My Great Great Grandmother was Honus Wagner’s godmother. According to my Great Grandmothers journal, he came to visit her mom on her deathbed in 1935 and said he was extremely kind to the family. What a great man.
My friend lived his house in carnegie.they wanted to make it a bed and breakfast.the community worried about parking.never happened it was sold then sadly burned shortly after.i miss staying there.god bless
And he knew talent when he truly saw it... when after coaching he got into scouting for the Pirates. In 1935-36, he went to an unknown sandlot game where he saw, and he quoted; "This fella is one of the best shortstops besides myself..." That talented Shortstop was none other than my Grandfather, Chas Fatur, which I am Chaz Fatur. We have a letter handwritten and signed as well as a postcard signed by Honus himself on his own company's stationary, inviting my Grandfather to come play for the the Pittsburgh Pirates! It was an actual contract, according to Honus. The postcard was just a reminder that he hadn't heard back from him. Well, cause that's the other side of this story, he was engaged to my soon to be Grandmother, and she gave him an ultimatum, 'Play ball or marry me!' And that was the end of my Grandfather's ball playing days... He went on to work in the Pittsburgh Steel mills, under the foremanship of Madonna's Grandfather. He died at the age of 60 due to complication of a foundry accident in 1970. One of two regrets my Grandmother had lived with, to a ripe age of 94! They are resting beside one another for eternity...
Different era but Ron Blackburn was my grandfather’s uncle. Cool pirates pitcher. He had a brother Gerald that played for the reds. North Carolina blue ridge parkway hillbillies.
These videos about Wagner, Traynor, Big & Little Poison, Vaughn, Clemente, Stargell and all the other Pirate greats really keep a fan going in the middle of a (probably) 110-loss season. This team was once great, it once had amazing stories. Now we get a playoff appearance run once a generation.
Honus Wagner was one of the Good Guys in baseball. If he was around today he would be a hands down Clemente award winner. The game is better because he played it and the Pirates should be so proud that he was associated with them. Great Ball player, and a big league man.
Bill James considers Wagner’s 1908 season the greatest single season in MLB history. Based on his production vs the league output. The greatest season ever.
One of the most interesting videos I've watched ! Very well said and great material. Thanks. I'll have to show my 93yr old father this who saw that the Pirates we're holding open tryouts and went. It was in 1938 and he was 9yrs old ! Lol. He told me a coach patted him on the head and said "Come back in a couple years son". Love that story.
For those of us who are too young to have seen him play, he represents one of those legends that we can only imagine. For those of us who are interested in baseball history, we have a little more of an appreciation for his place. To me, he was the shortstop who towered above all his cohorts in his ability to hit and hit for power. Most shortstops of his era were the good field, no hit version much like in the fifties when Ernie Banks towered over all other shortstops. Wagner, unlike Banks, had no injuries that forced him to another position. The only other players who could hit and run like Wagner were outfielders.
My dad followed baseball intensely from 1900 t0 1955. He lived a block from the St. Louis ballpark and saw all the great ones. He said Wagner was the best player ever. Ruth second. George Sisler third. Mathewson was the best pitcher. In the forties he took me to see the Pirates play the Cardinals and pointed out Wagner, a coach sitting in the bullpen. He made a point of pointing out the greatest player. Incidentally, Wagner outplayed Cobb in the only World Sriies when they met, and knocked his teeth out to boot.
how wonderful! I just found out through ancestry.com that he was my great grandfather. Oddly enough he was never mentioned in the family, I only met his son, my grandfather twice in my lifetime. He didn't look German to me, but Indian, He was German and ancestry has been traced to the early 1700's thus far. Glad you have wonderful memories of Honus.
Thank you for sharing your story . Baseball is a great game for a number of reasons but most importantly it's a wonderful mechanism for a father and son to share and spend time together and to pass on memories of the game . As a boy I met and became friends with Joe Wood and Duffy Lewis , 2 members of the 1912 Red Sox. Lewis was the original left fielder while Wood won 34 games that year and 3 more in the world series including a win against Christy Mathewson , When my father met Joe Wood after I had been corresponding with Wood, he told Mr Wood that when he was a little boy, his father(my grandfather) told him many stories about him (Joe Wood) . My Dad was like a star stuck kid during our meeting . As for me at 15 years old it was amazing to sit in the living room of a man that played with/against Cobb, Walter Johnson, Babe Ruth , Cy Young Mathewson and so many others of that era . .
