Ebook Notable Sports Figures 4: Part 2

W Honus Wagner 1874-1955 American baseball player onsidered by many baseball experts the greatest shortstop of all time, Honus Wagner was one of the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s five original inductees in 1936. Among his fellow inductees were Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth. At first glance, Wagner looked somewhat ungainly and awkward. Stocky, barrel-chested, and bow-legged, he nevertheless exhibited great speed, which, in tandem with his heritage, earned him the nickname of “The Flying Dutchman.” Wagner compiled a lifetime batting average of .326 and managed to top .300 for an incredible fifteen consecutive seasons. John McGraw, the legendary manag-er of the New York Giants for more than thirty seasons, said of Wagner: “While Wagner was the greatest shortstop, I believe he could have been the number one player at any position he might have selected. That’s why I vote him baseball’s foremost all-time player.” Born in Western Pennsylvania Wagner was born in Mansfield, Pennsylvania, on February 24, 1874, one of nine children born to Peter and Katheryn (Wolf) Wagner, who had immigrated to western Pennsylvania from Germany’s Bavaria in 1866. Big, clumsy, and bowlegged from birth, Wagner was called Honus (a German term often applied to awkward children) by his family. He also acquired the nickname “Dutch,” a corruption of “Deutsch,” the German word for German, and fairly common in this heavily German-settled region of Pennsylvania. Wagner was raised in Chartiers, Pennsylvania, not far from Mansfield. The two towns, close to Pittsburgh, were eventually merged and renamed Carnegie. His father worked in the mines, where twelve-year-old Honus joined him in 1886. Young Wagner labored in the mines during the day, but most evenings and Sunday afternoons found him playing sandlot baseball with his brothers and neigh-bors. By the time he entered the mines, Wagner had al-ready acquired star status on his neighborhood team, the Oregons. His older brother, Albert, was thought by many in the area to be the better ballplayer, but Al never Honus Wagner really took the game seriously. He did, however, recog-nize Honus’s potential and encouraged his younger brother to learn every playing position. In time, the brothers graduated from sandlot play to positions on area church and company teams, often earning up to five dollars a week in pay and tips. Honus and brother Al began playing semiprofessional baseball in 1894 for Mansfield, a member of the Alleghe-ny League. The following year the Wagner brothers jumped to the Carnegie Athletic Club and in 1895 joined the Steubenville, Ohio, team, part of the newly formed Inter-State League. In his first game for Steubenville, Honus hit a home run. Not long thereafter, Honus Wagn-er was signed by manager Ed Barrow to play for Pater-son (New Jersey) in the Atlantic League. Older brother Al meanwhile went north of the border to play for a team in Toronto. So impressive was the younger Wagner’s per- 1695 Wagner Chronology Notable Sports Figures Awards and Accomplishments 1874 Born in Mansfield, Pennsylvania, on February 24 1886 Begins work in the coal mines at the age of 12 1894 Plays with older brother Al for Mansfield in the semipro Allegheny League 1895 Breaks into professional baseball, playing for Steubenville (OH) in Inter-State League 1896 Signs to play first base for Paterson (NJ) in the Atlantic League 1897 Makes major league debut playing center field for Louisville on July 19 1900 Joins Pittsburgh Pirates after Louisville folds 1901 Begins playing shortstop, position for which he would become famous 1909 Leads Pirates to victory over the Detroit Tigers and Ty Cobb in the World Series 1916 Marries Bessie Baine Smith 1928 Loses electoral race for Allegheny County Sheriff 1896 1897 1898 1901 1903 1904-11 1907 1909 1917 1936 Batted .348 for Paterson (NJ) in Atlantic League Compiled batting average of .338 during his first season in the major leagues First of eight National League batting championships with .381 average Led National League in doubles and runs batted in Led Pirates to National League championship with .355 batting average Acclaimed