“Wetzel exhibited his right hand to show a portion (of his thumb) missing down to his first joint and a mangled first finger.  He suffered the accident when he chopped off a portion of his finger hacking trees last winter.

“‘I thought my baseball career was over,’ Wetzel said, ‘but it turned out that this year I’ve won twenty-one and lost five, three of these by one run.  I had to learn to grip the ball a new way and suddenly I found myself tossing curves and using a change of pace I never had before.'”

“Connie Mack Signs Sand Lot ‘Wonder'”, Allentown Morning Call, 24 July 1927, Page 12.

Buzz Wetzel’s baseball career is amazing, really, considering the collection of tragedies, errors in judgment, and other events in a five-decade life that took a young orphan from a Cherokee Indian reservation to a spot on the Philadelphia Athletics.

Charles Edward Wetzel, Jr. was born 25 August 1894 to Charles Edward Wetzel, Sr. and Orlena (Petty) Wetzel in the town of Jay, a Cherokee Indian reservation town on the eastern edge of the Oklahoma Territory.  Young Ed Wetzel was a grandchild of the Trail of Tears and 1/32nd Cherokee Indian (one source suggested 3/64ths).  His paternal grandmother, Martha (McDonald) Wetzel, had Cherokee blood and had been born in Georgia before her family was forced to relocate to the Oklahoma Territory.  Within months of Ed’s birth, however, Martha and her husband, Daniel King Wetzel, would have to raise their four grandchildren when both Charles Sr. and Orlena both succumbed to typhoid fever.

A childhood accident – his brother accidentally chopped off a chunk of his right thumb leaving Ed with only half of his original digit – would be the first of two significant injuries to his throwing hand during his life.  Despite this, he learned the game of baseball and found that he was able to throw the ball with considerable velocity.  Armed with a fastball and a seventh grade education, Ed Wetzel would play semi-professional baseball in Bixby, Oklahoma – now a bedroom suburb of Tulsa – and once was allowed to pitch for the Haskell Indian College team in an exhibition game.

By now, he was already married.  Charles Wetzel married Anna Grace Douglas, also part Cherokee, and they had a son, James.  Both events occurred in 1914 – which, based on the timing of the birth and marriage dates, suggested that their wedding may have been hastily arranged.  After working on farms in Oklahoma, Charles and Grace moved to Arkansas where he was a mechanic and later a fireman when not pitching or playing first base.  The Wetzels bounced back and forth between Arkansas and Oklahoma for the first several years of their marriage.

“Ed Wetzel, who was with the Miners during the closing two weeks of the last campaign, evidently had a head start on some of the boys. He cut loose with a fast ball that landed in the receiver’s mitt with a bang that would tumble the walls of Jericho.”

“Vanguard of Miner Squad Starts Training at Miami”, Joplin Globe, 15 March 1921, Page 6.

They were living in Bixby in 1920 when someone arranged for Ed to get a tryout with the Joplin Miners of the Western League.  He would spend spring training in Miami, OK learning the art of pitching alongside another future major leaguer, Oscar Roettger, but only Roettger would stay.  Wetzel was dispatched to Fort Smith of the Western Association.  As that league wouldn’t begin games until June, Wetzel returned to Bixby where he could work and pitch until the season began.

Almost immediately, Ed Wetzel became “Thumbless Ed” – that name was used in newspaper articles for the next several years.  And, he became one of the better starters on the staff that would lose a seven game playoff series to Chickasha, the league pennant winners.  Among his better efforts was a shutout in game six that forced a seventh and deciding game.  Noticed for his incomplete hand and his pitching prowess, Joplin recalled Wetzel to pitch in a Western League game.  And, Joplin pitched Wetzel to the Cincinnati Reds, who put in a claim for the now twenty-five year old pitcher.

“Wetzel has but part of his thumb on his pitching hand, but has a good curve ball in spite of the fact…”

“Signed Contract of Ed Wetzel Arrives”, Joplin Globe, 25 January 1922, Page 8.

Wetzel signed with Joplin for 1922, but he wouldn’t pitch there.  Joplin’s franchise was sold to Denver.  That team was awful, barely winning a third of its games through July before finishing with a record of 59 – 97.  Wetzel, however, was wonderful.  He’d walk a lot of batters (120 in 236 innings – more than his 88 strikeouts), but his record was 12 – 13.  The next season, however, Wetzel wasn’t in good shape.  Between a sore arm and various illnesses, he hardly pitched in 1923.  The next year, he nearly signed with the Fort Smith Twins again but finally landed with Wichita Falls in the Texas League.  Still not pitching well, his contract was sold to the Springfield Midgets of the Western League.

