Moments are related to career moments from various seasons of Honus Wagner’s career. You get to play locked as Wagner for several plate appearances across one game or multiple games and have to achieve specific stats. For most of the moments, you’ll play as Wagner on the Louisville Colonels.
Full Answer
Who is Honus Wagner?
There's Honus Wagner -- pronounced "HONN-us," short for Johannes, nickname of "The Flying Dutchman." Wagner was the best ballplayer of the early 20th century and one of the greatest across the entire sprawl of baseball history.
Are Honus Wagner baseball cards professionally graded?
Not all Honus Wagner baseball cards have been professionally graded by PSA or SGC. This ungraded or "raw" card, as it's referred to in the hobby, is currently housed at the New York Public Library. You can learn more about this particular card here.
What happened to the Honus Wagner card?
Supply of the Honus Wagner card is minimal, however. Because of a dispute Wagner had with American Tobacco, the company that produced the card, his card was pulled from production. There are a couple of theories as to exactly why this was the case:
Is Honus Wagner the greatest shortstop of all time?
Most baseball historians consider Wagner to be the greatest shortstop ever and one of the greatest players ever. Ty Cobb himself called Wagner "maybe the greatest star ever to take the diamond". Honus Wagner is also the featured player of one of the rarest and the most valuable baseball cards in existence.
Who is Wagner's brother?
Wagner's older brother, Albert "Butts" Wagner, who had a brief major league career himself, is often credited with getting Honus his first tryout. Butts persuaded his manager to take a look at his younger brother. Following his brother, Wagner trained to be a barber before becoming successful in baseball.
Why was Wagner called Hans?
Wagner was one of nine children. As a child, he was called Hans by his mother, which later evolved into Honus. "Hans" was also an alternate nickname during his major league career. Wagner dropped out of school at age 12 to help his father and brothers in the coal mines.
What position did Wagner play in 1904?
Prior to 1904, Wagner had played several positions but settled into the shortstop role full-time that season, where he became a skilled fielder. His biography on BaseballLibrary.com describes his gritty style:
How tall was Wagner when he played for the Louisville Colonels?
Dreyfuss and Clarke were not impressed with the awkward-looking man, not surprising, as Wagner was oddly built: he was 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) tall, weighed 200 pounds (91 kg), and had a barrel chest, massive shoulders, heavily muscled arms, huge hands, and incredibly bowed legs that deprived him of any grace and several inches of height. Pulliam, though, persuaded Dreyfuss and Clarke to take a chance on him. Wagner debuted with Louisville on July 19 and hit .338 in 61 games.
How far did Wagner throw a baseball?
In 1898, Wagner won a distance contest in Louisville by throwing a baseball more than 403 feet (123 m). In August 1899, he became the first player credited with stealing second base, third, and home in succession under the new rule differentiating between advanced bases and stolen bases. He repeated the feat in 1902, 1907, and 1909. Wagner retired with the National League record for most steals of home (27), which was broken by Greasy Neale in 1922.
How many teams did Wagner play in the 1899 season?
Following the 1899 season, the NL contracted from twelve to eight teams, with the Colonels one of four teams eliminated.
When did Wagner play in the World Series?
1903 and 1909 World Series. Wagner in 1910. In 1903, the Pirates played the Boston Americans in Major League Baseball 's inaugural World Series. Wagner, by this point, was an established star and much was expected of him, especially since the Pirates' starting rotation was decimated by injury.
How many hits did Wagner have?
Over parts of 21 major-league seasons, all with Louisville and the Pirates, Wagner batted .328/.391/.467 (151 OPS+) with 3,420 hits; 895 combined doubles and triples (!); and 723 stolen bases. His career WAR of 130.9 ranks seventh all-time among position players. Wagner's entire career was pre-integration, which means we must discount his accomplishments since he played against an artificially limited pool of competitors. In any context, though, he stands as one of the best ever to sharpen his spikes.
Why did Wagner refuse to allow additional runs of the cigarette card?
Not long after the card was first released, Wagner, for reasons not entirely clear (one explanation is that he wanted no part in promoting cigarettes to young kids), refused to permit additional runs of the card, and that left mere dozens in circulation.
How old was Wagner when he retired?
As noted, this video dates back to 1933, when Wagner would've been 59 years of age and retired from the majors for more than 15 years. The Great Depression hit Wagner and his post-baseball business interests hard, and Dreyfuss's son-in-law, who took control of the team following Dreyfuss' death in 1932, brought the old shortstop back in a coaching role. Wagner was tasked with molding young Arky Vaughn into a competent big leaguer. He did that and then some, as Vaughn would eventually be voted into the Hall of Fame.
