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Posted By: Bryan

He smoked cigars and chewed tobacco products all his life. That is no secret. He was however against cigarettes. This has been attributed to his manager and long time friend Fred Clarke (he isn't in the set either) being absolutely against cigarettes. He would not allow anyone on his team to smoke them (to his knowledge anyways.) The Pirates actually had first crack at signing Tris Speaker but passed him over due to his cigarette smoking habit.

Two legit reason's have been given for why Wagner turned down the tobacco card offer. He either 1) he did not want his image associated with cigarettes or 2) he was getting promotional offers hand over fist at that time of his career and was turning most of them down. He might not have even thought twice about that offer before turning it down.

This info comes from a Wagner biography. Can't remember the author at this time.