Paul Waner Stats & Facts
Paul Waner
Position: Rightfielder
Bats: Left • Throws: Left
5-8, 153lb (173cm, 69kg)
Born: April 16, 1903 in Harrah, OK
Died:August 29, 1965 in Sarasota, FL
Buried: Manasota Memorial Park, Bradenton, FL
High School: Central HS (Oklahoma City, OK)
School: East Central University (Ada, OK)
Debut: April 13, 1926 (5,608th in MLB history)
vs. STL 0 AB, 0 H, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 0 SB
Last Game: April 26, 1945
vs. PHA 0 AB, 0 H, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 0 SB
Hall of Fame: Inducted as Player in 1952. (Voted by BBWAA on 195/234 ballots)
View Paul Waner’s Page at the Baseball Hall of Fame (plaque, photos, videos).
View Player Bio from the SABR BioProject
Nine Players Who Debuted in 1926
Mel Ott
Paul Waner
Joe Cronin
Tony Lazzeri
General Crowder
Babe Herman
Ethan Allen
Bump Hadley
Ski Melillo
The Paul Waner Teammate Team
C: Ernie Lombardi
1B: Dolph Camilli
2B: Billy Herman
3B: Pie Traynor
SS: Arky Vaughan
LF: Kiki Cuyler
CF: Lloyd Waner
RF: Max Carey
SP: Lee Meadows
SP: Red Ruffing
SP: Burleigh Grimes
SP: Curt Davis
RP: Mace Brown
M: Bill McKechnie
Notable Events and Chronology
Paul Waner
The National League’s finest scientific hitter for much of his career, Paul Waner was in many ways his era’s version of Tony Gwynn. Although he didn’t have much in the way of home-run power, Waner was an exceptional line drive hitter who compiled huge sums of doubles and triples over the course of his 20 major-league seasons, most of which were spent with the Pittsburgh Pirates. A veritable hit machine, Waner surpassed 200 hits on eight separate occasions, won three National League batting titles, and ended his career with 3,152 hits and a stellar .333 batting average. He accomplished all those things despite spending much of the time playing with a hangover.
Born on April 16, 1903 in Harrah, Oklahoma, Paul Glee Waner went against his merchant father’s wishes when he left East Central Teachers’ College in Oklahoma to pursue a professional baseball career in 1923. Originally a pitcher, Waner moved to the outfield when he hurt his arm while training that spring with the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League. The lefthanded hitting Waner spent the next three years feasting off PCL pitchers, compiling batting averages of .369, .356, and .401
After being purchased by the Pirates for the inordinately large sum of $40,000 prior to the start of the 1926 campaign, Waner made his major league debut with the team on April 13 of that year, just three days shy of his 23rd birthday. The rookie took the National League by storm, batting .336, scoring 101 runs, and topping the circuit with 22 triples. Waner’s .336 batting average was the highest of any National League regular, but the rightfielder failed to win the batting title when it was awarded instead to Cincinnati catcher Bubbles Hargrave, who posted a mark of .353 in only 326 official at-bats.
Paul was joined in the Pittsburgh outfield by his younger brother Lloyd the following season, and the siblings combined to help lead the Pirates to the National League pennant.
The younger Waner, who came to be known as Little Poison, batted .355, amassed 223 hits, and topped the circuit with 133 runs scored. Meanwhile, Paul, who subsequently acquired the nickname Big Poison, captured league MVP honors by scoring 114 runs and leading the loop with 131 runs batted in, 237 hits, 18 triples, and a .380 batting average. The strong-armed rightfielder also accumulated more than 20 outfield assists for the second consecutive year. Although the Pirates subsequently lost the World Series in four straight games to the Murderers’ Row New York Yankees, the elder Waner acquitted himself well in the Fall Classic, batting .333 and driving in three of the ten runs Pittsburgh scored.
Although the Pirates failed to make it back to the World Series, Waner performed brilliantly in each of the next three seasons. He finished second in the league with a .370 batting average, a .446 on-base percentage, 19 triples, and 223 hits in 1928, while topping the circuit with 142 runs scored and 50 doubles. Waner followed that up in 1929 by batting .336, driving in 100 runs, scoring 131 others, accumulating 200 hits, and hitting a career high 15 home runs. He batted .368 the following year, scored 117 runs, compiled 18 triples, stole a career best 18 bases, and amassed 217 hits, surpassing 200 safeties for the fourth straight time.
Waner continued to excel throughout much of the 1930s, leading the league with batting averages of .362 and .373 in 1934 and 1936, respectively. He also topped the circuit with 122 runs scored and 217 hits in 1934, after finishing first in the league with 62 doubles two years earlier. Waner’s batting average failed to fall below .309 in any of
his first 12 seasons, with the outfielder surpassing the .350-mark on six separate occasions. He also finished in double-digits in triples in each of his first 10 years in the league, topped 100 runs scored nine times, and amassed at least 50 doubles three times.
More than just an exceptional hitter, Waner was considered to be one of the finest defensive rightfielders in the game. Blessed with good speed and an outstanding throwing arm, he possessed excellent range and typically placed among the league leaders in outfield assists. Waner threw out at least 15 runners on the bases a total of eight times, compiling as many as 20 assists on three separate occasions.
But Waner became known mostly for his hitting, which placed him among the finest offensive players of his era. Hall of Fame pitcher Burleigh Grimes played with Waner two years in Pittsburgh, but spent much of his career trying to figure out a way to get his one-time teammate out. Grimes later said, “I saw a lot of good hitters, but I never saw a better one than Paul Waner. I mean, I once threw a side arm spitter right into his belly and he hit it into the upper deck.” Grimes added, “I may have got (Paul) Waner out, but I never fooled him.” Waner revealed the first of his basic philosophies towards hitting when he advised, “Be relaxed and don’t wave the bat, don’t clench it. Be ready to hit down with the barrel of the bat. Just swing it and let the weight drive the ball.”
