Top 106 Baseball Players: #29 - Honus Wagner

Honus Wagner

Honus Wagner was the first true superstar in baseball history, dominating the league for an entire decade and doing everything at a high level.

Wagner joined the Louisville Colonels in 1897, and he worked his way up to being one of the better players in the league over his first few seasons before his team folded and he was assigned to the Pittsburgh Pirates. As soon as he began playing for his hometown team, he became the best player in baseball.

There was no season in the entire decade of the 1900's where Wagner was not the best player. In 1900 he led the league in doubles, triples, total bases, and batting average (.381). The following season he led the league in RBI and stolen bases, showing his broad skill set and expertise.

In 1903, the first World Series was played between the Pirates and the Boston Americans, and Wagner was expected to dominate as he had done in the 4 previous regular seasons, but he only hit .222 as they fell 5 games to 3 against Cy Young's team. Playing poorly in the losing effort haunted Wagner for years, and he felt that his individual achievements did not make up for his performance.

Over the next 8 seasons, Wagner won 6 more batting titles, giving him a total of 8 for his career, which is still the NL record more than 100 years later, though it was tied by Tony Gwynn. He also led the league in doubles 7 times, and stolen bases 5 times.

Wagner retired before the start of the 1908 season, but after being offered the largest contract in history at the time to return, he changed his mind, and had his best season of all. That year he led the league in hits, doubles, triples, RBI, stolen bases, batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and total bases, and came up just 2 home runs short of winning that title, and the Triple Crown, as well.

In 1909, he finally got the Pirates back to the World Series, this time facing the Tigers and their young star, Ty Cobb, and it was the first ever World Series matchup between that season's batting champions. This time Wagner played incredibly, batting .333 with 6 RBI and 6 stolen bases, a record at the time, as the Pirates won in 7 games.

By 1912, Wagner was the oldest player in the league, and he began to hit the major milestones. In 1914 he reached 3000 hits, the second player to do so, after Cap Anson, and just before Nap Lajoie. The next year, he became the oldest player ever to hit a grand slam, a record which stood for 70 years, and the next year became the oldest ever to hit an inside-the-park home run.

When the Hall of Fame was created in 1936, Wagner was one of the first 5 players elected, along with Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Christy Mathewson, and Walter Johnson, finishing behind only Cobb in the voting. His career batting average of .328 was incredible for a player in the dead ball era, he is still #9 in doubles and #3 in triples for his career, and #10 in stolen bases.

Perhaps most incredible of all, he led all players in the decade of the 1900's in runs, hits, doubles, total bases, RBI, stolen bases, batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage, leaving no doubt as to the identity of the best player of the decade, and he absolutely belongs this high on the list of the greatest players to ever play the game.