best player in the National League Batting average of .350 tops league average by 107 points Pirates win World Series over the Detroit Tigers Retired from Pirates with all-time records for games, at-bats, hits, runs, stolen bases, and total bases Inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame 1933 Becomes a coach for the Pittsburgh Pirates 1942 Appointed deputy country sheriff 1955 Dies in Carnegie, Pennsylvania, on December 6 nine series in 1903, Pittsburgh faced off against Boston of the American League. It was not Wagner’s finest moment, however, and he batted only .222 during the series. Boston took the series, five games to three. formance for Paterson that he soon became the object of a bidding war between a number of major league base-ball clubs. Louisville eventually took the prize, paying Paterson $2,100 for the rights to sign Wagner. Breaks Into Major Leagues On July 19, 1897, Wagner made his major league debut for the Louisville Nationals, playing center field, and occasionally filling in at second base. In the sixty-one games he played for Louisville in 1897, Wagner compiled a batting average of .338. His batting average slipped a bit in 1898, falling to .299, but Wagner proved his versatility, playing first, second, and third base. His batting average bounced back in 1899, when he hit .336. However, at the end of the season the Louisville team disbanded, and Wagner, along with his close friend Fred Clarke, signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Clarke played left field for the Pirates and also managed. In 1900, Wagner won the first of eight batting championships with an impressive batting average of .381. Happy to be playing near his hometown, Wagner resisted tempting offers from American League teams to lure him away from Pittsburgh. Wagner in 1901 began playing shortstop, the position for which he became best known. He also led the National League in doubles and runs batted in with an average of .353 and won the first of five stolen-base titles. His un-gainly appearance was deceptive, for as awkward as he looked,Wagner could turn on the speed when it was need-ed. He established a career record of 722 stolen bases, a record that stood until it was eventually broken by Ty Cobb. The Pittsburgh Pirates, thanks in large part to Wagn-er’s superlative batting, was the strongest club in the early days of the National League, finishing first in 1901, 1902, 1903, and 1909. In the very first World Series, a best-of- Despite his less-than-stellar performance in the first World Series, Wagner led the National League as its best player for the next eight seasons, his batting average never dipping below .320. He acquired a reputation as one of the game’s best bad-ball hitters, and this in an era when the rules allowed pitchers to hurl spitballs and bat-tered, muddy balls usually stayed in the game for lack of replacements. In the World Series of 1909, the thirty-five-year-old Wagner and the Pirates faced off against the Detroit Tigers and their twenty-two-year-old wun-derkind, Ty Cobb. The Pirates took the series, and Wag-ner outbatted Cobb .333 to .231. Retires from the Pirates in 1917 Wagner played for the Pirates until 1917, when he was forty-three years old. In the latter years of his base-ball career, he struggled against the effects of aging and multiple injuries but still managed to perform impres-sively. He last compiled a batting average of .300 or bet-ter during the 1913 season, although his average never dropped lower than .252 in his remaining years of play. In 1916, Wagner married Bessie Baine Smith, the daughter of another professional baseball player. The couple had two daughters, Betty and Virginia. After his retirement from the Pirates, Wagner continued to play semiprofessional ball in the Pittsburgh area until he was well past fifty. His one run for political office—the sher-iff of Allegheny County—in 1928 ended in failure, but in 1942 he was appointed deputy county sheriff. In be-tween, he served briefly as sergeant-at-arms in the Penn-sylvania legislature. He also returned to professional baseball in 1933, this time as a coach for the Pirates. In 1936,Wagner, along with Ty Cobb,Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, and