JOHN WAGGONER > WILLIAM WAGNER (Mary Smull's brother) > JOSEPH WAGNER > The Cooper side of the family had this guy, from the Miracle Braves of 1914, but the Wagner side (Mary Waggoner married one of the Brothers Smull of Brush Valley - Peter) had William Joseph "Bill" Wagner.
John Waggoner's son William lived in Centre County, Pennsylvania and in the 1850s, removed, along with many others from the area, to Stephenson County, Illinois, where Williams' family settled in Oneco Township. William and his wife Julie Rider had at least five children, among them Joseph Wagner, who married Mary Hershey about 1855. Joseph was born 04 May 1831 in Miles Township, Centre County. Mary was born in Canada on 06 Jun 1837. The Joseph Wagner's also went to Stephenson County, but decamped from that area to Buchanan County, Iowa. He died in 1904 and his wife in 1907, after raising three children and were buried in Old Barclay Cemetery in Black Hawk County, Iowa.
Their son William Joseph Wagner married Lizzie Cronemiller. William was born in 1863 in
BILL WAGNER ONCE HIT FOR HONUS WAGNER
NOW ILL HERE, MAJOR LEAGUER RECALLS BASEBALL THRILLS
by John Neagle, Courier Sports Writer
The umpire turned to the crowd and roared "B Wagner hitting for H Wagner!"
The occasion was a June day in Pittsburgh in 1916.
Today, almost 35 years later, this memory and other of bygone baseball days are the main comfort of a lonely, old time ex-big leaguer. He's Bill Wagner of Waterloo, bedridden most of the time at the home of his son, Al Wagner, of 35 Rainbow Dr.
On that June day in 1916, Bill, a rookie up with the Pirates from Sumner, Ia, town team, received "the greatest thrill of my career because, you see, H Wagner was the great Honus Wagner."
Despite his illness, Bill beamed and went on to say, "It was a close game and Honus hadn't been hitting that day, so the manager sent me up to the plate and I got a single to tie the ball game. Bill Hinchman, our right fielder, followed me and poled out a home to ice the ball game."
Wagner, now 57 years old, played sandlot ball as a kid and when he was "about 17 or 18" went directly to the Waterloo team of the Class D Central association as a catcher in either 1913 or 1914. In those days the ball park was by Deere's plant. Doc Andrews was manager of the team.
Honus Wagner
After playing about half the season with Waterloo, Bill joined the Sumner ball club. It was there that Chick Frazier, Pittsburgh scout, spotted him and signed him on with the Pirates.
Frazier immediately took his rookie to St Louis, where the Pirates were playing. The trip to the Mound city was the first time Wagner hd ever been stone's throw from Waterloo."
He said, "I was a pretty excited kid. We immediately went up to Manager Cap Clark's room in the hotel upon arriving in St Louis, and there I met Honus Wagner for the first time. After introductions and a brief visit, Honus took me out and bough me my first pair of big league baseball shoes. Boy, did I feel good! That Honus was one great guy."
Bill went on: "That season I caught batting practice and worked out with the team but didn't get into any games."
Asked if any of the old timers gave him any tips on catching during that time, Bill replied, "No, not a bit. At that time you were supported to be good enough to be up there or you wouldn't have been there. They were a rough and tough bunch in those days. It seemed to me they made it especially tough for a rookie to see if he could take it. If you couldn't take it, you were all done."
The next year Pittsburgh farmed him out to Youngstown, Ohio in the old Central League and the following season he was sent to Terre Haute, being recalled to Pittsburgh in the fall. The next year, 1916, he played the entire season with the Pirates.
Bill said, "I played in about 50 ball games that year, catching mostly for a pitcher by the name of Wilbur Cooper and sometmes taking over first base, I hit 260, which I felt wasn't too bad for a player not playing regularly.
The Waterloo man was only thumbed out of one ball game during his major league carreer. At Philadelphia the umpire put the tag on him for a catcher's balk and in the resulting ------ Bill was given the heave ho!
"Never did hear of that catcher's balk before or since," Bill reminisced, "I don't recall who was up to bat, but he made like he was going to bunt and I came forward and the guy changed his mind and started to take a full cut. The bat hit my glove and the ump waved him down to first. I raised so much of a fus about it I got waved to the dugout."
The next year found Will with Columbus Ohio, in the American Association after a trade deal involving Earl Hapulton, a southpaw pitcher.
The American Association closed the season a month early because of World War I and BIll finished the year out with the Boston Braves.
George Stallings, known as the "miracle men" was manager of the Braves at that time. Bill caught about half of the remaining games for Boston and recalls having batted against the great Walter Johnson. Asked if he got a hit, Bill laughed and replied, "No, no, I wasn't trying to get a hit. All I was doing, was trying to get a foul ball I didn't even touch the ball, but I went down swinging. When the Big Train let fly that ball looked like a pea coming across the plate. His curve ball was just as fast as his fast ball, too."
After finishing the season with the Braves, Wagner went back to Columbus in the American Association but after a short while jumped his contract and went to Steelton in Pennsylvania in an outlaw league that paid more money. He got $750 a month. That, said Bill, 'was the biggest mistake of my career."
Joe Tinker, manager of Columbus, blacklisted Bill for five years and fined him $500 but Wagner didn't have to pay the fine because he never returned to organized baseball.
Leaving Steelton, Bill played ball with various teams, including Oelwein, a team "that beat everything around this part of the country."
It was while with Oelwein Bill hit the longest ball ever hit in the old Dubuque ball park. Syl McCauley, a lefthander, formerly with the White Sox, was on the mound for Dubuque when Bill got hold of a curve ball and sent it soaring out over the fence to land on the Chicago Great Western tracks beyond the ball park. Throughout most of his career Bill batted in the cleanup position because of his ability to hit a long ball.
The oldtimer wound up his playing days with Nash Motorsof Kenosha, Wis in the North
Bill and dog Tiz just prior to his death
Shore League. The team was made up of all ex-big leaguers.
Wagner was the only player from Waterloo to make the big leagues until 1949 when Jack Brumer went up with the White Sox. Actually Bill was born four and a half miles northwest of Jesup, Iwa, but when he went to the majors, drowned out the more feeble voice of Jesup, claiming him as a native son.
Like most oldtimers, Bill takes a dim view of the present day ballplayers. "They aren't as rough and don't hustle like they did in those days. We really battled every ball bame. I sure would like to see Tris Speaker, Ty Cobb and some of the boys tie into the modern live ball too," he chuckled.
The ex-railroad boilermaker said the top pay of his career was $750 a month with Steelton and I guess my best batting average was 312 with Columbus. I'm not sure about my lifetime average but would say it was around .285."
Several years ago Wagner was selected on an all time Waterloo baseball team by a group of old timers.
The ex-major leaguer's advice to young ball players? It is "Take care of your legs; when your legs go bad, you go bad all over."
Wagner's present illness hit him about two months ago, forcing him to give up his job on the Illinois Central. As he waved the reporter out of his sick room, Bill added a parting remark, "You know memories are fine but I am very lonely and sure would appreciate a letter or two from some of my old friends."
Waterloo Daily Courier, Waterloo, Iowa
Monday, January 8, 1951
Bill and Mary had two sons, John Allen Wagner (Waterloo) and Robert Joseph Wagner (Ft Madison). Bill spent the rest of his working life as a boilermaker for the Illinois Central. His wife Mary died on 17 Jan 1950 in Iowa City of a serious illness. Bill passed away three days after the article above was published, on 11 Jan 1951. He did have an opportunity to read the article and it made him happy.
