Thank you McFarland for providing this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
Mr. Book just finished Honus Wagner: The Life Of Baseball’s Flying Dutchman, by Arthur D. Hittner.
The author cites historian Bill Deane for the idea that, if there was an MVP in the first decade of the 20th century, Wagner would have won six times. My ratings show six years between 1900 and 1909 in which he would be the definite MVP (1902, 1904, 1906-09), but also two other years in which he could have won, in too close to call votes (1900 and 1905) (no other years in his career should he have won).
Honus Wagner was one of the greatest baseball players of all time. He is still the overwhelming selection for the greatest shortstop in baseball history. In the first Hall of Fame election in 1936, he received as many votes as Babe Ruth. Unfortunately, this book did not give his career the credit he deserved.
There was little about this book that stood out. It is definitely possible to write a better Wagner biography. I have given two Wagner books A’s. This definitely belong in that category. It wasn’t a bad book, it was just disappointing that it wasn’t as good as it could have been.
I give this book a B. Goodreads requires grades on a 1-5 star system. In my personal conversion system, a B equates to 3 stars. (A or A+: 5 stars, B+: 4 stars, B: 3 stars, C: 2 stars, D or F: 1 star).
This review has been posted at my blog, Mr. Book’s Book Reviews, and Goodreads.
Mr. Book originally finished reading this on June 25, 2024.