How much is the Jumbo Wagner card worth?
It was sold in 2016 for a price of $3.12 million.
When was Traynor inducted into the Hall of Fame?
Traynor in 1933 was nearing the end of what would turn out to be a Hall of Fame career for the Pirates. He was inducted in 1948, 12 years after Wagner was a member of the Hall's inaugural class. While viewing Traynor, we also get a glimpse of the houses beyond the left field.
Who is the Flying Dutchman?
There's Honus Wagner -- pronounced "HONN-us," short for Johannes, nickname of "The Flying Dutchman." Wagner was the best ballplayer of the early 20th century and one of the greatest across the entire sprawl of baseball history.
Did Wagner say that pitchers had harder work?
Here Wagner declares that contemporary pitchers relative to pitchers in his day had "harder work." That's certainly true. The thirties were very much a hitters' era, whereas Wagner toiled in the Deadball Era.
Honus Wagner Signature Series
Honus Wagner was one of the best players of his time. In fact, even that statement doesn’t do him justice. Wagner was one of the first hitters to take charge of the game at the dawn of baseball as he was the original hitting machine!
Joining good company
Honus Wagner was the last piece of the puzzle in the latest MLB The Show 19 Signature Series reveal.
Where is the Honus Wagner baseball card?
This ungraded or "raw" card, as it's referred to in the hobby, is currently housed at the New York Public Library. You can learn more about this particular card here.
What qualifier is the Sheen Wagner?
Similar to the All-Star Cafe / Sheen Wagner, this one also possesses rounded corners, creasing, and marking which is why it received the "MK" qualifier on its grade..
What is a jumbo Wagner card?
Jumbo Wagner. Because this particular T206 Honus Wagner card has an extra 1/16th of an inch of cardboard in its bottom border, it has been dubbed the "Jumbo Wagner". Graded a PSA 5 EX (MC) by PSA, this is one of the highest graded Wagner's you'll find. The "MC" in the grade refers to the fact that it was miscut, hence its extra size.
Why was Wagner upset with the company?
There are a couple of theories as to exactly why this was the case: Wagner was upset at the company for using his likeness without sufficiently compensating him. Wagner did not want his image associated with tobacco and smoking since these cards usually found their way into the hands of kids.
What grade is the Gretzky Wagner card?
The Gretzky Wagner. This is the finest known example of the T206 Honus Wagner card, having received a grade of 8 Near Mint - Mint from PSA in 1991. Fun fact: this particular card was the first card that PSA ever graded.
Overview
Johannes Peter "Honus" Wagner , sometimes referred to as "Hans" Wagner, was an American baseball shortstop who played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball from 1897 to 1917, almost entirely for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Wagner won his eighth (and final) batting title in 1911, a National League record that remains unbroken to this day, and matched only once, in 1997, by Tony Gwynn. He also …
Early life
Wagner was born to German immigrants Peter and Katheryn Wagner in the borough of Chartiers, in what is now Carnegie, Pennsylvania.
Wagner was one of nine children. As a child, he was called Hans by his mother, which later evolved into Honus. "Hans" was also an alternate nickname during his major league career. Wagner dropped out of school at age 12 to help his father and brothers in the coal mines. In thei…
Professional career
Honus' brother Albert "Butts" Wagner was considered the ballplayer of the family. Albert suggested Honus in 1895 when his Inter-State League team was in need of help. Wagner played for five teams in that first year, in three different leagues over the course of 80 games.
In 1896, Edward Barrow, from the Wheeling, West Virginia, team that Wagner w…
See also
• 3,000 hit club
• List of Major League Baseball career doubles leaders
• List of Major League Baseball career triples leaders
• List of Major League Baseball career runs scored leaders
Bibliography
• Hall of Fame Network: "Honus Wagner as Mona Lisa", HOFMAG.com.
• Honus Wagner: A Biography, by Dennis DeValeria and Jeanne Burke DeValeria, Henry Holt and Company, New York, 1995. ISBN 9781466862883
• Hittner, Arthur D. Honus Wagner: The Life of Baseball's "Flying Dutchman." Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 1996 and 2003 (softcover). ISBN 9780786418114. Winner of the 1996 Seymour Medal, awarded by the Society for American Bas…
External links
• Honus Wagner at the Baseball Hall of Fame
• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball Reference (Minors), or Retrosheet
• The T206 Collection – The Players & Their Stories