Babe Ruth, were the first players to be inducted into the newly opened National Baseball Hall of Fame. In 1955 Wagner, by then eighty-one years 1696 Notable Sports Figures Wagner Career Statistics Yr Team 1897 LOU 1898 LOU 1899 LOU 1900 PIT 1901 PIT 1902 PIT 1903 PIT 1904 PIT 1905 PIT 1906 PIT 1907 PIT 1908 PIT 1909 PIT 1910 PIT 1911 PIT 1912 PIT 1913 PIT 1914 PIT 1915 PIT 1916 PIT 1917 PIT TOTAL Avg GP AB R H .338 61 237 37 80 .299 151 588 80 176 .336 147 571 98 192 .381 135 527 107 201 .353 140 549 101 194 .330 136 534 105 176 .355 129 512 97 182 .349 132 490 97 171 .363 147 548 114 199 .339 142 516 103 175 .350 142 515 98 180 .354 151 568 100 201 .339 137 495 92 168 .320 150 556 90 178 .334 130 473 87 158 .324 145 558 91 181 .300 114 413 51 124 .252 150 552 60 139 .274 156 566 68 155 .287 123 432 45 124 .265 74 230 15 61 .326 2792 10430 1736 3415 HR RBI 2 39 10 105 7 113 4 100 6 126 3 91 5 101 4 75 6 101 2 71 6 82 10 109 5 100 4 81 9 89 7 102 3 56 1 50 6 78 1 39 0 24 101 1732 BB SO SB E 15 NA 19 16 31 NA 27 43 40 NA 37 28 41 NA 38 13 53 NA 49 48 43 NA 42 32 44 NA 46 52 59 NA 53 51 54 NA 57 60 58 NA 53 52 46 NA 61 49 54 NA 53 50 66 NA 35 49 59 47 24 52 67 34 20 47 59 38 26 32 26 40 21 24 51 51 23 43 39 64 22 38 34 36 11 35 24 17 5 10 963 327 722 824 LOU: Louisville Nationals; PIT: Pittsburgh Pirates. old, attended the unveiling of a statue in his honor at the Pirates’ Forbes Field. (The statue was later relocated to Three Rivers Stadium.) Later that year, on December 6, he died at his home in Carnegie, Pennsylvania. One of the most dynamic forces in baseball, Wagner was active in professional ball for nearly forty years, more than thirty-five of which were spent with the Pittsburgh Pi-rates, first as a player and later as a coach and manager. One of his greatest admirers throughout his baseball career was John J. McGraw, the longtime manager of the New York Giants. According to McGraw, Wagner had a “sixth sense of baseball” when it came to defense, knowing just where to play certain batters on certain pitches. In perhaps his highest tribute to Wagner, McGraw once observed: “Wagner is a whole team in himself.” FURTHER INFORMATION Books American Decades CD-ROM. Detroit: Gale Group, 1998. Dictionary of American Biography, Supplement 5: 1951- 1955.American Council of Learned Societies, 1977. Encyclopedia of World Biography Supplement. Volume 20. Detroit: Gale Group, 2000. Hageman, William. Honus: The Life and Times of a Baseball Hero. Champaign, IL: Sagamore Publish-ing, 1996. Hittner,Arthur D. Honus Wagner: The Life of Baseball’s “Flying Dutchman.” Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 1996. Periodicals Neff, Craig. “Scorecard: Honus or Bogus.” Sports Illus-trated (June 4, 1990): 15. “Saga.” Bulletin Index (September 7, 1939). Weir, Tom. “Top Shortstops Brought More Than Glove to Work: Honus Wagner Established Standard with Success at Plate, on Basepaths.” USA Today (August 27, 1999): 6C. Other “Clarke, Fred C.” HickockSports.com. http://www. hickocksports.com/biograph/clarkefr.shtml (October 15, 2002). “Fred Clarke.” National Baseball Hall of Fame. http:// www.baseballhalloffame.org/hofers_and_honorees/ hofer_bios/Clarke_Fred.htm (October 15, 2002). “Honus Wagner.” Baseball Almanac. http://www. baseball-almanac.com/players/p_wagner0.shtml (Oc-tober 15, 2002). “Honus Wagner: Career Batting Statistics.” CNN/Sports Illustrated. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/ mlb/stats/alltime/player/batting/12792.html (October 14, 2002). “Honus Wagner.” http://members.aol.com/stealth792/ wagner/wagner.html (October 14, 2002). “Honus Wagner.” National Baseball Hall of Fame. http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/hofers_and_ honorees/hofer_bios/wagner_honus.htm (October 14, 2002). 