Baseball Card Generations is a series of fictional stories that chronicle Grandpa John and his grandchildren Howard and Victoria. John was a security guard for the Yankees in the 1960's and shares his love of baseball with his grand kids through baseball cards.
We join Grandpa John along with his grandchildren Howard and Victoria in Land High Lakes for another edition of Baseball Card Generations:
Howard and Victoria were looking out the window; watching the rain drops submerge their home’s wooden deck. While the water burst outside, tears were bursting in the eyes of Howard and Victoria. Grandpa John had planned to take the kids to the Yankee game that evening. However the rain seemed to have other ideas. Grandpa John saw the sadness on the kids’ faces and decided to cheer them up.
“Kids, how would you like to see my rarest baseball card?”
Howard and Victoria suddenly looked up at the Grandfather. They often heard Grandpa John talk about a rare card that very few people in the world had.
“Are you showing us the card that only a few people have, Grandpa?” asked Howard.
“Yes my boy, I am” said Grandpa John as he went into his safe.
Grandpa John unlocked his safe. It must’ve taken thirty seconds for him to go through all the lock combinations and password. Howard and Victoria were sitting on the couch and wondering to themselves what card it might be. Howard didn’t know much about rare baseball cards, but Victoria sat deep in thought. She was thinking about what cards Grandpa John might have, when it suddenly hit her. As Grandpa Jon sat down to show the kids his rare card, Victoria screamed:
“That’s the rare Honus Wagner T206 baseball card, isn’t it??”
Howard looked at his sister in amazement. He had heard of the Honus Wagner T206 baseball card. There were less than sixty of these cards in existence. Howard was thinking there was no way Grandpa John could have had this card. Yet sure enough Grandpa John got a big old grin on his face and said:
“Victoria, is there no limit to your baseball history knowledge? Well to answer your question, yes this is a 1909 Honus Wagner T206 baseball card.”
“How did you get this card Grandpa?” asked Howard. “There are less than sixty of them in existence and they’re worth a lot of money.”
“Well Howard, I did a lot of traveling in my youth. There are so many stories I could tell you about baseball history that would blow your socks off. However this card was given to me by your grandmother about fifty years ago. However that’s a story for another day.”
Howard and Victoria looked at the card, but dared not to touch it. They were looking at a baseball card that was more than one hundred years old.
“Grandpa, tell us about Honus Wagner,” said Victoria.
“Victoria I’m surprised you don’t know yourself” blurted out Howard.
Victoria chuckled and said “Well I don’t know everything about baseball Howard!”
Grandpa John laughed and then cleared his throat as if to call the kids to attention. Howard and
Victoria looked at their Grandfather with open minds, hoping to learn something about Honus Wagner.
“Honus Wagner was a true baseball player in every sense of the word. He played the game for the thrill of competition. I never saw Honus play myself, but I remember my father telling me stories about Honus. He said Honus was the greatest player in the game; much better than Ty Cobb. He said Wagner was the best hitter he had ever seen. My father was known for telling the truth so I believe it to be so.”
“Was Honus a good defensive shortstop?” asked Howard.
“Howard, Honus is considered one of the best fielding shortstops in baseball history. My father said that no one could field a ground ball more smoothly than Honus Wagner.”
“Didn’t Honus Wagner win eight batting titles Grandpa?” asked Victoria.
“Yes my dear, he did. In fact from 1906-1909, Honus won four straight National League batting titles.
Over that span, he hit .346 and stole 202 bases.”
Then suddenly without warning, both Howard and Victoria blurted out the same question at the same time.
“Was Honus Wagner a power hitter?”
Grandpa John started to rub his chin; something he did whenever asked a difficult question. About forty seconds of silence passed before Grandpa John said:
“Honus was considered a power hitter for his era. You see kids; baseball is often divided up into different eras of time. When Honus played the game, home runs were few and far between. Players didn’t like to hit home runs back then. They thought of baseball as a strategic game; a game won by brains and not brawn.
Honus hit 101 home runs, which was considered a lot at the time. However Honus’ real strength came as doubles hitter. Honus averaged 37 doubles a season and retired with 643 of them. That was his real power as a baseball player.”
Howard and Victoria sat in amazement as Grandpa John was telling them all about Honus Wagner. At the corner of Victoria’s eye, she saw that the sky had become bright and sunny.
“Grandpa, look at sky!” she exclaimed.
“Well what do you know? OK kids, get in the car. We have a game to get to!”
Howard and Victoria ran to the car with huge smiles on their faces. As they sat and waited for their grandfather, Howard and Victoria thought about Honus Wagner and the legacy he left as a baseball player.
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