Evening journal., 1915-02-03
WAGNER NOT TEMPTED
BY Offers OF Cash
His Salary Is All That the
Star Ever Ac-
cepted
BACK ON FIRST
BASE THIS YEAR

John "Honus' Wagner. who is styl- !
ed the Grand Old Man" in baseball, !
is still some player and he will again !
be found with the Pirates the coming
season. He has always been a won !
derful player and last year was prob
ably the first season he did not hit
above the 300 mark. "Honus" at one
time was a member of the Paterson.
n j. team. in the old Atlantic league
and played at McGrann's park. Lam
caster. against the Red Roses, who
were then in that league. The Fly
I ing Dutchman" played first base and
/ shortstop at that time when he was
a good player, and he is booked to play
/ first base the coming season. He has
had a remarkable career, and James
Jerpe in the ST. Louis Sporting news,
/ gives the following account Of the ca
reer OF Wagner;
Hans Wagner is the one great base
ball star who never oommercialized
his greatness. None Of baseball's side
lines ever appealed TO him. He has
ignored dozens of attractive stage Of
fers, advertising concerns have vain
/ ly offered him big sums for the use OF
] li0 NuAbbldlH VT plNAhift ntM olaliA
syndicatcs and magazines have made
him the biggest kind of inducements
TO write for them, but the famous
Outchman has fatty ignored every
proposition where he may have added
many more thousands per annum to
| the $4,000 he has been getting from
Barney Dreyfuss for the past 10 years.
Despite his frugal nature and simple
mode of life, Honus never showed any
money mad tendencies. and he will
enter his forty-socond year on Febru-
airy "a, next about 100000 short OF
what he would have stored away had
/ he swallowed the hundreds of money
ed baits cast out TO him since he es-
tablishod his greatness, more than Is
years ago. What he has now In cash
automobiles and a few little proper
ties in his home town of Carnegie, rep
rcsents his earnings on the ball field
Not a penny has he ever made on the
side" though his face and his name
probably have been in greater demand
than those Of any other man in the
game.
Thrlftier stars like Mathewson,
Cobb, Collins. McGraw. Doom. Jen-
nings. Donlin, Tinker, Evers, Chance
and a lot Of others have fattoned in
comes through filing stage engage
ments writing" for newspapers aud
magazines. lending their names and
likonesses to advertising schemes and
pursuing other divergent paths strewn
with greenbacks. But not so with
the aging Honus. who for rs years
mas been the greatest individual earn
ing power Of the National League. His
rod and gun. the wild woods. streams
and country roads brought too much
Joy TO his simple. boyish nature for
: him to engage in any work on the side
i'm the OFF season.
Corduroys, jeans and homespun suf-
, feed for Honus. and he could always
wear his blue flannel shirt and wash
polka dot tie around the fashionable
hotels with the ease and grace OF n
dolled-up millionaire With lots o.
. money and thorough Willingness 10
spend It. the great exponent of the
> simple life could order ham and eggs
three times day at the Waldorf
Astoria with all the poise and sang
froid of any gentleman There never
has been a false move or frill to tht
= Dutchmans makeup and he is thC
I same carefrec boy in gorgeous envi
I, romment as he is when alone in The
= woods with his dogs.
y The patches of gray that began
showing on those Teutonic temple!
:, some years ago are whitening AS !
- shortstop he probably is through, hu
I, he Is still fast, tricky and good enough
to be depended on to fill the Pirat
first base job next year. Those Oft
cartooned curved limbs have been
hacked to pieces by flying steel in tn
past is years, but Honus himsel
thinks they are sound enough to car
N ry him through 100 or more games
s. year until about 1920
is For 10 years syndicate writer's hav
s. tried in vain to loosen Wagner
at tongue and make him talk and write
is for publication. He refused big offer
Y of cash with the remark:
10 - amt no writer and don't pre-
III tend to be, Reporters are paid for tina
kind of stuff and it's not a ball play
ers' job"
= Honus stood firm against cash of
, fers and guarantees of big dividend.
J But he had a weakness and one write
on the staff OF baseball publicatio
knew IT, When this man reache
n Carnegie recently for the talk tn
y Dutchman was as obdurate as eve
/, Finally the scribe drew forth a pack