Eventually, he was released and found work in Des Moines, Iowa and pitched semi-pro ball.  He even beat his former Springfield teammates in an exhibition game.  So, Springfield took him back.  His second stint with Springfield was equally poor.

“‘Thumbless’ Wetzel has proven a failure on the mound. He has had plenty of chances to show his wares with the Midgets, but to date has failed to turn in but one victory, that being the first game he pitched, when the Midgets spotted him 16 runs.”

“Rain Prevents Topeka Clash”, Springfield Missouri Republican, 21 June 1924, Page 5.

Wetzel hit a home run – an inside the park shot – in a loss to Hutchinson, but that was his last good moment with the Springfield Midgets.  He would next sign to pitch for Des Moines in the Western League, but that didn’t go well either.

“‘Thumbless Ed’ Wetzel, who started for Des Moines had his ‘home run’ ball working nicely. (Tony) Lazzeri socked for the circuit in the second…”

“Much Long Distant Hitting Features Lincoln’s Ten Inning Victory”, Nebraska State Journal, 3 September 1924, Page 3.

Wetzel’s contract called for a bonus at the end of the season, but if he didn’t receive that bonus he would become a free agent.   Baseball-Reference.com suggests his record for 1924 was 4 – 19 and it could have been even worse than that.  Still – there were teams desperate for pitching and Omaha would give Wetzel a chance in 1925.   That didn’t work out – he was released and returned to Des Moines, which was his new home.  He would pitch well in semi-professional leagues, get one more shot with Des Moines – which was a disaster – and return to the semi-pro Des Moines Elks.  Not every team in Des Moines appreciated that the Elks got a professional pitcher to help finish the season, but Wetzel was allowed to pitch and the Elks would win the city championship.

Somewhere around this time, unhappy with his baseball life and unhappy with his home life, Ed Wetzel decided to leave and move to Ohio.  He found work there doing carpentry and pitching for Massillon in a semi-pro league there.  After the 1926 season, Wetzel was chopping or cutting wood when he ripped into the index finger of his throwing hand.  That finger was shredded some, anchored as best as possible by doctors, and left him with half of a thumb and a mostly immobile pointer finger, misshapen by injury.

Now 32 years old and with a mangled hand, Wetzel thought his baseball life was over.  And, given his poor performances in lower level minor leagues over the previous five years, it probably should have been.  Ed picked up a baseball and started throwing.  What he found was that if he gripped the ball with his outer three fingers and released it over his first finger, he got a lot more spin.  Suddenly, he had a legitimate curve and a change up to go with his fastball, which wasn’t as fast as it used to be, but was still pretty good.

Pitching for Massillon in 1927, Wetzel got a new nickname.  He was occasionally called Buzz because he was being confused with Henry “Buzz” Wetzel, a former minor league infielder who happened to manage for Muskogee in Oklahoma and now returned to Ohio where he was a very successful minor league manager and eventually a minor league director for the Cleveland Indians.  (Later on, a third Buzz Wetzel would appear.  Damon Wetzel was a fine football player who played with the Chicago Bears and later was the general manager who hired Hugo Bezdek to coach the Cleveland Rams in the NFL.)  Ed must have appreciated being called something other than Thumbless Ed.

Wetzel’s pitching went from pretty good to very good, first earning the notice of scouts and then the attention of Earl Mack, Connie Mack’s son.  He was a little bit Albert “Chief” Bender and Mordecai “Three Finger” Brown.

“He’s a great young pitcher,” said Connie Mack, introducing the youngster. “He’s been in the big league before and was only a fair performer until an accident to his right hand gave him a peculiar curve which has made him one of the best hurlers our scouts have ever picked up. My scouts tell me he’s as good as some of our high salaried pitchers.

“My son Earl really got him for the A’s. Wetzel was the only pitcher who could defeat a famous colored team around Pittsburgh and the manager got in touch with Earl to look him over…”

“Connie Mack Signs Sand Lot ‘Wonder'”, Allentown Morning Call, 24 July 1927, Page 12.

