steamship dock. Chicago was playing New York on the day in question.
 Rusie had gone to the relief of a pitcher with the Colts four or five runs to the rear. With the bases full, Gumbert met
 one of Rusies fast ones and hit ter
 rife smash. Normally and legitimately l the drive was one of the longest in his- l tory, but the ball continued its journey by dropping on the deck of an ocean liner 1 that co uld be seen pulling out of her dock
 for Liverpool. Chicago won that game IS 1 to + on Gumbert's line drive. New York
 papers of the next day carried glorious accounts of the ball that was hit clear ! to Europe. So there is little chance for 1 the drives of Bowerman and Waddell l being considered. l All of which proves that the unexpected happens in baseball. This Is particularly l so in Marion, Ind, where Fred Clarke and his trickery gave me the most har-
 rowing experience of my life.
 Clarke was a terror as practical 1 joker and for IS years he tried to put
 stunts over on me, but not until our very last year together did he succeed. It
 certainly was a dandy, too, and l came
 out of it more scared than ever have
 been in my life
 l We played an exhibition game last fall
 in Marion. Two townsmen invited Kan | tlehner and myself to so fishing i'll a lake l in Matter park We reached the spot after dark and stopped our machine near l the waters edge. One of the men, to my | surprise, took a seine and, running down | to tho waters edge threw it in.
 SCARED BY SHOT
 A shot whizzed by my ears and heard ' shouts from the hills and men came run
 ming toward us. I knew We were i'll