Honus Wagner AKA "The Flying Dutchman." Honus was born Johannes Peter Wagner on February 24, 1874 and died December 6, 1955. He started playing July 19, 1897. He played for two teams, Louisville Colonels and Pittsburgh Pirates. He played 21 years in baseball. His baseball card T206 is the most famous cards. The story goes that he didn't want the kids to buy the cigarette packs his card was in. It was said to that he said he didn't want his face to be on the cards and threatened legal action against ATC (American Tabacco Company) if they printed it. Wagner played short stop for the Pirates. When Honus retired he was the Pirates coach and also hitting instructor from 1933-1952. Wagner ran for sheriff of Allegheny County, PA but lost but was made deputy county sheriff in 1942. He also ran the sporting goods company. The Pirates lost the 1903 World Series but beat Ty Cobb's team the Detroit Tigers in 1909. Wagner was 35. Cobb was 22. Wagner outhit Cobb .333 to .231 and stole 6 bases and made it a new Series record.
| FAST FACTS (from www.honuswagner.com) | |
| Born: | February 24, 1874 | |
| Died: | December 6, 1955 | |
| Debut: | July 19, 1897 | |
| Height: | 5' 11" | |
| Weight: | 200 lbs. | |
| Batted: | Right | |
| Threw: | Right | |
| Position: | Short Stop | |
| Teams: | Louisville Colonels and Pittsburgh Pirates | |
| Hall of Fame: | Inaugural Class 1936 | |
| Given name: | Johannes Peter | |
| Nickname: | The Flying Dutchman, Hans | |
| Batted .300: | 17 Consecutive Seasons | |
| Length of Career: | 21 years | |
| NL Batting Crowns: | 8 | |
| Stolen Bases: | 722 |
Quotes from Honus
"There ain’t much to being a ballplayer, if you’re a ballplayer."
"Things were changing fast by that time, women were beginning to come to the ball parks. We had to stop cussing."
"In all my years of play, I never saw an ump deliberately make an unfair decision. They really called them as they saw 'em."
"I don't want my picture in any cigarettes, but I also don't want you to lose the ten dollars, so I'm enclosing my check for that sum."
"I never have been sick. I don't even know what it means to be sick. I hear other players say they have a cold. I just don't know what it would feel like to have a cold - I never had one."
Honus Wagner was the best player in the dead ball era along with Ty Cobb.
Quotes about Honus
At shortstop there is only one candidate, the immortal Honus Wagner. He was just head and shoulders above anyone else in that position. Fellows like Marion, Bancroft, Peck and Billy Jurges were all great fielders. But Honus could more than out-field all of them. He was perhaps the greatest right-handed hitter of all time. He had remarkably long arms, hams for hands, and just drew the ball to him. Ed Barrow once told me he could have been as good in any position but he made his greatest name as shortstop. He led the National League seven times at bat and he was always up with the leaders when he was in his forties.
—Babe RuthLineup for Yesterday
W is for Wagner,
The bowlegged beauty;
Short was closed to all traffic
With Honus on duty.
Ogden Nash, Sport magazine (January 1949)
"He was a gentle, kind man, a storyteller, supportive of rookies, patient with the fans, cheerful in hard times, careful of the example he set for youth, a hard worker, a man who had no enemies and who never forgot his friends. He was the most beloved man in baseball before Ruth." - Historian / Author Bill James
"Nobody ever saw anything graceful or picturesque about Wagner on the diamond. His movements have been likened to the gambols of a caracoling elephant. He is ungainly and so bowlegged that when he runs his limbs seem to be moving in a circle after the fashion of a propeller. But he can run like the wind." - New York American (November 19, 1907)
"One day he was batting against a young pitcher who had just come into the league. The catcher was a kid, too. A rookie battery. The pitcher threw Honus a curveball, and he swung at it and missed and fell down on one knee. Looked helpless as a robin. I was kind of surprised, but the guy sitting next to me on the bench poked me in the ribs and said, 'Watch this next one.' Those kids figured they had the old man's weaknesses, you see, and served him up the same dish-as he knew they would. Well, Honus hit a line drive so hard the fence in left field went back and forth for five minutes." - Burleigh Grimes in The Quotable Baseball Fanatic (2004)