Mack told writers that Wetzel was twenty nine even though he was approaching 33 years old.  Wetzel was named the starter for a game against the Detroit Tigers on 25 July 1927.  Seven Hall of Famers appeared in this game – Wetzel would pitch to Mickey Cochrane while facing Heinie Manush, Charlie Gehringer, and Harry Heilmann.  Ty Cobb played center field that day for the Athletics as Al Simmons was benched with a groin injury, moving Zack Wheat to left field.  (Curtis Wheat, also nicknamed Buck but no relation to Zack, was briefly Ed Wetzel’s catcher in Des Moines in 1924.)   Eddie Collins would pinch hit in the ninth and help tie the score.  (In addition to Simmons, another Hall of Famer, Lefty Grove, sat on the bench.)  By then, however, Wetzel was already out of the game.

Wetzel started off a bit rocky, giving up three runs in the first inning.  When the last wheel fell off in the fourth inning, he was removed for Jing Johnson.  Still – the Athletics scored one run in five different innings, the last in the ninth to tie it.  Rube Walberg pitched into the thirteenth inning and got the win when Jimmy Dykes homered on the first pitch of the Athletics half of that inning.  Wetzel’s line was 3.2 innings, allowing eight hits, four walks, and five runs – four of them earned.  Wetzel batted once, singling and scoring a run.

Three days later, Wetzel came on in relief of Eddie Rommel and pitched a scoreless inning against the Tigers, though he walked a batter.  A short while later, Mack returned Wetzel to Massillon, who finished the season winning a semi-pro pennant.

The week spent with the Athletics in 1927 gave Wetzel a new professional career.  Invited to pitch by Portland, he made the Pacific Coast League team in spring training.  However, his 1928 season with Portland lasted just two weeks.  Released, he landed with the Oakland Oaks and in his first start there, beat the San Francisco Seals.  Unfortunately, the first impression didn’t last and was replaced by a second impression – that of a drinking man.

“Loss of ball games is not all that Manager Ivan Howard has to worry about these days. Just when he believed his pitching problems had been solved through the signing of Pitcher Charlie Wetzel, a Portland Beaver castoff, along comes Mr. Wetzel to report an attack of ‘flu.’ The pitcher has not shown up at the Oakland ball park all week and investigation proved that he was suffering with a new kind of “flu.” The failure of the pitcher to keep in condition will mean his release within the next couple of days.

“Del Howard, business manager of the Oaks, said yesterday that Wetzel has the makings of a great pitcher, but with a team losing almost daily it is no time to fool around with a fellow who will not keep his mind on the game. The Oaks gave Wetzel a bonus and transportation to bring his wife out here from the east and now they are about to give him transportation elsewhere.”

Murphy, Eddie. “Charlie Wetzel to Draw Release From Oakland Ball Club”, Oakland Tribune, 05 May 1928, Page 10.

The pitcher with at least nine baseball lives wasn’t finished, though.  Another player fell injured and Oakland was forced to keep Wetzel around.  He pitched well for ten innings in a thirteen inning victory over Seattle.  He’d pitch a lot of long relief.  However, his time ran out in mid-July.

“Charlie (Buz) Wetzel, Oak pitcher who was released early in the season and then taken on again when he promised Manager Ivan Howard that he would not break training rules, is once again a free agent. The Oaks handed him his release yesterday afternoon when he failed to arrive at the ball park in time for the usual practice before the game. Wetzel’s team-mates regret he has been released, as he was popular among them, but the Oaks cannot afford to take chances during the second half.”

“Oaks Drop Wetzel, Sign Western Leaguer”, Oakland Tribune, 18 July 1928, Page 14.

Begging manager Ossie Vitt for a job, the Hollywood Stars took on Wetzel for the final weeks of the season and pitched well enough to stay on the next season.  He stayed in shape by pitching for semi-pro teams throughout the winter.  The Stars got off to a slow start, but they all roared down the stretch to win the second half crown and then topped the Missions in the post season to win the Pacific Coast League pennant.  Wetzel, now 35, finished with 18 wins, earning a bonus.

In 1930, Wetzel was more of a swing man for the Stars – he’d appear in 44 games starting and relieving as necessary.  He had a winning record again, 13 – 11, though his ERA was 5.58 and he still walked a few more batters than he struck out.  He was liked by his teammates – he stuck up for players on his team who had been beaned, was fun to have around the clubhouse, and at this point, he could pitch without much practice right from the start of the season (pitching winter ball surely helped keep him in shape).

It’s no surprise to learn that Wetzel is in early shape for Buzz has one of those rubber arms. All he has to do is take off his sweater and he’s ready…

“Sheiks Like Carlsbad”, Los Angeles Times, 27 February 1931, Part II, Page 12.

