About Me
The legend of The Flying Dutchman is said to have started in 1641 when a Dutch ship sank off the coast of the Cape of Good Hope:Captain van der Decken was pleased. The trip to the Far East had been highly successful and at last, they were on their way home to Holland. As the ship approached the tip of Africa, the captain thought that he should make a suggestion to the Dutch East India Company (his employers) to start a settlement at the Cape on the tip of Africa, thereby providing a welcome respite to ships at sea.
He was so deep in thought that he failed to notice the dark clouds looming and only when he heard the lookout scream out in terror, did he realise that they had sailed straight into a fierce storm. The captain and his crew battled for hours to get out of the storm and at one stage it looked like they would make it. Then they heard a sickening crunch - the ship had hit treacherous rocks and began to sink. As the ship plunged downwards, Captain VandeDecken knew that death was approaching. He was not ready to die and screamed out a curse: "I WILL round this Cape even if I have to keep sailing until doomsday!"So, even today whenever a storm brews off the Cape of Good Hope, if you look into the eye of the storm, you will be able to see the ship and its captain - The Flying Dutchman. Don't look too carefully, for the old folk claim that whoever sights the ship will die a terrible death.Many people have claimed to have seen The Flying Dutchman, including the crew of a German submarine boat during World War II and holidaymakers.On 11 July 1881, the Royal Navy ship, the Bacchante was rounding the tip of Africa, when they were confronted with the sight of The Flying Dutchman. The midshipman, a prince who later became King George V, recorded that the lookout man and the officer of the watch had seen the Flying Dutchman and he used these words to describe the ship:"A strange red light as of a phantom ship all aglow, in the midst of which light the mast, spars and sails of a brig 200 yards distant stood out in strong relief."It's pity that the lookout saw the Flying Dutchman, for soon after on the same trip, he accidentally fell from a mast and died. Fortunately for the English royal family, the young midshipman survived the curse.He was born in the Pittsburgh suburb of Mansfield (now Carnegie), Pennsylvania. In a career that spanned 21 seasons (1897-1917), he led the National League in batting average eight times, and in RBI and stolen bases five times each.Wagner's speed, both on the basepaths and in the field, combined with his considerable size, earned him the nickname "The Flying Dutchman", a reference to the opera by German composer Richard Wagner about the legendary "ghost ship" called The Flying Dutchman. In those very much ethnic-aware days, the term "Dutch" equated to "German", and the newspapers frequently tagged Wagner with Teutonic versions of his first name, such as "Hans" or "Hannes", the latter being short for "Johannes" and often written down as "Honus".Wagner was discovered at 18 years old, when then scout Ed Barrow went to a coal mine to scout Honus' brother Al, and saw Honus tossing rocks long distances, and as a result signed him on the spot, along with his brother Al.After a short stint in the minor leagues starting in 1895, Wagner began his major league career with the Louisville Colonels of the National League, playing with them for three seasons. Louisville was one of four National League teams contracted out of existence in 1900, and the remnant of the Louisville team was merged with the Pittsburgh Pirates, catapulting the team into contention, including participation in the first World Series in 1903. After the 1899-1900 merger, Wagner played 18 more seasons, all with the Pirates, winning a World Series title with them in 1909.His broad range of skills earned him the high praise of his peers, and in 1936 he was among the first five individuals ever inducted to membership in the Baseball Hall of Fame, in the select company of Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, and Babe Ruth. He won the National League batting title eight times. He retired from baseball in 1917 as the National League record holder in career hits, doubles, triples, runs, RBI, stolen bases, and games played. His lifetime batting average was .327. In 1999, even though he had played his last game 82 years earlier, he was elected to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team, as one of three shortstops, with Ernie Banks and Cal Ripken, Jr. The same year, The Sporting News placed him at number 13, and the highest-ranking shortstop, on their list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players. Bill James rated Wagner as the second greatest baseball player of all time in the "Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract". As