1697 Wagner Notable Sports Figures “Player Pages: Honus Wagner.” The Baseball Page. com. http://www.thebaseballpage.com/past/pp/ wagnershonus/default.htm (October 15, 2002). Sketch by Don Amerman Grete Waitz 1953- Norwegian marathon runner istance runner Grete Waitz has set world records in the 3,000 meter, 8 kilometer, 10 kilometer, 15 kilo- meter, 10 mile, and the marathon. She was the first woman to run a marathon in under 2 hours and 30 min-utes, and the first female world champion in the marathon. She has won the New York City Marathon nine times. A Norwegian Tradition Born Grete Andersen in Oslo, Norway in 1953, Waitz grew up with the Norwegian tradition of exercise and outdoor activity. Norwegians customarily hike during the summer and cross-country ski in the winter, as well as engaging in other sports; she told Michael Sandrock in Running with the Legends that Norway is “a sports heaven.” Waitz loved to run, and her two older brothers, Jan and Arild, encouraged her and included her in their games with other boys. Waitz’s mother thought their games were too rough for her and bought her a piano, but she preferred running to playing it. When she went on errands to the grocery store, she timed herself to see how fast she could get there and back, and on the way she raced cars and buses. When she played cops and robbers with other children, none of them could catch her. By the time she was 12, she had participated in hand-ball, gymnastics, and track, but she loved running most of all. She joined the Vidar Sports Club in Oslo, at the encouragement of her neighbor, Terje Pedersen, who was a world record holder. At the club, she participated in the high jump, long jump, and shot put, winning her first prize, a silver spoon, in a ball-throwing contest. Although she did not do well in short races of 60 or 80 meters, she did better at distances of 300 meters or longer, and began training for the 400 and 800 meters. She also began mak-ing longer runs of 6 miles, keeping up with the boys. Waitz often got up before dawn to run, a practice she continued throughout her running life. In 1969, when she was 16, she won the Norwegian junior champi- Grete Waitz onships in the 400 and 800 meters. In 1971, she won the Norwegian open 800 and 1,500 meters, and set a Euro-pean junior record of 4:17.0 in the 1,500. Although Waitz also ran at the Helsinki European Championships in 1971, she did not qualify for the 1,500. According to Sandrock, she later said, “I was disappointed, perplexed, angry, and only 17 years old.… My bitterness fed my desire to excel. Just as with my parents, this denial of support strengthened my determination.” In 1972, when Waitz was 18, she experienced a tragedy—her boyfriend and coach became ill and died. Waitz stopped eating and running, but her teammates from the track club helped her through the difficult time and encouraged her to use her running and training to help heal her grief. Competes in 1972 Olympics In First Marathons, Waitz commented, “My two older brothers set a wonderful example for me and since we were always in friendly sibling competition with one another and I tended to follow their training habits, other girls found me tough to bear. That’s probably one of the reasons I made the 1972 Olympic team at 18 years old.” Waitz competed in the 1,500 meters in the 1972 Mu-nich Olympics. Although she did not expect to win a medal, she enjoyed the experience and had fun with her friends on the team. She ran a personal best of 4:16 in the 1,500 meters, but the competition was so talented 1698 Notable Sports Figures Chronology Waitz Cool Controlled Grace 1953 Born in Oslo, Norway 1965 Joins Vidar Sports Club and participates in track and field 1969 Wins first national competition 1972 Competes in Olympic Games 1975 Marries Jack Waitz 1976 Competes in Olympic Games 1978 Wins the first of nine New York City Marathons 1979 Quits her teaching job to run full-time 1984 Competes in Olympic Games, wins silver medal in the marathon 1990 Retires from competition, becomes advocate of women’s sports “I knew I was out of my league and hadn’t trained properly. Finally, exhausted and hurting, I crossed the finish line. Immediately, I was swarmed by the media, pushing microphones and cameras in my face. I didn’t understand what they were saying and tried to run away from them.... I had no idea that I had set a course and world record.” Source: Waitz, Greta, First Marathons, edited by Gail Waesche Kislevitz, Breakaway Books, 1999. that she did not make it into the final competition. How-ever, she realized that she could eventually become a great runner if she continued