Honus Wagner in 1915
More than 50 years after arriving in Pittsburgh from Louisville, Hall of Famer Honus Wagner finally retires from the team 73 years ago today.
Wagner is a week shy of his 78th birthday when he retires on this day in 1952.
He begins his stay in Pittsburgh as a 26-year-old outfielder in 1900 before becoming the Pirates’ full-time shortstop in 1903.
He ends up winning eight batting titles for the Pirates with 3,420 career hits, 723 stolen bases and a .328 batting average before retiring after the 1917 season as a player.
Honus Wagner in 1952
Wagner then begins a second career as a beloved coach with the Pirates, a tenure that ends just before the start of the 1952 season.
Historian extraordinaire Bill James later ranks Wagner second behind only Babe Ruth on his list of the game’s all-time best players with Willie Mays, Oscar Charleston and Ty Cobb rounding out the top five.
“He was a gentle, kind mind,” James says of Wagner, “a storyteller, supportive of rookies, patient with the fans, cheerful in hard times, careful of the example he set for youth, a hard worker, a man who had no enemies and who never forgot his friends. He was the most beloved man in baseball before (Babe) Ruth.”