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Pittsburgh PA: Northside - Honus Wagner Statue
Outside the homeplate entrance to PNC Park. The sculpture by Pittsburgh's Frank Vittor was originally placed outside the brick left field wall at Forbes Field in 1955. Honus has since been moved to Three Rivers Stadium, then to PNC Park, where he looks in the direction of his original North Side Pittsburgh playing field - Exposition Park. Johannes Peter "Honus" Wagner was born on February 24, 1874 in Chartiers, Pa. and died on December 6, 1955 in Carnegie, Pa. At age 12 he left school to help his father and brothers in the coal mine. After a try at barbering, he became successful in professional baseball. Nicknamed "The Flying Dutchman" due to his superb speed and German heritage, Honus was an American Major League Baseball shortstop who played in the National League from 1897 to 1917, almost entirely for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
In 1936, the Baseball Hall of Fame inducted Wagner as one of the first five members, receiving the second-highest vote total behind Ty Cobb and tied with Babe Ruth. Although Cobb is frequently cited as the greatest player of the dead-ball era, some contemporaries regarded Wagner as the better all-around player, and most baseball historians consider Wagner to be the greatest shortstop ever. Cobb himself called Wagner "maybe the greatest star ever to take the diamond." (paraphrased from Wikipedia)
Pittsburgh PA: Northside - Honus Wagner Statue
Outside the homeplate entrance to PNC Park. The sculpture by Pittsburgh's Frank Vittor was originally placed outside the brick left field wall at Forbes Field in 1955. Honus has since been moved to Three Rivers Stadium, then to PNC Park, where he looks in the direction of his original North Side Pittsburgh playing field - Exposition Park. Johannes Peter "Honus" Wagner was born on February 24, 1874 in Chartiers, Pa. and died on December 6, 1955 in Carnegie, Pa. At age 12 he left school to help his father and brothers in the coal mine. After a try at barbering, he became successful in professional baseball. Nicknamed "The Flying Dutchman" due to his superb speed and German heritage, Honus was an American Major League Baseball shortstop who played in the National League from 1897 to 1917, almost entirely for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
In 1936, the Baseball Hall of Fame inducted Wagner as one of the first five members, receiving the second-highest vote total behind Ty Cobb and tied with Babe Ruth. Although Cobb is frequently cited as the greatest player of the dead-ball era, some contemporaries regarded Wagner as the better all-around player, and most baseball historians consider Wagner to be the greatest shortstop ever. Cobb himself called Wagner "maybe the greatest star ever to take the diamond." (paraphrased from Wikipedia)