@@fr6313 That's a great post. I remember going to a number of baseball games with my family sometimes bringing along a friend and particularly going with my dad. Dad was a life long Cubs fan and took me to Chicago to visit my grandad when he was in a coma dying in the 70's. We got to a game at Wrigley Field against the Braves. Henry Aaron didn't start the game, but was used as a pinch hitter. The Sweet Swinger, Billy Williams, was in left for the Cubs, which was near to where we were sitting. Fans were yelling to him when he was in the field and one time he noted them. The Cubs won 4-2 and there was one play with speedy Jose Cardenal on first for the Cubs where he took third on a ground out to 2nd. My dad didn't see the Cubs win in 2016, but when I was in Reno that Fall, I made a bet on them for game 5 against the Dodgers in honor of him which they won. Man I miss sports!!
@@mikeanchelle04 That's pretty amazing. Of course there could be things we know nothing about, but Honus Wagner has always had a very good reputation -- about the only controversy about him is whether or not he should be considered THE greatest player of all time.
I've read the story about how Cobb thought he could intimidate Wagner. Wagner wasn't tall but was built like a fire plug and tough as a nail, and wasn't in the mood for Cobb's bullshit, that German taught Cobb a lesson in civility.
Wow. That's quite a tribute to Wagner. One thing that particularly drew my attention, he was severely bow-legged, yet he led the National League in stolen bases 5 times. I mean, how is it even possible to be so fast with legs like that. So I did a search and came up with this: "Being bowlegged means that your knees are further apart than your ankles. When you run, you land on one foot and then your knees swing inward as you step off to the other foot. This pulls your body forward and inward to help you run faster. People who are bowlegged, flat footed, and pigeon toed are usually the fastest runners." I had no idea.
As a Mets fan listening to the great Ralph Kiner's commentary (on TV by the time I became a fan), I remember his reminiscences about Wagner coming to spring training when Kiner was just beginning his career. A link back to the dead-ball era. My favorite and priceless story about Honus Wagner was one I read in a history of early baseball--possibly "The Glory of Their Times." It would have been in the 1909 WS, Pittsburgh vs. Detroit. Cobb go on first base, and in his usual friendly style, yelled down to Wagner at short, "Look out, Krauthead, I'm coming down." Wagner did not respond, but when Cobb tried to steal second, Wagner tagged him out in the head or face so hard he knocked some of Cobb's teeth loose. Way to treat a bully!
Steve thank you so much for cheering me up and inspiring me. I lost my baby twin brother RIP Randy who had open a baseball card shop in Orange County dealing with the the immortal Wagner Tobbacco cards/. We once broker a deal for a 1910 card. In bad shape but still worth about 8k. Thank You For This! CJ
His best year, 1908, was arguably the best year of the 20th Century. He hit as well as any outfielder in either league, he ran the bases as well as anyone, and he was a Shortstop equal defensively to the best glove-first Shortstop, guys like Tinker and Maranville.
you got to be kidding? against all white pitching? you must be white. Ichiro had the most hits in a single season and he did it against all types of skin tone and he had to break an old white record back over 100 years in George Sisler.
Wonderful video! Disagree about Cobb, though. He may not have been a sweetheart, though his villainy is greatly exaggerated, but the voters knew their stuff.
Steve, I LOVED this look at the great Honus Wagner. Since reading The Glory of Their Times back in 1991, I've been obsessed with "old time" baseball. My two favorite players from the early days are Wagner and Christy Mathewson, both of them SUPERB ballplayers as well as role models and gentlemen on and off the field. Listening to your narrative, I know you "get it" about Wagner and other legendary players. Wagner played and batted Cobb under the rug in the 1909 World Series and swatted him across his racist puss in a play at second base just to put the icing on the cake: Love It! Thanks for this thoughtful video. I look forward to watching more of your productions. (And if you haven't read The Glory of Their Times by Lawrence Ritter, well, you've got one heck of a treat waiting for you!)
The story about splitting Cobb's lip is not true. Scorecards show that Wagner never tagged him out on a stolen base attempt. Cobb and Wagner were clearly not enemies.
