J. Alvin Gardner: Authority Symbol of the Texas League
This article was written by Howard Green
This article was published in Texas is Baseball Country (SABR 24, 1994)
Courtly, fastidious, wealthy, resolute, distinctive, dignified, astute …
Any and all of the above apply to towering Texas, J. Alvin Gardner, for 24 years the authority symbol of the Texas League. Gardner assumed the strains and pleasures of leadership in 1930, just as the Great Depression became a reality. The one-time Beaumont bat boy could not have selected a tougher time to become a league president.
As any school kid knows (or used to know), Gardner took charge of an entertainment outlet at a time when nickels and dimes, much less dollars, bordered on extinction. A lesser man would have given up hope.
It was Gardner who persuaded Texas league owners to persevere, even if the game they loved so passionately took shirts off their collective backs. With the advent of night baseball, and the growth of the chain system, Gardner and his league survived the 1930s. Then came the turbulence of all-out war. The Class A-1 Texas League suspended operations for the seasons of 1943-45. Most of the able-bodied had swapped bats for rifles. Gardner was still around in 1946, however, and his Texas League for a few brief years enjoyed its most shining moments.
The combination oilman-baseball executive, Milton E. Price, gave the staid old league an added dimension. During Depression years Gardner had found time also to head the Dixie League and the West Dixie League while Price presided over the West Texas-New Mexico circuit. Together, they formed a team almost beyond compare. This writer had the good fortune to know them both, and what a pleasure it was!
They may have launched more umpires on the way to major league employment than any pair in the history of the game. Gardner was to admit with some reluctance, however, that he had not always championed the infallibility of the men in blue. This came about when he was questioned about any possible attitude change from his earlier days as a club owner.
“I wish you hadn’t asked me,” he told this writer. “Truly, I was one of the worst. I can now be more understanding of Bonneau Peters and Dick Burnett (two Texas League owners outspoken in their criticism of umpires) when I remember when I made such a fool of myself. A case in point: We were in a playoff in the Texas league; my box seat was behind first base. I was there so I could help the umpire. Once in a close game, Pete Turgeon was called out at first. I was livid. I said I was going to call Doak (Doak Roberts was Gardner’s predecessor as TL president) and motioned Pete over to my box to inquire about what was wrong with these umpires. Pete told me nothing was wrong and that the ball beat him by a half-step. I wanted to crawl under my seat. At last, I had realized that I was too prejudiced to have an opinion.”