Regarded by many of his contemporaries as the greatest baseball player of all time, John Peter “Honus” Wagner enjoyed a remarkable career with the Pittsburgh Pirates. His record of 17 consecutive .300-plus seasons is a mark that will probably never be broken. He led the National League eight times in hitting, six times in slugging percentage and five times in stolen bases. Known as the Flying Dutchman, he also excelled in the field, defining the shortstop position for a generation.
Though one of the original inductees in the Baseball Hall of Fame, he has often been overlooked by baseball fans and historians. A humble man whose biggest passions were hunting and fishing, the Pirate shortstop lacked the flamboyance of a Ty Cobb or Babe Ruth. He rarely smoked or drank, though he sometimes indulged in a sandlot game with the neighborhood kids. Based on contemporary newspaper accounts, family scrapbooks and correspondence, and Wagner’s own vest pocket notebooks, this is the story of baseball’s first superstar.

Arthur D. Hittner is a retired attorney, a former co-owner of the Lowell Spinners (previously a minor league affiliate of the Boston Red Sox) and author of five novels. He splits his time between Tucson, Arizona and Natick, Massachusetts.

Arthur D. Hittner
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 334
Bibliographic Info: 23 photos, appendices, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2024
pISBN: 978-1-4766-9460-3
eISBN: 978-1-4766-5194-1
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments vii
Foreword by John Thorn 1
Preface 5
1. Ham and Eggs 7
2. “As Good a Home as Any Boy in Carnegie” 14
3. “Tear Down the Grand Stand” 22
4. Swamp Grass and Homesickness 31
5. “Hail Hero Hannes” 40
6. Louisville Slugger 53
7. “The Mayor of the Bleachers” 67
8. The Homecoming 78
9. “Pennant Comes to Pittsburgh” 89
10. The Gumshoe Caper 103
11. “Hercules of the Diamond” 114
12. “Amplitudinous and Triangular” 133
Between pages 142 and 143 are 20 plates
with 22 b&w photographs
13. “Hey Barney!” 143
14. A Hundred Wives 154
15. The Gasoline Wagon 162
16. “Every Dog Has His Day” 170
17. Clash of the Titans 183
18. “The Fallen Idol” 198
19. A Man’s Best Friend 207
20. “He Can’t Do More Than Three Men’s Work” 214
21. “Bandages and Braces” 220
22. The Fish Commissioner 224
23. Have Mercy on the Criminal 230
24. Bigfoot 236
25. The Last Hurrah 240
26. Nursing Nickels 246
27. Stories You Could Tell Your Mother 255
28. “The Greatest of Them All” 263
Appendix A: Wagner’s Lifetime Batting Record 267
Appendix B: Wagner’s Major League Fielding Record 268
Appendix C: Wagner’s Major League Pitching Record 270
Appendix D: Wagner’s Major League Managing Record 270
Chapter Notes 271
Bibliography 287
Index 293