If you understand the Poetry of baseball, then you understand you're thoughts in why you're team Has this in every stadium throughout the World. And for me it is still in the Pittsburgh Pirate's BASEBALL. The Heritage and the boys playing in Summer, until the crisp Air in October comes. As to those cold April songs that are easily swung by each Batsmen. It is there, in my Younger life, I regale the 1970 ' s Pirates. Listing to " The Gunner " and how I learned my first lingo to PITTSBURGHESE. So thank you Honus Wagner, for the Man you are. Wonderchek ///.
Nicely done Steve, didn't realize you were a ball fan. Tough call on who was better (Cobb or Wagner), alot of the advanced metrics point to Cobb (OPS, OPS+, WAR). But Wagner's defence was an intangible and Cobb was known as being a pretty pedestrian fielder. relative to how good he was at the plate. I guess it comes down to personal preference. Cobb was complicated and Al Stump's book really did a dis-service to Cobb's reputation. That reputation is finally being revisited after so many years.
I remember in Ken Burns' 'Baseball' that Wagner could hold his own against the antics of Ty Cobb. Cobb was on base and kept calling out to Wagner "Hey Kraut!" and deriding him. Wagner caught in infield ground ball and fired it directly into Cobb's nose, drawing blood. Cobb was silent the rest of the game.
It's my understanding that Wagner had a religious dispute with his first baseman. As the story goes, Wagner would purposely hold ground balls hit to him at shortstop until the last second, then fire the ball to first for the out. Since padding was minimal in the baseball gloves at the time, and the ball was heavier, the first baseman's hand took a beating, which was apparently Wagner's intent. If I'm not mistaken it reportedly led to the player's career ending prematurely.
Thank you for this. Wagner played in an era when you did it for next to nothing and proved yourself on the field. He was & is the greatest as far as I'm concerned.
As a kid growing up in the Burgh in the 1960’s, if you needed any sporting good equipment, then there was only one place to go and that was the Honus Wagner store downtown. I believe (but can’t recall for certain) that it was located on Forbes Avenue. I remember being in grade school and taking a streetcar into town to buy football spikes.
I have a photo of mr Wagner. He was a coach at that time and in pirates uniform. My uncle bob, then probly 8 years old is in the photo. Honus had massive hands! They are on my uncles shoulders. My uncle bill played with Honus.
Michelle Anderson my uncle later as a scout, signed Willie Mays. It was always kinda known in my family but I read two entries in willies autobiography. On two pages he mentions my uncle. His name was William Melton Harris. He was my grandmothers brother.
The man saw a lot during his time.....born during reconstruction and lived long enough to watch "I Love Lucy" on TV. Wagner was a natural athlete. He would have been a star today
@@andaimhineach4131 lol.. My uncle worked at the Tx. Rangers field when we were kids. Sadden by how many autographed balls and bats my friends and I played with while putting our cards in bike spokes! Smh
Such a great video! Full of great information! I love hearing stories of the "good guys" of Baseball. And his brother looks just like Hans! ❤ Edit: I added the heart at the end of the video :)
That picture of Al Wagner in a Montreal uniform shows you just how long of a tradition that city has had with Baseball. It's a shame they don't have a pro team.
Very awesome stuff!! Clemente and Stargell were both great, but for what they did on the field, Honus gets my vote as best Pirate ever. And he also gets my vote as #1 short stop ever. However I especially appreciate the part about his character. As a Pirate's fan since the late 60's, I think it's really neat that the 3 best Pirates ever also had great character.
Nothing against Wagner but look at his "errors committed" stat...it's kind of high. Maybe just because he played everyday and got a lot of chances. But it seems out of place for a superstar.
In the dead ball era, the most prized accomplishment was the league batting title. When you consider how bad the ball was back then, and what pitchers could do to it, you wonder how anybody could have hit .300. But men like Honus and Cobb did, repeatedly (although those old batting averages have been recalculated). That's how good they were at the plate.
His limbs may have looked like "spinning propellers" when he ran, but he ended his career third on the all time stolen base list and remains number ten to this day.
