Crossover value?

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Posted By: Gilbert Maines

There are many oldtimers and noteworthy baseball historians who contend that Honus Wagner is much more than one of the top ballplayers of all time. They cite him as the top ballplayer of all time.

I have always had difficulty resolving that opinion, but of course, I have never seen him play.

A cursory glance at his statistics reveals him to be a player who hit for power and average and stole lots of bases. Reports that he was an excellent fielder are noted.

But his lifetime batting average is .327. It is true that he played several years beyond his prime, and that had an impact on his avarage, but if you back those seasons out he still falls .025 short of Cobb's lifetime total (who also hit for power and average and stole bases).

So although I still can not resolve this contention, I can not dismiss it either. This consideration alone is sufficient for me to prefer a Wagner card over almost any other.