Honus Wagner: The Life of Baseball's "Flying Dutchman" [Paperback]

Arthur D. Hittner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2003

Regarded by many of his contemporaries as the greatest baseball player of all time, John Peter "Honus" Wagner enjoyed a remarkable career with the Pittsburgh Pirates. His record of 17 consecutive .300-plus seasons is a mark that will probably never be broken. He led the National League eight times in hitting, six times in slugging percentage and five times in stolen bases. Known as the Flying Dutchman, he also excelled in the field, defining the shortstop position for a generation.

Though one of the original inductees in the Baseball Hall of Fame, he has often been overlooked by baseball fans and historians. A humble man whose biggest passions were hunting and fishing, the Pirate shortstop lacked the flamboyance of a Ty Cobb or Babe Ruth. He rarely smoked or drank, though sometimes he indulged in a sandlot game with the neighborhood kids. Based on contemporary newspaper accounts, family scrapbooks and correspondence, and Wagner’s own vestpocket notebooks, this is the story of baseball’s first superstar.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Today known simply as the man on the most expensive baseball card, Wagner was one of baseball's true elite. Hittner, part owner of a minor league franchise, makes use of a wide variety of sources in telling Wagner's story. Recommended for medium and large public libraries. [Look for another biography of Wagner from Dennis DeValeria and Jeanne Burke DeValeria in April from Holt.-Ed.]
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"exhaustive" -- USA Today Sports Weekly

"exhaustively researched, thoroughly detailed" -- Baseball America

"recommended" -- Library Journal

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Mcfarland & Co Inc Pub (October 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786418117
• ISBN-13: 978-0786418114
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,026,495 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Book thoroughly portrays the legacy of a baseball hero, April 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Honus Wagner: The Life of Baseball's "Flying Dutchman" (Library Binding)

With detail and documentation Arthur D. Hitner offers insight into the life and times of Honus Wagner of the Pittsburgh Pirates, baseball's greatest shortstop.This book is academic and entertaining.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting - but for serious baseball fans only, January 8, 2008

By 

Utah Blaine (Somewhere on Trexalon in District 268) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Honus Wagner: The Life of Baseball's "Flying Dutchman" (Paperback)

I bought this book because I'm a baseball fan (Pirates and Red Sox) and decided to learn more about Honus Wagner, one of the greatest players who every played the game. This book isn't quite what I expected. The short 5-star reviews of this book significantly overrate it in my opinion. After reading through it, I realize that surprisingly little is actually known about Wagner. This may well be, in large part, due to his quiet personality off the field. About 1/3 of this book is dedicated to Wagner and his life as a ballplayer, about 1/3 to the early history of the Pittsburgh Pirates, and 1/3 to the early history of baseball in general.

There are several reasons that I only give this book only three stars. First, the vast majority of the book discusses each baseball season. Each chapter corresponds to roughly one season of Wagner's career. There really isn't a great deal about Wagner as a person. It is written as if the author was going through the newspaper clippings for each series throughout the year and summarizes the interesting events. Wagner's contributions (both positive and negative) are highlighted, as well as the Pirates place in the standings, and the goings on of the other teams (particularly the best teams like the Giants and Cubs). I found this narrative style to be very dry, and it is likely to appeal only to really hardcore baseball fanatics. Second, beyond the box score exploits, there isn't a great deal of info about Wagner. I learned that he was shy, loved to fish and hunt, his family immigrated to the US from Germany, he lived in Carnegie, PA, he loved cars, and that is largely it. This is no criticism of the author, I just get the impression that there really isn't much known about Wagner. Third, at nearly $30 for a paperback, I can't recommend this to any but the most serious fans. Most people aren't going to be returning to this again and again.

Bottom line - there is a lot of info in this book about Wagner's exploits on the field and the dead-ball era of baseball more generally, but this is only a book for the most serious students of the history of the game. I learned a great deal from this book and am happy that I read it, but I would recommend to others with caution.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best Honus Wagner book, September 27, 2005

By 

Snap, Crackle and Pop (United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Honus Wagner: The Life of Baseball's "Flying Dutchman" (Paperback)

There are a few books around about Honus Wagner - this is the one to get.

Read a detailed review of this Seymour Award winning book at haroldseymour.com. Or copy and paste the name of the book and "Review" into Google to find it.

Also, be sure to click on the Editorial Reviews link above. There are lots of positive comments there, and it's easy to miss.