to train. In that same year, Waitz began studying at a teacher’s college in Oslo, fitting her training into the early hours before school. In 1974, she won a bronze medal in the 1,500 meters at the European Championships, and was named Norwegian Athlete of the Year. As Waitz matured, she began running longer dis-tances, and in 1975, set a world record in the 3,000 me-ters. It was only the second time she had raced that distance. In that same year, she was ranked No. 1 in the world in the 1,500 meters and 3,000 meters. Competes in 1976 Olympics In 1976, Waitz returned to the Olympics, but this time she knew what to expect and trained more serious-ly. In fact, she had not missed a day of training for more than two years, and she was expected to win a medal. However, there was no women’s 3,000-meter race, and she had to enter the 1,500 meters, the farthest distance women were allowed to run in the Olympics at the time. Although she made it to the semifinals, she placed eighth—not good enough to make it to the finals, even though she had set a personal best and Scandinavian record in the 1,500. Waitz was attacked in the Norwegian press, and she became angry: she had trained twice a day for two years, despite having a full-time job as a teacher and spending two hours each day commuting to her work. According to Sandrock, she said, “I became a victim of the Norwegian expression, ‘A silver medal is a defeat’— if you don’t win, you lose.” In 1977, Waitz decided in the future to run without the support of the Norwegian Federation scholarship. Waitz won world cross-country titles in 1978, 1979, 1981, and 1983. During this time, she worked as a schoolteacher, training during her time off. In the winter, she switched to cross-country skiing, which kept her in shape while giving her legs a break from running. At one point, according to Sandrock, she was running dur-ing the winter but could find only a quarter-mile of plowed road to run on. Resolutely, she ran back and forth on it for eight miles. Wins New York City Marathon In 1978, Waitz was considering retiring, but her hus-band convinced her to try running a marathon. Waitz was reluctant at first, but eventually called the New York City Road Runners Club to get an invitation to run the event. She was turned down. Although she was a champion, she had never run the 26.2-mile distance. Waitz was disap-pointed, mainly because she and her husband, Jack Waitz, were hoping to have a vacation in New York but could not afford to go unless they were sponsored by the club. However, soon after this, Fred Lebow, president of the club, called with an offer. He suggested that she run as a “rabbit,” setting a fast pace for the elite women, She would not be expected to run fast for the entire distance, but only for a portion of the course. Up to that point, the farthest Waitz had ever run was 12 miles, less than half the marathon distance. She had no idea what to expect, so when the race began, she went out fast. By the 19th mile, she began to tire, and she had lost track of how much farther she had to run because she was used to reading distances in kilometers, not miles. Nevertheless, she continued to run. Like everyone who runs the New York City marathon, she looked desperately for any sign that she was close to Central Park, where the finish line was. Each patch of trees in the distance gave her hope, then despair when it turned out not to be the park. Finally, she reached the finish line. She had regis-tered so late that her bib number was not listed in the of-ficial guide to the runners, and no one knew who she was. When Fred Lebow asked who had won, all anyone could tell him was “Some blond girl,” according to Peter Gambaccini in Runner’s World. Mobbed by reporters, she had no idea that she had won. In addition, she had set a new women’s world record for the distance with a time of 2:32.30, two minutes faster than the old record. Back home in Norway, Waitz returned to her teach-ing job, but her students had trouble comprehending how far she had run because they were not used to dis-tances expressed in miles. When she told them it was 42 kilometers, they still did not understand. Finally, accord- 1699 ... - tailieumienphi.vn