Cobb had the edge in all of the offensive stats, but Wagner gets bonus points for playing shortstop at a level nobody else came close to. (Talking overall, not defensively). Consider: if you had, say George Davis and Tris Speaker on your team, and you had the choice of trading Davis for Wagner, or Speaker for Cobb, which deal would be the bigger upgrade?
What do you have against Ty Cobb. He hit the ball, got on base and scored runs. That's what you want in a ball player, right. I think he is the 3rd best baseball player of all time because of his aggressive base running. 1st and 2nd are Shohei Ohtani and Babe Ruth.
proven fact. disney took honus' nickname "the flying dutchman" for the name of the ship in their movies. do you live in western pa? unless youre a die hard baseball fan, honus is really only regionally notable these days
Thank you for this. I think the baseball card industry should go back to having them be only available in packs of cigarettes. This would make collecting them interesting again. I mean, what is the point when you can just go out and buy the whole collection of cards for the season in a box at Walmart? Ya don't even get the gum anymore. No fun!
I love honus Wagner but ty cobb is and was the most impressive player of all time. In my opinion they're 1 and 2. Wagner definitely gets the edge for being a better man though Cobb wasn't as bad as he's made out to be.
![Quando Rondo - Grow Up [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/8zFnCg3BO4Q/mqdefault.jpg)
My Great Great Grandmother was Honus Wagner’s godmother. According to my Great Grandmothers journal, he came to visit her mom on her deathbed in 1935 and said he was extremely kind to the family. What a great man.
Ralf kiner claimed he was an alcoholic
Who was first man elected. To hall of fame was ty Cobb who
held 1000 records at one time
Sure
My friend lived his house in carnegie.they wanted to make it a bed and breakfast.the community worried about parking.never happened it was sold then sadly burned shortly after.i miss staying there.god bless
Keep in mind, Honus did all this before anabolic steriods.
Excellent tribute to Honus Wagner. Thank you.
Love this! Thanks! He is the player I'd most like to go back in time to watch.
And he knew talent when he truly saw it... when after coaching he got into scouting for the Pirates. In 1935-36, he went to an unknown sandlot game where he saw, and he quoted; "This fella is one of the best shortstops besides myself..." That talented Shortstop was none other than my Grandfather, Chas Fatur, which I am Chaz Fatur. We have a letter handwritten and signed as well as a postcard signed by Honus himself on his own company's stationary, inviting my Grandfather to come play for the the Pittsburgh Pirates! It was an actual contract, according to Honus. The postcard was just a reminder that he hadn't heard back from him. Well, cause that's the other side of this story, he was engaged to my soon to be Grandmother, and she gave him an ultimatum, 'Play ball or marry me!' And that was the end of my Grandfather's ball playing days... He went on to work in the Pittsburgh Steel mills, under the foremanship of Madonna's Grandfather. He died at the age of 60 due to complication of a foundry accident in 1970. One of two regrets my Grandmother had lived with, to a ripe age of 94! They are resting beside one another for eternity...
Sad thing is I don’t think he would have had a chance to play with the pirates at least not right away cause we already had arky Vaughn at short.
Different era but Ron Blackburn was my grandfather’s uncle. Cool pirates pitcher. He had a brother Gerald that played for the reds. North Carolina blue ridge parkway hillbillies.
What a crazy story love from Southside Pittsburgh
he's got a kind face. its so great to have these videos now. there were only books when i was a kid, and even those, not too much detail...so thanks!
Great video. Thanks for including a summary of the personal qualities that made Honus Wagner a great person as well as a great ballplayer.
These videos about Wagner, Traynor, Big & Little Poison, Vaughn, Clemente, Stargell and all the other Pirate greats really keep a fan going in the middle of a (probably) 110-loss season.
This team was once great, it once had amazing stories. Now we get a playoff appearance run once a generation.
The decade 0f 1900-10 the Buckos always battled the Great Cub Machine & Giants
Honus Wagner was one of the Good Guys in baseball. If he was around today he would be a hands down Clemente award winner. The game is better because he played it and the Pirates should be so proud that he was associated with them. Great Ball player, and a big league man.
Great production Steve! Thank you.
Bill James considers Wagner’s 1908 season the greatest single season in MLB history. Based on his production vs the league output. The greatest season ever.
One of the most interesting videos I've watched ! Very well said and great material.