He also suggested, “Let the pitcher move first. Then, as he draws his arm back, you draw the bat back and you are ready.”
Waner’s scientific approach to hitting not only enabled him to win three batting titles during his career, but, also, to lead the National League at one time or another in every major batting category except home runs and walks.
In addition to developing a reputation as one of the game’s great hitters over the course of his career, Waner also became famous for his ability to hit while hung over. A frequent imbiber, Waner spent his afternoons at the ballpark, but reserved his evenings for the local tavern. Casey Stengel once complimented Waner on his base-running skills by saying, “He had to be a very graceful player because he could slide without breaking the bottle on his hip.”
It actually seemed as if Waner hit better when he wasn’t completely sober. He gave up liquor in 1938 at management’s request, but posted just a .250 batting average for much of the first half of the campaign. Waner’s lack of success prompted his manager to bring him to the nearest tavern, where he proceded to buy his slumping outfielder a drink or two. Waner finished the year with a batting average of only .280 – the first time in his career he failed to surpass the .300-mark.
Waner remained in Pittsburgh through the end of the 1940 season, when the Pirates chose to release the 37-year-old outfielder after he batted only .290 in a part-time role. Signed by Brooklyn, Waner split the next four years between the Dodgers and Boston Braves, before ending his career early in 1945 with the Yankees. In addition to his .333 batting average and 3,152 hits, Waner retired with 1,309 runs batted in, 1,627 runs scored, 113 home runs, 191 triples, and 605 doubles. He placed in the top five in the National League batting race a total of eight times, finished in the top five in the league MVP voting on four separate occasions, and started in the outfield for the senior circuit in each of the first three All-Star Games. Paul and his younger brother Lloyd hold the career
record for hits by brothers (5,611), finishing well ahead of their nearest rivals, the three
Alou brothers, Felipe, Matty, and Jesus, who combined for a total of 5,094 safeties over the course of their careers.
The members of the BBWAA elected Waner to the Hall of Fame in 1952, only seven years after he announced his retirement. He returned to the game five years later as the hitting instructor for the Milwaukee Braves. He subsequently served the St. Louis Cardinals and the Philadelphia Phillies in a similar capacity, successfully conveying his vast knowledge of hitting to young players. Waner remained around baseball until shortly before he passed away in Sarasota, Florida in August of 1965 at age 62.
Although fans of Roberto Clemente might beg to differ, Joe Tronzo, the sports editor at The News-Tribune in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania wrote in 1971, “Paul Waner, when he was sober, was the best rightfielder the Pirates ever had. The second best rightfielder the Pirates ever had was Paul Waner when he was drunk.”
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Factoids, Quotes, Milestones and Odd Facts
Played For
Pittsburgh Pirates (1926-1940)
Brooklyn Dodgers (1941)
Boston Braves (1941-1942)
Brooklyn Dodgers (1943-1944)
New York Yankees (1944-1945)
Similar: Tony Gwynn
Linked: Lloyd Waner
Best Season, 1927
In just his second season in the major leagues, Waner emerged as the top left-handed batter in the loop. He led the circuit with a .380 batting average, 237 hits, 342 total bases, 18 triples, and 131 RBI. Many of his hits drove in brother Lloyd, who batted .355 and scored 133 runs. Waner won the MVP Award and led Pittsburgh to the World Series, where they were crushed by the Yankees in four straight. Paul hit .333 in the loss – his only post-season appearance.
Awards and Honors
1927 NL MVP
Post-Season Appearances
1927 World Series
Description
Waner was a legendary drinker. According to his brother Lloyd, “Paul thought you played best when you relaxed, and drinking was a good way to relax.” When Pirates management asked Waner to give up drinking in 1938 because Pittsburgh considered themselves contenders for the pennant, he agreed and hit only .280. This marked the only year in his Pirates career that he failed to hit .300. One of the methods Waner would use to sober up before a game was to perform several back-flips on the infield.
Milestones
Waner collected his 3,000th hit by singling off his old teammate, Pirate hurler Rip Sewell, on June 19, 1942. Waner became the first National Leaguer since Honus Wagner, 28 years before, to reach the milestone.
Hitting Streaks
23 games (1927)
22 games (1927)
21 games (1930)
20 games (1939)
Most Career Hits, Brothers
The 5,611 hits by Paul and Lloyd Waner exceed those of the five Delahanty brothers and the three DiMaggio brothers.
The Bums of ’44
Based on age, the 1944 Brooklyn Dodgers were one of the most peculiar teams in baseball history. On their roster, the Dodgers had 17-year old Eddie Miksis, and 18-year olds Ralph Branca, Gene Mauch, and Cal McLish. But the club also had 43-year old veteran Johnny Cooney, and 41-year old Paul Waner.
All-Star Selections
1933 NL
1934 NL
1935 NL
1937 NL
Replaced
Kiki Cuyler in right field in 1926. The Pirates moved Cuyler to left and later to center.
Replaced By
Would you believe that in 1940, the Pirates used Bob Elliott in right, and shoved Waner to the fourth outfielder slot? Elliott was a 23-year old with a fine career ahead of him — as a third baseman.
Best Strength as a Player
Hitting for average.
Largest Weakness as a Player
His brother seemed to have gotten the footspeed.
Other Resources & Links
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