Unfortunately, Wetzel still liked an occasional beverage and once in a while it would get him in trouble.  He was suspended during spring training in 1931 and put on probation.  He must have shown up unprepared in July as Vitt left Wetzel in the game where Portland trounced the “peevish” pitcher, winning 18 – 8 and getting 24 hits.  Soon after that, Wetzel was arrested for reckless driving and liquor possession – someone notified the police that he was driving from curb to curb on a local road – and was released.

In 1932, still with a few baseball lives left, Wetzel signed with the Los Angeles Angels, who released him after six weeks.  Next he pitched for Seattle briefly before returning to the Los Angeles area to pitch semi-pro baseball.  Remarkably, his career wasn’t over.  He was signed by Hollywood after a good spring training where he became the fifth starter/long reliever for the Stars.  He appeared in 42 games and went 14 – 10 for the 1933 Pacific Coast League champions.

His arm wasn’t as good in 1934, though.  After a few relief appearances with Seattle, a ninth baseball life ending just before his 40th birthday, Wetzel’s professional career was finally over.

By now, Ed Wetzel had remarried.  He met the Iowa-born Hattie May Birdsall in Des Moines.  Hattie was a widow whose first husband died months after their wedding in 1915.  She appears with Ed in the 1930 census and they would live in Los Angeles until about 1938 when Ed was hired as a carpenter for an asbestos mining company in Arizona.  After a few years, he would take a position helping with the expansion project at Fort Huachuca, which was preparing for World War II.  By then, however, he already had a blood infection and a couple of months later pneumonia would take the 46-year-old Wetzel’s life on 07 March 1941.

Wetzel left behind his wife, Hattie, who ran off to Ohio with Ed around 1926.  Hattie would return to Los Angeles and live in the area near her stepson until her death in 1956.  James Edwin Wetzel, Ed’s son, left this world in 1971.  His mom, Anna Grace Douglas Ray would outlive them all, taking her final breath in 1981.

Sources:

Baseball-Reference.com

Retrosheet.org

1896 Cherokee Census
1900 US Census
1910 US Census
1920 US Census
1930 US Census
1940 US Census

World War I Registration Card

Arizona Death Records

Iowa Birth Records

Iowa Marriage Records

Social Security Death Index

Findagrave.com – Charles Wetzel, Jr.
Findagrave.com – Charles Wetzel, Sr.
Findagrave.com – Orlena Wetzel (1)
Findagrave.com – Orlena Wetzel (2)
Findagrave.com – Martha Wetzel
Findagrave.com – Anna Grace Douglas Ray
Findagrave.com – James Edwin Wetzel

Wikipedia.com – Damon Wetzel

Family records provided to Ancestry.com by (User Name = Kitty Acres)…

“Two Stars Join Mets; Three Men Released”, Muskogee Daily Phoenix, 15 April 1916, Page 2.

“Manager Wetzell Arrives in Town”, Muskogee Daily Phoenix, 04 March 1917, Page 8.

“Mets and Twins Stage Burlesque”, Muskogee Daily Phoenix, 15 June 1917, Page 8.

“Buzz Wetzel Severs His Connections With ‘Mets'”, Tulsa Daily World, 13 August 1917, Page 2.

“Bixby Vs. Jenks.”, Bixby Bulletin, 23 May 1919, Page 1.

“Bixby Wins Game”, Bixby Bulletin, 28 May 1920, Page 1.

“O.P. & R. Defeats Bixby”, 25 June 1920, Page 1.

“Taken Up.”, Bixby Bulletin, 23 July 1920, Page 8.

“24 Miners Given Training Orders”, Joplin Globe, 23 February 1921, Page 4.

“Miners Assembling for Spring Training”, Joplin Globe, 13 March 1921, Page 10.

“Vanguard of Miner Squad Starts Training at Miami”, Joplin Globe, 15 March 1921, Page 6.

“Thumb-Nail Sketch of Miner Squad Prepared by The Globe for Fans”, Joplin Globe, 20 March 1921, Page 11.

“Weather Halts Two Games With Giants Here; Blues To Open Series Wednesday”, Joplin Globe, 29 March 1921, Page 6.

“Bixby Twirlers Win First Three Games.”, Bixby Bulletin, 22 April 1921, Page 1.

“Crown Petroleum Ball Team of Bixby”, Bixby Bulletin, 20 May 1921, Page 1.

“Chickasha Forges Ahead By Taking Third Game, 7 – 0”, Daily Arkansas Gazette, 23 September 1921, Page 8.

“Cincinnati Buys Wetzel”, Daily Arkansas Gazette, 11 September 1921, Page 15.

