Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-12-06
Honus Wagner Dies at 81
Greatest of Shortstops

Pirates granted him a pension
and permanently retired his No
SO uniform.
A shy, retiring fellow In his
playing days, Wagner said II
was three years before a major
Lacquer spoke to him.
I'm covering third for Louis
willie back in 1897 when Joe Gore,
lleftflelder for the Giants. wal
Ilops his second home rum" Wag-
Ener said. "As he passes third
base says nice hit and Gore,
The yells back Go to hell That
was the first time any big league
player ever spoke to me on the
diamond"
Those were rugged days. wag-
ner had been with Louisville as
"a rookie only a few days. but al
ready had shown he could run
with the swiftest. for all his ap-
parent awkwardness.
Wagner dashed a seemingly
certain triple to right against the
fabulous and rough Baltimore
Orioles. Jack Doyle gave Hans
the hip as he chugged around
first base, The impact nearly
sent Wagner sprawling. Hughey
Jennings. Baltimore's shortstop,
planted himself just wide Of the
basepath near second. This kept
Wagner from circling to make
his turn and, before he could
square away for third. his
|straight-ahead momentum had
carried him far out toward left
field.
When the putting Wagner A.
|nally came charging into third
base. John McGraw jammed the
ball so hard into his teeth that
Hans came UP splitting blood.
Rookie Gets Even
Fred Clarke, Louisville man
ager. was raging when the sheep
ish rookie returned to the bench,
still dazed from the collision.
Are you going to stand there
like a dummy and take that?"
Clarke beloved. Wagner, a man
of few words until he travelled
the banquet circuit years later,
hung his head and didn't reply.
But he remembered.
The next day Wagner drilled
another hit to rightfleld. Doyle
again edged toward first base.
Wagner lowered his shoulder
and sent the Baltimore first
baseman into the dirt as he
roared past. Jennings once again
ambled into Wagner's path at
second base. Wagner simply
headed straight for him-and
Jennings gave ground. McGraw
set himself for the throw at
third base. The ball and Wag-
ner arrived simultaneously-and
McGraw caught only Hans, right
in the middle. BY the time Nc
|Graw recovered, Wagner had
logged across the plate.
The word spread quickly:
Don't trifie with the quiet
|Dutchman."
Topped Cobb in Series
The American League learned
the same lesson in the 1909
World Series, which brought
Wagner to grips with Ty Cobb
for the first and only time. From
first base in that series, won by
Pittsburgh four games to three,
Detroit's Cobb shouted to Wag-
ner at 'shortstop, Hey, Kraut-
head, I'm coming down. Get out
|of the way or I'll cut you to
pieces"
'Ill be waiting" Wagner re-
piled. softly.
Cobb came as promised and
hit the dirt with spikes flying
high. Wagner reached out,
stabbed the catcher's throw
while lodging Cobb's spikes, and
damned the ball into Ty's ribs.
Cobb was out, and he didn't get
to his feet too quickly.
Wagner completely outplayed
Cobb in that Series, batting 1888
and stealing six bases. Cobb was
held to a .231 average and stole
two bases.
Wagner was in the first group
Of five players to be elected to
the Hall Of Fame. along with
Cobb, Walter johnson. Babe
Ruth and Christy Mathewson.
He was responsible for adop-
ton of a rule change defining
the batter's box. He was a free
swinging hitter who, like Cobb.
gripped the bat with hands held
about two inches apart. Wagner
hit with equal power to all fields.
It was virtually impossible to
walk him, for he chased-andI
hit-wide and inside pitches.