The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1923-12-13

or utility men. If a man sat on the
bench to be used in case of emer-
gency it was simply because we
liked him or he had a glove, bat
or something that we wanted to use
My brother Al was good ball
player though lot of fans seem
to have forgotten it. He was really
my first teacher Al played on two
or three different teams in the big
league later. His best work was as
an infielder for Washington and
Brooklyn.
In digging up the past dope my
early days seemed to be all mixed
up. That is because [ often played
under the name of AL and that of
William. my other brother. When we
had a job and couldn't fill it l was
frequently sent as substitute. That
mixing up of names is to blame for
there being doubt about the very
early records.
In my next article I am going to
you may be puzzled to know why IL
is not signed in my name. l signed
Williams name because he was sup
posed to be the man they wanted
Earning IS or $40 in those days was
quite a big event, and you can bet
we worked all kinds of schemes to
do it. Jumping from one club to an
other didn't mean anything.
One day, while playing under the
name of William, / hit home run.
The same day l played great game
at shortstop. A fellow saw me and
began talking among the boys about
getting that fellow William Wag-
ner" to play in a little league.
Up to that time / had never thought
about league baseball. We didn't
read the papers then like the boys
do now. Even if we had we couldn
have gotten all the dope that we do
now. The sporting pages have de-
veloped just like baseball has. Since
| come to think of 1t l don't remem
Der ever hearing about regular
sporting writer, a man who did 1t for
a living, until I got in the big league.
Even then I didn't see much of them.
We depended on ourselves for what
we knew about baseball. There
wasn't very much to read
He Dodged The Banquets.
Often l have been asked why 1t is
that l never got in the papers much
never was interviewed. The rea-
son 1t that / always avoided reporters
1t wasn't because / didn't like them
but / am naturally timid that way.
was always frightened at being inter
viewed and l was just as~-bad about
going to .banquets and big parties.
would slpoaway froms them every
chance l got.
A young fellow did interview me
once when didn't know 1t. He asked
me who was the toughest pitcher
ever faced. 1 thought he was just a
friend of the gang and told him that
Inever had seen pitcher VINO WASH
tough. They're all tough, son.
said He made quite piece about
that in the paper
The man who got interested in my
boyhood playing around Pittsburs
was George Moreland, later baseball
statistician. He was interested In the
Tri-State league. A few days later
got a telegram from him saying he
was managing the Steubenville club
and wanted me-thinking my name
was AL. That was the first telegram
ever got in my Nlife and 1t caused
lot of excitement in me and among
the fellows.
The telegram offered me sa5 a
month and my board while on the
road.
That's when I made my whole at
tempt in my career to be business
man.
IF he wants you that bad" one
of the fellows said, you ought to
make him pay more. He'd pay $50
If Ne had to-
we discussed the matter some time
Finally / made up my decision. II
was a big one for me. too. sat down
and with great pains wrote out a
telegram.
II can't come for less than $40 a
month";" I wired back.
l couldn't sleep that night while
waiting for the answer.
Tomorrows Al Wagner VS.. AL Wagner