“Broadway” Charlie Wagner

Long-time scout for the Boston Red Sox. He was a teammate of Doc Silva’s with the Lebanon team of the South Anthracite League (1934) and doted on beating the Palmyra Pals, who had released him during the pre-season training. Charlie moon-lighted that year and helped pitch the Strausstown Mountaineers to the Lebanon Valley League title. On the strength of his 9-1 record with Lebanon, Wagner was signed by the Boston Red Sox, who sent him to Charlotte, NC of the Piedmont League, where he posted a 7-16 record with a respectable 2.76 earned run average. He put together back-to-back 20-14 records with Rocky Mount in the Piedmont Class B League and Minneapolis in the Triple A American Association over the next two seasons. Charlie was called up to the Red Sox (1938) and was a part of the organization for the next 68 years. During the 1941 and 1942 seasons, Wagner won 26 games for the Red Sox and lost 19. He was a teammate and room- mate of the great Ted Williams and the famous catcher Maurice “Mo” Berg. He had the good fortune of beating Hall of Famer Bob Feller three times when the Cleveland Indians’ righthander was in his prime. When Charlie Wagner passed away (2006), a gold-plate, with “Broadway” engraved on it, was installed on a chair in the press box, which is also named in his honor, at First Energy Stadium in Reading, PA.

Deceased