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1914 Federal League Chi-Feds
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Honus Wagner Photo Gallery
Baseball History Comes Alive Celebrates Its Tenth Anniversary!
This week marks the tenth anniversary of Baseball History Comes Alive. I’d like to thank all our loyal followers, especially those who have been with me from the beginning.
Since I self-built the site and launched it on January 20, 2016, BHCA has enjoyed over 1.3 million hits. There are over 1600 baseball history articles and essays on the site, most accompanied by extensive photo galleries. All the articles are fully categorized for easy access. Baseball History Comes Alive is ranked by Feed Spot as one of the top five baseball history blogs on the internet.
To celebrate the happy occasion, here’s a repost of my very first essay, posted on January 20, 2016, along with a nice photo gallery highlighting the life and career of the great “Flying Dutchman”:
Honus Wagner Gives Batting Tips To Two Young Pirate “Whippersnappers”!
“Bowlegged, barrel-chested, long-limbed… he was often likened to an octopus. When he fielded grounders, his huge hands also collected large scoops of infield dirt, which accompanied his throws to first like the tail of a comet.” –From the Honus Wagner biography on BaseballLibrary.com
Recognize the “Old-Timer” on the right? I’m sure you do…it’s none other than the great Honus Wagner in one of his many seasons as a Pirates’ coach. Not sure of the exact year, but it’s probably from about 1942-46. He’s giving batting tips to a couple of young Pirate “whippersnappers.” On the left is Jim Russell, who played for the Bucs from 1942-51; and on the right is Frank Colman, a Pirate from 1942-46.
Here are a few words about the career of the great Honus Wagner:
“The Flying Dutchman” played 21 seasons in the major leagues (1897 to 1917). He started with Louisville (1897-1899) and then the rest of his career was with the Pirates (1900-1917). Wagner managed the Pirates in 1917 and then became a coach for 39 years. He was the hitting coach from 1933-1951. Arky Vaughan, Ralph Kiner, Pie Traynor (player-manager from 1934–1939), all future Hall of Famers, were some of the notable “pupils” of Wagner.
Over his Hall-of-Fame career, Wagner hit .329, with 3400 hits (7th all-time), 101 home runs, 1732 RBIs (21st all-time), 722 stolen bases (10th all-time), .391 on-base percentage, and .467 slugging average. He won eight batting titles (tied for the most in National League history with Tony Gwynn). He was a five-time National League RBI leader, a five-time stolen base leader, a six-time slugging leader, and was the star of four Pirates pennant-winning teams (1901, ’02, ’03, ’09) and the 1909 World Series champions.
Honus Wagner’s number 33 has been retired by the Pirates. He was selected to both the major league All-Century team and the All-Time team. In 1936, the Baseball Hall of Fame inducted Wagner as one of the first five members. He received the second-highest vote total, behind Ty Cobb and tied with Babe Ruth.
There has always been much debate as to who was the better player, Cobb or Wagner. Cobb is frequently cited as the greatest player of the Dead Ball Era, but many of their contemporaries regarded Wagner as the better all-around player, and many baseball historians consider Wagner to be the greatest shortstop ever. Cobb himself called Wagner “maybe the greatest star ever to take the diamond.”
Gary Livacari
Photo Credits: All from Google search
Stats from Baseball-Reference.com
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Congratulations on ten years of your “second career.” I really enjoy the material you post and appreciate your outstanding research and writing. Best to you for another 10.
Thanks a lot Jay…greatly appreciated!
Congratulations Gary. Ten years is a long time doing this. It is a terrific accomplishment. Despite being a real baseball historian myself, I still learn things from the stories and it often results in me doing some follow-up research on SABR sites or baseball-reference.
Thanks Len…greatly appreciate the kind words! Glad to have you with us.
Gary — Thanks for providing joy throughout the year with the well researched, enjoyable and often humorous articles chronicled on this wonderful website. Cannot imagine how many hours you spend following your passion but I am among the many who are thankful for your tireless efforts.
Thanks for the kind words, Phil!
Happy Anniversary !!!!! May there by many more to come.
Thanks Vince!
Congratulations, Gary, on ten successful years of sharing your passion for baseball history through your amazing website, and for being so generous with your writing of wonderful articles that have brought so much enjoyment to so many. Wishing you many more years of continued success.