Thanks. I'll have to show my 93yr old father this who saw that the Pirates we're holding open tryouts and went. It was in 1938 and he was 9yrs old ! Lol. He told me a coach patted him on the head and said "Come back in a couple years son". Love that story.
For those of us who are too young to have seen him play, he represents one of those legends that we can only imagine. For those of us who are interested in baseball history, we have a little more of an appreciation for his place. To me, he was the shortstop who towered above all his cohorts in his ability to hit and hit for power. Most shortstops of his era were the good field, no hit version much like in the fifties when Ernie Banks towered over all other shortstops. Wagner, unlike Banks, had no injuries that forced him to another position. The only other players who could hit and run like Wagner were outfielders.
My dad followed baseball intensely from 1900 t0 1955. He lived a block from the St. Louis ballpark and saw all the great ones. He said Wagner was the best player ever. Ruth second. George Sisler third. Mathewson was the best pitcher. In the forties he took me to see the Pirates play the Cardinals and pointed out Wagner, a coach sitting in the bullpen. He made a point of pointing out the greatest player. Incidentally, Wagner outplayed Cobb in the only World Sriies when they met, and knocked his teeth out to boot.
how wonderful! I just found out through ancestry.com that he was my great grandfather. Oddly enough he was never mentioned in the family, I only met his son, my grandfather twice in my lifetime. He didn't look German to me, but Indian, He was German and ancestry has been traced to the early 1700's thus far. Glad you have wonderful memories of Honus.
Thank you for sharing your story . Baseball is a great game for a number of reasons but most importantly it's a wonderful mechanism for a father and son to share and spend time together and to pass on memories of the game . As a boy I met and became friends with Joe Wood and Duffy Lewis , 2 members of the 1912 Red Sox. Lewis was the original left fielder while Wood won 34 games that year and 3 more in the world series including a win against Christy Mathewson , When my father met Joe Wood after I had been corresponding with Wood, he told Mr Wood that when he was a little boy, his father(my grandfather) told him many stories about him (Joe Wood) . My Dad was like a star stuck kid during our meeting . As for me at 15 years old it was amazing to sit in the living room of a man that played with/against Cobb, Walter Johnson, Babe Ruth , Cy Young Mathewson and so many others of that era . .
@@fr6313 That's a great post. I remember going to a number of baseball games with my family sometimes bringing along a friend and particularly going with my dad. Dad was a life long Cubs fan and took me to Chicago to visit my grandad when he was in a coma dying in the 70's. We got to a game at Wrigley Field against the Braves. Henry Aaron didn't start the game, but was used as a pinch hitter. The Sweet Swinger, Billy Williams, was in left for the Cubs, which was near to where we were sitting. Fans were yelling to him when he was in the field and one time he noted them. The Cubs won 4-2 and there was one play with speedy Jose Cardenal on first for the Cubs where he took third on a ground out to 2nd. My dad didn't see the Cubs win in 2016, but when I was in Reno that Fall, I made a bet on them for game 5 against the Dodgers in honor of him which they won. Man I miss sports!!
@@mikeanchelle04
That's pretty amazing. Of course there could be things we know nothing about, but Honus Wagner has always had a very good reputation -- about the only controversy about him is whether or not he should be considered THE greatest player of all time.
I've read the story about how Cobb thought he could intimidate Wagner. Wagner wasn't tall but was built like a fire plug and tough as a nail, and wasn't in the mood for Cobb's bullshit, that German taught Cobb a lesson in civility.
Thanks for this post. It was very informative and enjoyable to watch!
Excellent delivery. Very professional. Well done
Wow. That's quite a tribute to Wagner. One thing that particularly drew my attention, he was severely bow-legged, yet he led the National League in stolen bases 5 times. I mean, how is it even possible to be so fast with legs like that. So I did a search and came up with this: "Being bowlegged means that your knees are further apart than your ankles. When you run, you land on one foot and then your knees swing inward as you step off to the other foot. This pulls your body forward and inward to help you run faster. People who are bowlegged, flat footed, and pigeon toed are usually the fastest runners." I had no idea.
Exhibit #1 is Bob Hayes, arguably the fastest runner ever, given the condition of the tracks he ran on in the 60's
Really good to see a well produced documentary that does not condemn and point out all the negative. Good work.
