The Waterbury Democrat., 1940-10-02
Jimmy Wilson At 40, Could Prove Hero Of W orld Series
BY JOE WILLIAMS

Cincinnati, Oct. At has been whispered around in halls of litera- ture and biological speculation that life begins at forty. We may be able to add some interesting testimony to this theory by the time the World Series ends. We assume you are &C., quainted with the fact that the Tigers and the Reds square off in the first game here today.
 Behind the bat for the Reds will be Jimmy Wilson who was born in 1900. He will be there because Ernie Lombardi, the regular receiver, and the gentleman who took the cele- brated snooze at home plate year ago, while sundry and divers Yankees galloped merrily over his supine carcass, has a sprained ankle.
 Wilson is probably the oldest man who ever played in any world series though we could be wrong on that. Anyway, conservatively, he is one of the oldest. You may recall when he caught for the Cardinals and the Phillies and that for years he man. aged the latter team. Two years ago he retired to become coach here.
 A mixed series of lurid and con- ventional circumstances forced him back into active service. First young Willard Hershberger, a breeding neurotic, slit his throat from ear to ear with a rabor in Boston hotel and some moments later was pro- very dead by authorities on the macabre subject. Next MT. Lombardi sprung a fetlock or some- thing akin to it.
 Reds Predicament
 This left the Reds in what is tech- nically known as a predicament. The only catcher they had left was a bull pen laborer by the name of Bill Baker. It was either a question of going along with him or calling on the mildewed museum piece, the ainiable portly relic known as Will son.
 Right up to the last Bill Mo- Kechnie had hopes Lombardi would be able to make it but it was evil dent yesterday in practice and again today that the gentleman who is ,variously known as Eagle Beak and Schnozz, a gay tribute to the excessive dimensions of his horn would not be ready.
 So pronounced was his limp that some of the boys seem to feel he will not get in any of the games no matter how long the series goes. His absence from the lineup is like ly to hurt, too, because hewields an explosive stick. Whats more, he's a good receiver, very good one.
 On the bases, of course, he is a total loss at all times. Veteran scribes watching him lumber around the bases. huf1ing and putting, comment cynically, He's as fast as ever" Where the Reds will miss him most is at bat. He was their one real power hitter.
 Able Receiver
 Figuring one angle and another, McKechnie finally arrived at the decision to call on the ancient Will son-very ancient as baseball age goes. He can't hit with Lombardi, but that's about all Despite the fact that he has been out for two years he's probably a better receiver. At his best there were few better catchers in the majors. And obvi- ously it would be impossible for him to be any slower than Mir. Nose Face.
 There is something gallant and irrepressible about these old tin- CTS. Wilson actually feels he is go- ing to play an important part in the series, and 1t may be that he will
 Hell I can still catch" he said to us today. "The only thing is I'm a little old"
 And it would be a stirring story if Wilson, now in his forties, once retired, turned out to be the hero of the series. That could happen because those who seem to know always say anything can happen in a short series.
 Wilson has been catching more or less regularly for the last several weeks. Tt was tough at first" he told us. Every time I bent down to give the signal I could feel strange noises al over my body Bones would creak and muscles would howl and nerves would jump. You would nave thought I had been wired for sound"
 Tough Task
 But the toughest thing Wilson had to faee was those long high fouls that send q catcher Ecurry. Ing madly oil over the place.
 Boy, was that tough" said Wil- son. "rho first game I caught everything sent along swell until the ninth inning. Not one high foul