“Fort Smith Wins, 4 to 0: Game Today Decides Flag”, Daily Arkansas Gazette, 27 September 1921, Page 10.

“Signed Contract of Ed Wetzel Arrives”, Joplin Globe, 25 January 1922, Page 8.

“Rosenberg Leaves For St. Louis For Players”, Joplin Globe, 26 January 1922, Page 6.

Bixby Bulletin, 03 March 1922, Page 3.

“First Denver Player Reports For Practice”, Sioux City Journal, 13 March 1922, Page 7.

“Sioux City Is Defeated in Exhibition Contest by Denver Club”, Sioux City Jounal, 25 March 1922, Page 16.

“Trailing Bears Won From Chesty Saints”, St. Joseph News-Press, 06 May 1922, Page 10.

“Grizzlies Pound Gregory Hard to Trim Wichita”, Wichita Daily Eagle, 14 July 1922, Page 8.

“Weekly Happenings of Local Interest”, Bixby Bulletin, 04 August 1922, Page 4.

“Bixby Boy With Denver”, 20 April 1923, Page 1.

Sioux City Journal, 03 September 1923, Page 3.

“Wetzel May Again Play With Twins”, Springfield Leader and Press, 13 January 1924, Page 8.

“Aid From Cubs Puts Spudders in Flag Chase”, Houston Post, 13 April 1924, Page 20.

“Steers Pound Spudders For Many Bingles”, Houston Post, 21 April 1924, Page 8.

“Midgets Start To Change Their Club”, Joplin Globe, 10 May 1924, Page 8.

“‘Thumbless’ Wetzel May Join Local Club”, Springfield Missouri Republican, 10 May 1924, Page 5.

“Sevastopol Victor Over City Railway”, Des Moines Register, 12 May 1924, Page 8.

“‘Thumbless’ Wetzel Tames Former Mates”, Springfield Missouri Republican, 16 May 1924, Page 7.

“Wetzel Fails To Stage Comeback And Midgets Lose, 7 to 2”, Springfield Missouri Republican, 20 June 1924, Page 5.

“Rain Prevents Topeka Clash”, Springfield Missouri Republican, 21 June 1924, Page 5.

“Midgets Divide Double Bill With Shockers”, Springfield Missouri Republican, 03 July 1924, Page 7.

“Ed Wetzel Is Signed by Des Moines Club”, Cedar Rapids Gazette, 15 July 1924, Page 11.

“Ed Wetzel And Wilson Puzzle Kansas Hitters”, Des Moines Register, 17 July 1924, page 11.

“Boosters, With Terrible Ball Club, Continue to Get Their Daily Beatings”, Des Moines Tribune, 31 July 1924, Page 19.

“Much Long Distant Hitting Features Lincoln’s Ten Inning Victory”, Nebraska State Journal, 3 September 1924, Page 3.

“Wetzel Signed By Omaha Buffaloes”, Nebraska State Journal, 11 January 1925, Page 7.

“Hutton’s Fine Pitching Is Too Much For Omaha Club”, Des Moines Tribune, 12 May 1925, Page 14.

Western League stats from the Lincoln Star, 14 June 1925, Page 14.

“Elks Defeat Newton In Hurler’s Battle”, Des Moines Tribune, 22 June 1925, Page 16.

“Elks Beat Southern Surety and Lead in City League”, Des Moines Tribune, 27 June 1925, Page 18.

“Demons Are Walloped In Third Game At Omaha, 13 to 8”, Des Moines Tribune, 02 July 1925, Page 18.

“Faeth to Join Locals; Release Pitcher Wetzel”, Des Moines Register, 07 July 1925, Page 9.

“Demons Play at Home Today”, Des Moines Tribune, 11 July 1925, Page 8.

“Surety Questions Officers’ Rights In Semipro Loop”, Des Moines Register, 13 August 1925, Page 11.

“Ed Wetzel of Elks Declared Eligible”, Des Moines Register, 19 August 1925, Page 15.

“Double Triumph Gives Elks City League Pennant”, Des Moines Register, 08 September 1925, Page 10.

Photo – Elks Team, 1925. Des Moines Tribune, 19 September 1925, Page 3.

“Regulars and Massillon Agathons to Play for Championship of Loops”, Coshocton Tribune, 27 September 1927, Page 3.

“1000 Catasauqua School Children See Athletics Defeat Detroit, 6-5”, Allentown Morning Call, 26 July 1927, Page 18.

“Detroit Jolts Mackmen in Series Final, 5 to 2”, Lancaster News Journal, 29 July 1927, Page 16.

