The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-01-14
Hans Wagner Says He Has Never Seen A Real Crooked Incident In Game, But That Any Advantage May Be Taken To Win
By HANS WAGNER

Copyright, 1924, in United States and Great Britain. Cuba. Japan and South Alliance Alliance for The Ase-Heraid. Ali Tights reserved.)
 A few people who have just fair working knowledge of baseball seem to be confused over the words crook edness and trickiness as applied to the game. They have asked me to relate any crooked incident that l ever saw. The answer is that I never saw one. If a player was actually crooked in baseball there is hardly a player who wouldn't help to get him blacklisted for life immediately
 The word crooKedness, when ap- piled to baseball Is often mixed up with what some folks call lack of sportsmanship. AS I have said be- fore, we never thought much about what was sportsmanship and what wasn't in the old days. We used every trick that we could think of to win.
 A crooked player is one who will use tricks to lose. See the diff ference?
 In all my life I have never heard of but two cases of downright crook edness. actual dishonesty. That was in the case of the players of the White Sox, who were put out on a charge of having sold out to some gamblers, their agreement being to let the Reds win the first two games. Many years before, long before my time even, three other players were thrown out and disgraced for throw ing games.
 It Is mighty hard for & ball player to throw a game even if he wants to- It would be impossible for one man to do it. The minute he seemed to be going badly the manager would a conspiracy to actually throw g game. For instance shortstor might decide to be crooked in a game and not a single ball would be hit to him all day.
 In the first place a ball player h a fool to be crooked because he car not possibly gain any thing by 1t 1T the long run. There is no incentive He can make more money by win. ming than by losing. If he shoulc get a sum of money for throwing game he would lose many times thai amount by being blacklisted for lif' out of the game.
 The real secret of basebalrs suc' cess as a sport is that it must De honest. Nowhere in the world doe' honesty pay better than in baseball The clubs who win the most games you know, draw the biggest patron age. The loss of patronage would overcome any possible gain the, might make by selling out. Int same thing goes for the players Those on a winning team get in creases in salary. In other words every incentive in the game IS tS win.
 Putting It over Is Different.
 Besides, there wouldn't be any ful or any thrill in baseball if 1t coult be jubbled around like some othe events. With us 1t Is a life worl and an everyday thing. While wrestler or a boxer has one figh every three or four months bal player must be on his job every day of the week. No man can be happy and be dishonest.
 Baseball players are essentially [ happy lot.
 But when 1t comes to trickery schemes to beat the other fellow out that is different. There is a sort O feeling among ball players, despite what you may have read, that any' thing Is fair that they can get ava! with. Anyway that was the Idea ir the old days.
 l remember one oay Wnen Al Ma maux first started pitching in th' big league; the Pirates and Giants were playing. Mamaux had been go ing pretty well until some Giant hi a two base hit with a man on first This put runners on second and third Ther was conference between Mamaux and some of our player around the pitchers box. Roge Bresnahan was on the coaching line! for the Giants.
 Hey" he yelled to Mamaux jus as the conference broke up, let m see that ball"
 Mamaux, being a youngster an' thinking that Bresnahan wanted t' see if anything was wrong with tn ball, tossed 1t to him. Bresnahal promptly jumped out of the way ant let the ball roll to the stand. Botl | runners scored. You can .magin what a razzing Mamaux got. Now that may have been unsports manlike, but 1t was looked upon a pretty good joke. Bresnahan hal simply got away with an old trick as old as hiding the ball. If man gets away with a tricl like that In baseball. the big leagu' players never complain, but there l. an unwritten law that a player mus not purposely inJurs another. Nor, trouble Is caused over that among