Honus Wagner’s spectacular baseball career spanned 21 seasons from 1897 through 1917. Widely considered the greatest shortstop in baseball history, Wagner won eight National League batting titles and helped win the pennant four times for his hometown Pittsburgh Pirates. This book assembles the many stories about Wagner that circulated among his teammates, opposing players, writers and fans—reminiscences that define both his career and his life as a citizen in the Pittsburgh suburb of Carnegie.

Ronald T. Waldo, a member of the Society for American Baseball Research, lives in Pittsburgh. His articles have appeared in Pittsburgh Pride Magazine and Sports Collectors Digest, and he is the author of several books on baseball history.

Ronald T. Waldo
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 228
Bibliographic Info: 16 photos, appendix, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2015
pISBN: 978-0-7864-9667-9
eISBN: 978-1-4766-1882-1
Imprint: McFarland

Table of Contents


Acknowledgments vii

Preface 1

1. From Carnegie to Pittsburgh, by Way of Louisville 5

2. Bilson Jack, a Louisville Hearse Ride and Wagner’s Early Days in Baseball 23

3. Rough-and-Tumble Fred Clarke 40

4. Trains, Dining Cars, Theaters and the Stage 57

5. The Game of Baseball as Seen Through Wagner’s Eyes 73

6. Ham Hyatt’s Slugging Prowess, a Battle with Turkey Mike and Jimmy Viox’s Mad Dash 92

7. Tommy Leach, Truck Eagan, Bill McKechnie and Other Teammates 108

8. Adversaries from the Cubs, Giants and Fellow National League Clubs 125

9. Baseball’s Greatest Player Enjoying Life’s Simple Pleasures 141

10. Encounters with the American Worker, an Angry Rabbit and Austrian Royalty 159

11. “First in the Hearts of Baseball Fans” 175

Appendix: Career Statistics 193

Chapter Notes 195

Bibliography 211

Index 213

“Waldo gives an entertaining compilation of the familiar and not so familiar yarns touching Wagner and those around him. In doing so he captures the temper and tone of the era…. What is undeniable is that this is a labor of love, a very individual expression of Waldo’s long held affection for the early Pirates.”—Gail Rowe, SABR Deadball Era Committee Newsletter.