Honus: The Life and Times of a Baseball Hero is a biographical look at the life and times of the great Honus Wagner. Not many fans know the full story of Honus Wagner, and Wagner himself was largely responsible for the public's ignorance. Being notoriously shy, he declined to talk about himself or baseball to sportswriters of his time. Through thousands of hours of exhaustive research and interviews, plus the help of Wagner's granddaughter, Leslie Blair, author William Hageman was able to get the story of the great baseball legend.
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.
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.
An in-depth biography of one of baseball's greatest legends, the speedy shortstop and power hitter, Honus Wagner, also known as the "the Flying Dutchman". "We think we have made a deal which will materially help us out," Fred Clarke, manager of the National Louisville Colonels, prophetically told the local media in 1897. "After negotiating for some days we have succeeded in securing Hans Wagner...He is a big, heavy German, with very large hands, and is powerful as a bull. He kills the ball." A few years later, the widely read sportswriter Hugh Fullteron would refer to Wagner as "the nearest approach to a baseball machine ever constructed." Honus Wagner is generally acknowledged as the finest shortstop in baseball history. Along with Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Christy Mathewson, and Walter Johnson, he was one of the first five players to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. His rare 1909 baseball card--known to collectors as the Holy Grail of American memorabilia--fetched nearly half a million dollars at auction in 1991. His rise paralleled the development of baseball as the national pastime, and his playing skills remain legendary. He was, possibly, the first superstar of American sports. And yet, amazingly, a full-length biography of Honus Wagner had never before appeared. Here, Dennis and Jeanne DeValeria tell the sports hero's whole story. The son of German immigrants, Wagner (1874-1955) grew up in Andrew Carnegie's Pittsburgh, working in coal mines at age twelve. At age thirteen he worked in a steel mill; at twenty-one he was a professional baseball player. Despite his hardscrabble background, he came to be respected by those in the highest reaches of American society: when he became an icon, he would know President Howard Taft and industrialist Henry Ford. And with prestige came wealth: one of the highest-paid players in the game, he was among the first in his hometown to own an automobile. At a time when baseball was a raw, aggressive game played by rugged men, the unflappable Wagner's humble ways enhanced his miraculous performance throughout his twenty-one-year career, including three seasons with the Louisville Colonels and eighteen with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Wagner's gradual emergence from the pack into stardom and popularity is described here in rich detail. But the book also reveals much of Wagner's family and personal life--his minor league career, his values, his failed business ventures during the Depression, his later years--about which, until now, there had been no well known narrative. Neither the "rowdy-ball" ruffian nor the teetotal saint constructed of legend, Wagner is presented here in a complete portrait--one that offers a vivid impression of the era when baseball was America's game and the nation was evolving into the world's industrial leader.
The early Deadball Era featured landmark achievements, great performances by several of baseball's immortals, and a delightful array of characters. John McGraw won his first pennant as a manager and repeated the feat the following year with the team he later called his greatest. His Giants were praised for their playing ability and criticized for their rowdy behavior. Meanwhile the Cubs were putting together the greatest team in franchise history, emphasizing speed on the bases, solid defense and outstanding pitching. Jack Chesbro won 41 games in 1904 by employing a new pitch--the spitball. Other pitchers began using it, accelerating the trend toward lower batting averages. The White Sox entered baseball lore as the "Hitless Wonders," winning the 1906 pennant through adroit use of "scientific baseball" tactics.
With more than 2 million books sold, the Baseball Card Adventures bring the greatest players in history to life! With historical photos and back matter to separate the facts from the fiction, New York Times bestselling author Dan Gutman takes readers on a page-turning trip through baseball’s past. Perfect for young readers who love time travel stories and dream about meeting history’s greatest baseball players! Joe Stoshack lives for baseball. He knows everything there is to know about the game—except how to play well. His specialty is striking out. Stosh feels like a real loser, and when he takes a low-paying job cleaning a bunch of junk out of his neighbor's attic, he feels even worse—until he comes across a little piece of cardboard that takes his breath away. His heart is racing. His brain is racing. He can hardly believe his eyes. Stosh has stumbled upon a T-206 Honus Wagner—the most valuable baseball card in the world! But he's about to find out that it's worth a lot more than money. Because it turns out Stosh has the incredible ability to travel through time using baseball cards—and now he’s headed back to 1909, when Honus Wagner played for the Pittsburgh Pirates in a World Series for the record books. But will the legendary Honus Wagner be able to teach Joe how to be a better baseball player?
When Joe Stoshack hears about Shoeless Joe Jackson -- and the gambling scandal that destroyed the star player's career -- he knows what he has to do. If he travels back in time with a 1919 baseball card in his hand, he just might be able to prevent the infamous Black Sox Scandal from ever taking place. And if he could do that, Shoeless Joe Jackson would finally take his rightful place in the Baseball Hall of Fame. But can Stosh prevent that tempting envelope full of money from making its way to Shoeless Joe's hotel room before the big game?