“Mack Signs Wetzel; To Use Him Tuesday”, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 24 July 1927, Page 27.

“Connie Mack Signs Sand Lot ‘Wonder'”, Allentown Morning Call, 24 July 1927, Page 12.

Image of Ed Wetzel from Scranton Tribune, 10 September 1927, Page 14.

“Agathons Triumph Over Athletics, 10 – 3”, Akron Beacon Journal, 31 August 1927, Page 19.

“Ducks Work in Orange County”, Los Angeles Times, 21 February 1928, Page 44.

“Seraphs Wallop Portland in Opener, 11 to 5”, Los Angeles Times, 04 April 1928, Section Three, Pages 1 – 2.

“Oaks Sign Wetzel, Portland Castoff”, San Francisco Examiner, 17 April 1928, Page 31.

“Oaks Stop Smead Jolly and Defeat Seals”, Oakland Tribune, 20 April 1928, Page 38.

Murphy, Eddie. “New Talent Makes Good for San Francisco Seals”, Oakland Tribune, 20 April 1928, Page 37.

Murphy, Eddie. “Charlie Wetzel to Draw Release From Oakland Ball Club”, Oakland Tribune, 05 May 1928, Page 10.

Murphy, Eddie. “Lary’s Injury Halts Oaks’ Pruning”, Oakland Tribune, 08 May 1928, Page 26.

“Oaks Divide Double Bill With Indians”, Los Angeles Times, 21 May 1928, Page 14.

“Oaks Drop Wetzel, Sign Western Leaguer”, Oakland Tribune, 18 July 1928, Page 14.

“Wetzel Hurls Star Triumph”, Los Angeles Times, 06 September 1928, Pages 9, 11.

“P. E. Team To Play Santa Fe”, San Bernadino County Sun, 22 November 1928, Page 15.

“Rally Brings Win to Solons”, Los Angeles Times, 27 March 1929, Section Three, Pages 1, 3.

Photo of Buzz Wetzel from Oakland Tribune, 06 May 1929, Page 23.

“Oaks Defeat Stars In The Sixteenth”, Oakland Tribune, 09 May 1929, Page 38.

“Foul Tips”, Los Angeles Times, 10 August 1929, Page 9.

“Stiff Finger Aids In Throwing Curves”, Oakland Tribune, 23 August 1929, Page 41.

“Hollywood Wins Coast League Flag Over Missions in Playoff”, Bend Bulletin, 14 October 1929, Page 2.

“Cokes to Play Doubleheader”, San Bernadino County Sun, 08 December 1929, Page 19.

“Beavers Take Edge In Series Against Stars”, Medford Mail Tribune, 05 May 1930, Page 5.

“Coast League Pitching Records for Season 1930”, Oakland Tribune, 14 December 1930, Page B-3.

“Sheiks Like Carlsbad”, Los Angeles Times, 27 February 1931, Part II, Page 12.

“In Coast League’s Workouts”, Klamath News, 27 March 1931, Page 6.

“Beavers Plaster Hollywood 18 – 8”, Corvallis Gazette-Times, 23 July 1931, Page 4.

“Stars Get Pitcher From N. Y. Yankees”, San Bernadino County Sun, 01 August 1931, Page 20.

“Wetzel Gets Release”, Spokane Spokesman-Review, 24 September 1931, Page 15.

“Sports Tabloids”, Bend Bulletin, 24 September 1931, Page 2.

“Driving Charge Causes Jailing of Ball Player”, 19 January 1932, Page 10.

“Hollywood Stars Look Out From Top”, Bakersfield Californian, 20 May 1932, Page 17.

“Acme Brews Open Series Today Against Pasadena Merchants”, San Bernadino County Sun, 14 August 1932, Page 15.

Ray, Bob. “Wetzel Twirls Cripples to 7-4 Win Over Acorns”, Los Angeles Times, 01 June 1933, Section II Page 1.

“Buzz Wetzel Given Release By Stars”, Fresno Bee, 09 July 1933, Section C, Page 1.

“Buzz Wetzel Dies of Blood Infection”, Oakland Tribune, 10 March 1941, Page 12.

“‘Buzz’ Wetzel, Ex-Coast Pitcher, Dead”, Santa Ana Register, 10 March 1941, Page 7.

Abilene Reporter-News, 13 March 1941

“Henry ‘Buzz’ Wetzel, 79, Is Dead; Former Baseball Team Operator”, Zanesville Times Recorder, 06 April 1961, Page 1.