of now, he is 6th on the all-time hit list.Famous baseball manager (and contemporary of Wagner's) John McGraw spoke for many when he said of Wagner that "while he 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." Similarly, in his section of the book, The Glory of Their Times, Ty Cobb's own teammate Sam Crawford rated Wagner, not Cobb, the best player he ever saw, and certainly far superior on the personal level.In a 2006 commercial for mlb.com, advertising Hometown Heroes, where different players' voices state their reasons for being considered "Hometown Heroes". Wagner's voice says "In my day, we didn't call it bases, we called it rocks", an inside joke about the the fact he played in the early days of baseball, and the fact that he was originally discovered "tossing rocks"this is how i hit in my careerYear Ag Tm Lg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG TB SH SF IBB HBP GDP
+--------------+---+----+----+----+---+--+---+----+---+--+--
-+---+-----+-----+-----+----+---+---+---+---+---+
1897 23 LOU NL 61 237 37 80 17 4 2 39 19 15 .338 .379 .468 111 5 1
1898 24 LOU NL 151 588 80 176 29 3 10 105 27 31 .299 .341 .410 241 10 6
1899 25 LOU NL 147 571 98 192 43 13 7 113 37 40 .336 .391 .494 282 4 11
1900 26 PIT NL 135 527 107 201 45 22 4 100 38 41 .381 .434 .573 302 4 8
1901 27 PIT NL 140 549 101 194 37 11 6 126 49 53 .353 .417 .494 271 10 7
1902 28 PIT NL 136 534 105 176 30 16 3 91 42 43 .330 .394 .463 247 8 14
1903 29 PIT NL 129 512 97 182 30 19 5 101 46 44 .355 .414 .518 265 8 7
1904 30 PIT NL 132 490 97 171 44 14 4 75 53 59 .349 .423 .520 255 5 4
1905 31 PIT NL 147 548 114 199 32 14 6 101 57 54 .363 .427 .505 277 7 7
1906 32 PIT NL 142 516 103 175 38 9 2 71 53 58 .339 .416 .459 237 6 10
1907 33 PIT NL 142 515 98 180 38 14 6 82 61 46 .350 .408 .513 264 14 5
1908 34 PIT NL 151 568 100 201 39 19 10 109 53 54 .354 .415 .542 308 14 5
1909 35 PIT NL 137 495 92 168 39 10 5 100 35 66 .339 .420 .489 242 27 3
1910 36 PIT NL 150 556 90 178 34 8 4 81 24 59 47 .320 .390 .432 240 20 5
1911 37 PIT NL 130 473 87 158 23 16 9 89 20 67 34 .334 .423 .507 240 12 6
1912 38 PIT NL 145 558 91 181 35 20 7 102 26 59 38 .324 .395 .496 277 11 6
1913 39 PIT NL 114 413 51 124 18 4 3 56 21 26 40 .300 .349 .385 159 10 5
1914 40 PIT NL 150 552 60 139 15 9 1 50 23 51 51 .252 .317 .317 175 11 2
1915 41 PIT NL 156 566 68 155 32 17 6 78 22 15 39 64 .274 .325 .422 239 16 4
1916 42 PIT NL 123 432 45 124 15 9 1 39 11 34 36 .287 .350 .370 160 10 8
1917 43 PIT NL 74 230 15 61 7 1 0 24 5 24 17 .265 .337 .304 70 9 1
+--------------+---+----+----+----+---+--+---+----+---+--+--
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21 Seasons 10430 3415 252 1732 15 327 .327 .391 .466 221 0 0 125 0
2792 1736 640 101 722 963 4862Born: February 24, 1874
Died: December 6, 1955
Debut: July 19, 1897
Height: 5' 11"
Weight: 200 lbs.
Batted: Right
Threw: Right
Position: Short Stop
Teams: Louisville Colonels and Pittsburgh Pirates
Hall of Fame: Inaugural Class 1936
Given name: Johannes Peter
Nickname: The Flying Dutchman, Hans
Batted .300: 17 Consecutive Seasons
Length of Career: 21 years
NL Batting Crowns: 8
Stolen Bases: 722QUOTES"There ain’t much to being a ballplayer, if you’re a ballplayer.""Things were changing fast by that time, women were beginning to come to the ball parks. We had to stop cussing.""In all my years of play, I never saw an ump deliberately make an unfair decision. They really called them as they saw 'em.""I don't want my picture in any cigarettes, but I also don't want you to lose the ten dollars, so I'm enclosing my check for that sum.""I never have been sick. I don't even know what it means to be sick. I hear other players say they have a cold. I just don't know what it would feel like to have a cold - I never had one."BIOGRAPHYHonus Wagner is considered by many to be baseball's greatest all-around player. The Pittsburgh Pirates' shortstop was a sensational hitter, a brilliant base-runner and a flawless fielder. He broke into the majors by hitting .344 in 1897 and put together 17 consecutive .300 seasons. He was the NL batting champion for seven of those 17 seasons with a lifetime average of .329.One of the first five players inducted to the Baseball Hall of Fame, he led the league in stolen bases on six occasions, finishing his career with a total of 722 steals. Wagner retired with more hits, runs, RBI, doubles, triples, games and steals than any other National League player.After his career as a player, Honus became a manager for his longtime team, the Pittsburgh Pirates.The Honus Wagner baseball card, one of the most valuable in existence today, was recalled in 1909. At the time, the cards were distributed along with tobacco; Wagner, a nonsmoker, objected to being included in the promotion because he did not want to set a bad example for children.
