[JustinD]

I think Pat’s intro, for myself at least, of the Neal Ball letter has helped me better understand the beginning or roots of the T206 issue on this.

I am leaning toward the Plank withdrawal for anti tobacco stance but still feeling Wagner can be best explained by either compensation or possibly just being incredibly uppity. Wags loved his tobacco and the hall has record of this. He was an avid user of both cigars and chew. The backing of the T206 argument is that he thought cigarettes were “low class” and that cigars and chewing tobacco were somehow better.

The Hall has this specific quote attributed to Wagner on his use from 1916 - “Tobacco may shorten a man’s life and interfere with his baseball career but I guess it hasn’t shortened mine a great deal. I have noticed that where a player starts to quit hitting, it will shorten his career a good deal quicker than tobacco.”