So nice to enjoy a RUclips video that focuses on the positive aspects of a good person and tremendous athlete. Good stuff.
great video. loved it. thanks for sharing.
I will watch as many videos about old timey ball players as you want to make.
Ditto
This was really well produced. The gent in this video is very talented for this format.
As a Mets fan listening to the great Ralph Kiner's commentary (on TV by the time I became a fan), I remember his reminiscences about Wagner coming to spring training when Kiner was just beginning his career. A link back to the dead-ball era.
My favorite and priceless story about Honus Wagner was one I read in a history of early baseball--possibly "The Glory of Their Times." It would have been in the 1909 WS, Pittsburgh vs. Detroit. Cobb go on first base, and in his usual friendly style, yelled down to Wagner at short, "Look out, Krauthead, I'm coming down." Wagner did not respond, but when Cobb tried to steal second, Wagner tagged him out in the head or face so hard he knocked some of Cobb's teeth loose. Way to treat a bully!
Incredible video. Very well spoken, got a great history lesson. Thanks and keep it up!
Jesus, this makes me sentimental. So many unworthy idols in the sports world these days.
My favorite Strat-o-Matic player card ever. Always had to have Wagner, Gehrig and Lajoie. With those three, hegh, look out.
Steve thank you so much for cheering me up and inspiring me. I lost my baby twin brother RIP Randy who had open a baseball card shop in Orange County dealing with the the immortal Wagner Tobbacco cards/. We once broker a deal for a 1910 card. In bad shape but still worth about 8k. Thank You For This! CJ
5 Priceless Things About Honus Wagner is a pretty awesome 5 Things Episode Steve !
Wagner is the player I would most like to go back in time to watch play. This was a great video. Many thanks.
Damn
I don't think you could've ended this video in a more poetic fashion
Bravo
As kid in the 80’s, Honus Wagner is one of those heroes who seem better than the legend that surrounds him. Great baseballer, great person, great man.
The GOAT
His best year, 1908, was arguably the best year of the 20th Century. He hit as well as any outfielder in either league, he ran the bases as well as anyone, and he was a Shortstop equal defensively to the best glove-first Shortstop, guys like Tinker and Maranville.
you got to be kidding? against all white pitching? you must be white. Ichiro had the most hits in a single season and he did it against all types of skin tone and he had to break an old white record back over 100 years in George Sisler.
@@holdenmcgroin9774 LOL
Thankfully a good presentation, & pronouncing his name correctly😉
If you look it up, you'll see that Wagner played a lot of other positions. He was literally their best defensive player at all the positions
Wonderful video! Disagree about Cobb, though. He may not have been a sweetheart, though his villainy is greatly exaggerated, but the voters knew their stuff.
one great ballplayer and a honest man what else can you say.
Excellent video; thank you
Steve, I LOVED this look at the great Honus Wagner. Since reading The Glory of Their Times back in 1991, I've been obsessed with "old time" baseball. My two favorite players from the early days are Wagner and Christy Mathewson, both of them SUPERB ballplayers as well as role models and gentlemen on and off the field. Listening to your narrative, I know you "get it" about Wagner and other legendary players. Wagner played and batted Cobb under the rug in the 1909 World Series and swatted him across his racist puss in a play at second base just to put the icing on the cake: Love It! Thanks for this thoughtful video. I look forward to watching more of your productions. (And if you haven't read The Glory of Their Times by Lawrence Ritter, well, you've got one heck of a treat waiting for you!)
The story about splitting Cobb's lip is not true. Scorecards show that Wagner never tagged him out on a stolen base attempt. Cobb and Wagner were clearly not enemies.
If you understand the
Poetry of baseball, then you understand you're thoughts in why you're team
Has this in every stadium throughout the World. And for me it is still in the Pittsburgh Pirate's BASEBALL. The Heritage and the
boys playing in Summer, until the crisp Air in October comes. As to those cold April songs that are easily swung by each Batsmen. It is there, in my Younger life,
I regale the 1970 ' s Pirates.
Listing to " The Gunner " and how I learned my first lingo to
PITTSBURGHESE.
So thank you
Honus Wagner, for the Man you are.
Wonderchek ///.
