To celebrate the publication of Moorestown resident Lenny Wagner’s new work, “Playing with the Best: One Man’s Journey Through the Golden Age of Sports,” the Historical Society of Moorestown will host a book signing and reception with the author from 6 to 8 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 20 at the Smith-Cadbury Mansion.
Wagner is the president of the historical society and has been a curator for several of the organization’s most popular exhibits, including Sports Legends of Moorestown in 2010. It was during preparation for that exhibit when he first became acquainted with the story of Walter French, according to www.playingwiththebest.com.
“The more I learned about him (French), the more I realized that he had this really unique story,” Wagner explained.
French was born in Moorestown in 1899 and was a direct descendent of one of the town’s original founders, Thomas French. Before Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders, there were only 19 men throughout history who played in the baseball leagues and in the NFL in the same season. Only one man from that group – French – can lay claim to having played for a World Series winner and a championship football team.
“He played with and against the biggest stars the 1920s had to offer, including Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Walter Johnson, Ty Cobb and 27 other ballplayers who would eventually wind up in the Baseball Hall of Fame,” Wagner said of French.
“The top sports writers of his day, from Grantland Rice to Ed Sullivan, made regular mention of him in their columns,” Wagner said of French.
In 1925, French starred for the Pottsville Maroons in their win over the Chicago Cardinals in an NFL championship game, only to see the title stripped by a league office decision, a controversial move still being argued about today. Four years later, he was on the Philadelphia Athletics team when it beat the Chicago Cubs in five games to win the World Series.
Other well-known figures from the period such as actor Paul Robeson, Knute Rockne, Connie Mack and General Douglas MacArthur are part of French’s journey as well, and make appearances in Wagner’s book.
French’s father Walter was a successful contractor whose firm’s logo, a masonry trowel, can still be found embedded in some of Moorestown’s older sidewalks. After attending Moorestown High School for three years, the younger French transferred to the Pennington School, where he starred in football, baseball, basketball and track.
From there, he went to Rutgers, where he teamed with Robeson, the first in a long line of iconic American figures French would play with, for and against for the next 20 years.
“It’s one of the most gratifying things I’ve ever done in my life,” Wagner noted of his book. “It came together just the way that I hoped it would.”
Following the book signing, Wagner will discuss his book at the Moorestown library at 7 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 7. To register, visit www.moorestownlibrary.org.
