The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-08-16
WAGNER APUzzLE.
Will He Bat $50 This Season Is
Baseball Question.
Recent SWatting Indicates Early
Slump Was Temporary.
PITTSBURG NOW SLOW.
Pirates Think Germans Bat
ting Recovery Important
Some Notes Of Interest About
300 and Over" Glass.
PITTSBURG NOW SLOW

Pittsburg. Aug. 1s.-Baseball fans
throughout the country probably are
more interested in Hans Wagner's bat
ting average than in any one feature
of the national game outside the
standing of their own club.
This year the mighty Pittsburg
Dutchman has been disappointing
them woefully. Usually at the top
of the column with about $50 to his
credit. he stood for a long time a
full hundred points lower and only
recently has he climbed toward the
800 mark.
The question has been, is Hans
through or is he in a temporary
slump? His recent games indicate
that the latter has been the case, but
he really is again becoming the bat
ting demon of yore.
Hans has slumped before in his
long career, but not in the memory
of the oldest fan did he go SO far
into the season before showing a flash
of his old gait. Away back in 1897
Mr.. Wagner walloped his way into
the 300 class with an average of .344,
and just to prove that there was no
error about it, Hans has been hitting
over 300 ever since, feat beaten by
only two men in the history of the
mayor leagues, ana II may D0 SdlQ IOT
Wagner that neither Arson nor
Brothers, who turned the trick,
worked against the pitchers of the
present day, or tried to hit a splitter"
out of the lot.
Cap. Arson "Came Back"
Old Cap. Arson dropped into the
".300-and-over" class for 10 years
straight, beginning with 1876 and
winding up with 1890. Then old Cap.
lost his oar for two years and came
back with five straight seasons, hit
ting above 300. Dan Brothers, the
other great hitting first baseman,
scored for IA years without a break,
beginning in 1881 and closing his phe-
nomenal streak in 1894. The pitcher
did not have so many aces on the
deck in those days, and 300 hitters
were not such rare birds as they are
today. That is why Hans deserves to
rank as the greatest hitter of the
period of his service.
Wee Willie Keeler, with his place
singles over the infield, ties Wagner
with 10 years in the 300 class, but
the thirteenth year finished Wee
William, while for the last two years
of his tenure he barely scraped
through. Arson worked against MOTH
ing but round-house curves and
speed in a day when the batter had
some chance for his life. His grand
average for his Is consecutive years
was 1851, while Dan Brothers., his
rival, who happened along five years
later, tore into the 800 class In Il
consecutive years amassed an average
of 1852, just notching out of the
worId-renowned Cap. Keeler, the other
one of the everlasting 800 hitters,
hung up an average of 1853, was once
over 400 and twice in the 800 class,
which helped him out when in 1905
and 1906 he hit 1902 and .304.
WAGNER OutIaStS Keller.
Wagner came along three years
after Keeler and has outlasted him as
a 300 hitter for the same number or
years and, while the other men all got
above 400 at some time in their
careers, Wagner never reached that
lofty eminence. but nevertheless is
there with an average of .348 for his
thirteen years. These tiresome figures
out of the system, we will turn back
to the query. whats ailing Hans?"
The Pittsburg boosters say 1t is
slump. What Hans has to say can't
be printed, and the opposing pitchers,
taking heart after long years of bonn
bardment, state that Hans is all
through. One well-known spitbal pro-
fessor-won't mention his club-says
that Wagner's eye has gone back on
him.
eff that Dutchman gets above, 300
this year I'll eat him." says this per-
son. you remember last year he had
an awful slump, but he rounded TO IN.
time and finished hitting a-plenty.
That was because the Pirates were all
hitting, more or less, and when club
is pasting every finger who comes
along, it is easy for almost anybody
to step up and bang one out of the
lot. A pitcher who is getting his medi-
! cine is generally pretty soft, and we
were all getting ours last season from
the PiraLes. This year it's different
Pittsburg isn't going any too strong,
and Mr. Wagner fell out of his canoe
early in the season and hasn't got back
yet.
IF this big wide German does not
recover his batting eye and come
again he will rob the game of one of
its most valuable drawing cards.
There are thousands of people all over
the circuit who turn out to watch the
Pirates play ball because they like to
see Wagner stand up at the plate and
whang the ball to the fence. The
clubs are hustling down the back
stretch now. If Hans Wagner expects
to tie Dan Brothers with a 1-year-
run in the 800 class he would do well
to whet up that eagle eye of his and
begin to commence. And what would
the Pirate infield be without Hans
Wagner"
ANTE,RTf.AN ACCO(TATrON