Nicely done Steve, didn't realize you were a ball fan. Tough call on who was better (Cobb or Wagner), alot of the advanced metrics point to Cobb (OPS, OPS+, WAR). But Wagner's defence was an intangible and Cobb was known as being a pretty pedestrian fielder. relative to how good he was at the plate. I guess it comes down to personal preference. Cobb was complicated and Al Stump's book really did a dis-service to Cobb's reputation. That reputation is finally being revisited after so many years.
I remember in Ken Burns' 'Baseball' that Wagner could hold his own against the antics of Ty Cobb. Cobb was on base and kept calling out to Wagner "Hey Kraut!" and deriding him. Wagner caught in infield ground ball and fired it directly into Cobb's nose, drawing blood. Cobb was silent the rest of the game.
It's my understanding that Wagner had a religious dispute with his first baseman. As the story goes, Wagner would purposely hold ground balls hit to him at shortstop until the last second, then fire the ball to first for the out. Since padding was minimal in the baseball gloves at the time, and the ball was heavier, the first baseman's hand took a beating, which was apparently Wagner's intent. If I'm not mistaken it reportedly led to the player's career ending prematurely.
Sad to say I never met him, but my dad did. And of course they talked Baseball.
Excellent video
Outstanding work! Thank you.
one of the class acts in baseball
Thank you for this. Wagner played in an era when you did it for next to nothing and proved yourself on the field. He was & is the greatest as far as I'm concerned.
A wonderful tribute. Thank you!
As a kid growing up in the Burgh in the 1960’s, if you needed any sporting good equipment, then there was only one place to go and that was the Honus Wagner store downtown. I believe (but can’t recall for certain) that it was located on Forbes Avenue. I remember being in grade school and taking a streetcar into town to buy football spikes.
I have a photo of mr Wagner. He was a coach at that time and in pirates uniform. My uncle bob, then probly 8 years old is in the photo. Honus had massive hands! They are on my uncles shoulders. My uncle bill played with Honus.
I would love to see that photo, or have a copy of it. He was my great grandfather
Michelle Anderson text me your number and I will gladly send you a pic of mr Wagner! I just saw your entry.
Michelle Anderson my uncle later as a scout, signed Willie Mays. It was always kinda known in my family but I read two entries in willies autobiography. On two pages he mentions my uncle. His name was William Melton Harris. He was my grandmothers brother.
The man saw a lot during his time.....born during reconstruction and lived long enough to watch "I Love Lucy" on TV. Wagner was a natural athlete. He would have been a star today
Honus Wagner reminds me of my Grandfather :) Seems to represent the pure spirit of baseball.
I really enjoy that, thank you.
Wholesome.
I shouldnt have given away my honus wagner card😬
Same. I had 6 but gave them all away to my friends who are all now millionaires. Just unlucky isnt it
Harz IV
Liar
Yea. I regret have put my one in my bike spokes as a kid.
@@andaimhineach4131 lol.. My uncle worked at the Tx. Rangers field when we were kids. Sadden by how many autographed balls and bats my friends and I played with while putting our cards in bike spokes! Smh
@@budd7498 dang
He really put my city on the map. What a fucking legend.
I’m guessing that because his first name was Johannes, his nickname was originally spelled “Hannes.” Good to know he was such a nice guy!!
Glad to see they moved his statue from Three Rivers Stadium (what a great name for a stadium) to PNC. Glad to hear he was born in SW Pa.
BASEBALL! The great American epic. Thanks for the presentation.
Such a great video! Full of great information! I love hearing stories of the "good guys" of Baseball. And his brother looks just like Hans! ❤
Edit: I added the heart at the end of the video :)
Your discription of how kind of a man Wagner was reminds me of Harmon Killebrew.
That picture of Al Wagner in a Montreal uniform shows you just how long of a tradition that city has had with Baseball. It's a shame they don't have a pro team.
Yes! Well observed!
Where can I buy a pack of cigs from 1910 any ideas?
Honus Wagner is a pretty cool guy !
Honus was from one of those eras when Pittsburgh actually had a baseball team.
