Honus Wagner Marquee Hall of Fame 1936

b. February 24, 1874 · Louisville Colonels 1897–1899, Pittsburgh Pirates 1900–1917

Honus Wagner batted .328 with 3,420 hits, 1,733 runs batted in and 723 stolen bases across 21 seasons, almost all of them for Pittsburgh. He was a shortstop built like a blacksmith, bow-legged and enormous-handed, playing the hardest position on the field while hitting like a first baseman.

He led the league in doubles seven times and in runs batted in five, and was one of the five men in the Hall of Fame's first election in 1936, tied with Ruth in the voting and behind only Cobb.

His 1909 tobacco card is the most valuable in existence, worth millions, because very few were printed — the usual account is that Wagner objected to his image being used to sell cigarettes, though the evidence for why production stopped is thinner than the story. He coached for the Pirates into his seventies.

Honors

Award	Times	Years
Baseball Magazine All-Star	6	1908, 1909, 1910, 1911, 1912, 1913

Batting, season by season

Year	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	AVG
1897	LOU	62	242	38	81	18	4	2	39	15	14	20	.335
1898	LOU	151	588	80	176	29	3	10	105	31	20	27	.299
1899	LOU	148	575	100	196	45	13	7	114	40	36	37	.341
1900	PIT	135	527	107	201	45	22	4	100	41	17	38	.381
1901	PIT	140	549	101	194	37	11	6	126	53	39	49	.353
1902	PIT	136	534	105	176	30	16	3	91	43	51	42	.330
1903	PIT	129	512	97	182	30	19	5	101	44	17	46	.355
1904	PIT	132	490	97	171	44	14	4	75	59	44	53	.349
1905	PIT	147	548	114	199	32	14	6	101	54	53	57	.363
1906	PIT	142	516	103	175	38	9	2	71	58	31	53	.339
1907	PIT	142	515	98	180	38	14	6	82	46	40	61	.350
1908	PIT	151	568	100	201	39	19	10	109	54	22	53	.354
1909	PIT	137	495	92	168	39	10	5	100	66	24	35	.339
1910	PIT	150	556	90	178	34	8	4	81	59	47	24	.320
1911	PIT	130	473	87	158	23	16	9	89	67	34	20	.334
1912	PIT	145	558	91	181	35	20	7	102	59	38	26	.324
1913	PIT	114	413	51	124	18	4	3	56	26	40	21	.300
1914	PIT	150	552	60	139	15	9	1	50	51	51	23	.252
1915	PIT	156	566	68	155	32	17	6	78	39	64	22	.274
1916	PIT	123	432	45	124	15	9	1	39	34	36	11	.287
1917	PIT	74	230	15	61	7	1	0	24	24	17	5	.265
Career	—	2794	10439	1739	3420	643	252	101	1733	963	735	723	.328

Pitching, season by season

Year	Team	G	IP	H	BB	SO
1900	PIT	1	3.0	3	4	1
1902	PIT	1	5.1	4	2	5
Career	—	2	8.1	7	6	6

On this day & linked events

1874

Born February 24, 1874

Chartiers, PA, USA

1955

Died December 6, 1955

1897

Major-league debut: Honus Wagner

Honus Wagner made a major-league debut on July 19, 1897.

1912

Final major-league game: Honus Wagner

Honus Wagner played a final major-league game on September 17, 1917.

1936

The Hall of Fame's First Five

The Baseball Writers' Association of America announces the first five players elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame: Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson, and Walter Johnson.

Image: unattributed, public domain