Wagner taps into power to complete cycle

Excellence was to be expected of the 38-year-old Wagner, whose average had climbed above .300 on June 17 and stayed there for the rest of the season. To that point in his career, he’d finished only one his 15 seasons hitting below .320. In the nine years prior, he’d won seven batting titles, led the league in doubles five times and paced baseball in steals three times, all of which cemented Wagner as one of the era’s most dominant hitters.

“Comment on yesterday’s game would be incomplete without some special reference to the work of the human wreck, Honus Carnegie Wagner,” wrote the Pittsburgh Press. “However, it is difficult to say anything about the big Dutchman which will impress itself indelibly upon the minds of the fans, so much has been written about him. Those who witnessed the games Thursday appreciate his work. He was the whole works.”

Wagner took care of the single, double and triple over his first four at-bats while also shining defensively – in the seventh inning he fielded a ball off his chest, caught the ricochet and fired to first for the out. He converted each of his five chances into outs after converting eight of nine in Game 1.

“Wagner was the sensation of the day, both in the field and at the bat,” recapped the New York Tribune.

With Pittsburgh trailing 8-5 in the bottom of the ninth, Wagner got one more opportunity to complete the cycle with a home run. Although three of his four home runs in 1912 had been inside-the-parkers, the one he’d muscled over the wall had come against New York’s Rube Marquard a month prior. And facing Marquard once again, Wagner had a shot.