Honus Wagner

Early life

Wagner was born on February 24, 1874, to German immigrants Peter and Katheryn Wagner in Chartiers, now Carnegie, Pennsylvania. He was one of nine children; his mother called him Hans, which later became Honus. He left school at age 12 to work in coal mines with his father and brothers, and in free time they played sandlot baseball. Three of his brothers became professional players.

Wagner stated that "Honus" was a shortened form of "Johannes" adopted by teammates. His older brother Albert "Butts" Wagner, who had a brief major league career, helped him get his first tryout. Wagner trained as a barber before succeeding in baseball. In 1916 he married Bessie Baine Smith; they had three daughters, one stillborn.

Professional career

Brother Albert suggested Honus in 1895 when his Inter-State League team needed help; Wagner played for five teams in three leagues over 80 games that year. In 1896 Ed Barrow played with Wagner at Wheeling and took him to Paterson of the Atlantic League, where Wagner hit .313 in 1896 and .375 in 74 games in 1897. Barrow contacted Louisville Colonels president Barney Dreyfuss, secretary Harry Pulliam, and manager Fred Clarke, who went to see Wagner.

Dreyfuss and Clarke were unimpressed by his awkward build—he was tall, 200 lb, with a barrel chest, massive shoulders, huge hands, and bowed legs—but Pulliam persuaded them to take a chance. Wagner debuted with Louisville on July 19 and hit .338 in 61 games. By his second season he was among the NL's best hitters. After the 1899 season the NL contracted from twelve to eight teams; the Colonels were eliminated.

Dreyfuss, who had bought half ownership of the Pirates, arranged a trade sending Wagner and other Louisville players to Pittsburgh. With the Pirates, Wagner won his first batting title in 1900 with a .381 average, leading the league in doubles, triples, and slugging. For the next nine seasons his average stayed above .330.

Statistics

The stats here come from MLB.com, which may differ from Baseball-Reference.com or other private sites. Caught stealing and strikeouts are incomplete because those stats were not tracked regularly until 1920 and 1910. Also, MLB.com’s total bases do not match the sum of the listed hits, doubles, triples, and home runs.