The Greatest Shortstop in MLB history
Very awesome stuff!! Clemente and Stargell were both great, but for what they did on the field, Honus gets my vote as best Pirate ever. And he also gets my vote as #1 short stop ever. However I especially appreciate the part about his character. As a Pirate's fan since the late 60's, I think it's really neat that the 3 best Pirates ever also had great character.
Nothing against Wagner but look at his "errors committed" stat...it's kind of high. Maybe just because he played everyday and got a lot of chances. But it seems out of place for a superstar.
In the dead ball era, the most prized accomplishment was the league batting title. When you consider how bad the ball was back then, and what pitchers could do to it, you wonder how anybody could have hit .300. But men like Honus and Cobb did, repeatedly (although those old batting averages have been recalculated). That's how good they were at the plate.
What would sports be like if everybody were like Honus and Roberto Clemente? What would the planet be like?
Cobb once said that Honus was the best player he ever faced or saw.
Only when Cobb didn't look in the mirror.
@@downtownbrown50 LOL very good
Nice tribute. Well done.
How is this the first time I've realized you love baseball AND Star Trek? Isn't the 1st episode of DS9 just a loving tribute to the game?
His limbs may have looked like "spinning propellers" when he ran, but he ended his career third on the all time stolen base list and remains number ten to this day.
Thank you I consider Wagner and Mays the two best all round players in baseball history
Today baseball is home run crazy and they change pitchers so often games last hours.
He loved the then-new sport of basketball, too. He had his own team for years.
One of our players favorites of the Mlb is Babe Ruth new York Brookkyn contra boston red sox
Awesome
Ty Cobb deserves Pete Rose's Hall of Fame legacy and vicey-versey.
I've read that he could throw a baseball 400 feet. Yeah, likely a world-class athlete in any era.
403 feet!
This Wagner seems like avery inspiring person, I must say
You should have mentioned how he would go play baseball with kids after his games were over .
Ted Williams’ career on base percentage was .488, basically .500........ unimaginable
well done.
John McGraw said he was the best player he ever saw. That's an endorsement that matters!
His team mate was ginger Beaumont center fielder from wisconsin.
They lost the first world sreies.
I've always heard his name pronounced with a hard 'O'... H OH nus
Wagner was a better person, but Cobb was a better player. He leads in every meaningful stat.
Well wagner beqt him head to head in the world series
Don't agree. Neither do the players of that era.
Cobb had the edge in all of the offensive stats, but Wagner gets bonus points for playing shortstop at a level nobody else came close to. (Talking overall, not defensively). Consider: if you had, say George Davis and Tris Speaker on your team, and you had the choice of trading Davis for Wagner, or Speaker for Cobb, which deal would be the bigger upgrade?
@@scottaznavourian7617 Did they play one on one or did they let their teammates join in? I think it was the latter. Makes a bit of a difference.
would like to have seen Honus Wagner running bases.
Yep, that’s me
Please do Rube Waddell.
I'll second that. Very interesting character
God bless you brothers muchs blessed
Finished in the top 10 for home runs 11 times? He only put up 1-10 home runs a season.
What do you have against Ty Cobb. He hit the ball, got on base and scored runs. That's what you want in a ball player, right. I think he is the 3rd best baseball player of all time because of his aggressive base running. 1st and 2nd are Shohei Ohtani and Babe Ruth.
proven fact. disney took honus' nickname "the flying dutchman" for the name of the ship in their movies.
do you live in western pa? unless youre a die hard baseball fan, honus is really only regionally notable these days
Thank you for this. I think the baseball card industry should go back to having them be only available in packs of cigarettes. This would make collecting them interesting again. I mean, what is the point when you can just go out and buy the whole collection of cards for the season in a box at Walmart? Ya don't even get the gum anymore. No fun!
I love honus Wagner but ty cobb is and was the most impressive player of all time. In my opinion they're 1 and 2. Wagner definitely gets the edge for being a better man though Cobb wasn't as bad as he's made out to be.
Some of Wagner's career stats: .328 BA, .391 OBP, 151 OPS+, 130.8 WAR; 3428 H, 1739 R, 1732 RBI, 723 SB.
So now we have multi-million dollar ball players who more often act like spoiled brats than anything resembling Honus Wagner. Bloody hell...
He was the best, along with Joe Jackson
He would cut the center out of his skimpy glove, for better ball handling. So, essentially, he played bare-handed.