WAGNER, HONUS 1874-1955

BASEBALL PLAYER

The Flying Dutchman

One of baseball's greatest shortstops, Honus Wagner earned the nick-name of "The Flying Dutchman" because of his Germanic heritage and great speed. John Peter Wagner was one of five sons and four daughters of Katrina and Peter Wagner, a coal miner. At age twelve Wagner began working in the coal mines and steel mills of western Pennsylvania. He learned to play baseball on a sandlot team with his brothers and mastered each position. "While Wagner was the greatest short-stop," remarked New York Giants manager John J. McGraw, "he could have been the number one player at any position he might have selected."

A Decade of Dominance

Wagner ranked as the most dominating offensive player of the 1900s. After playing for the National League's Louisville Colonels for two years, he joined the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1899, where he remained until he retired. Throughout his twenty-one-year career he never batted below .300, and he led the National League in batting average in 1900, 1903, 1904, 1906 to 1909, and 1911. During the 1900s Wagner also led the NL twice in hits and runs scored, three times in triples, five times in stolen bases, six times in slugging, and eight times in doubles. With a lifetime batting average of .329 and a slugging average of .469, he compiled 10,247 at bats, 1,740 runs scored, 1,732 RBIs, 3,430 hits, 651 doubles, 252 triples, 101 home runs, and 722 stolen bases.

Clash with Cobb

When Louisville owner Barney Dreyfuss became president of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1899, he brought Wagner with him. Pittsburgh, led by Wagner's batting average of .381, began to dominate the National League in 1900, winning the pennant from 1901 to 1903 and again in 1909, when Forbes Field opened. While Wagner's Pirates lost to Boston in the 1903 World Series, the club defeated Detroit in a seven-game series in 1909. Wagner outplayed Detroit's Ty Cobb, batting .333 to Cobb's .231 and stealing four more bases. An attempt by Cobb to steal second base resulted in Wagner tagging the Georgian out with such force that three stitches were needed to close a gash in Cobb's lip.

Manager and Coach

After Dreyfuss fired Jimmy Callahan in 1917, Wagner became manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates. He soon resigned, however, after leading the club to one win and four losses. After finishing the season as a player, Wagner, age forty-three, retired from Major League Baseball after twenty-one years. He opened a sporting goods store in Pittsburgh, coached baseball and basketball at Carnegie Tech (now Carnegie-Mellon University), and served as the Pennsylvania state legislature sergeant at arms. Wagner, who was one of the original inductees to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936, managed the Pirates from 1933 to 1951.