He glanced toward the shortstop, who had been the hit leader for the decade just ended. Honus Wagner kept on swinging the stick through the 1917 season, retiring at 43 years of age. The shortstop ...

On Jan. 29, 1936, the U.S. Baseball Hall of Fame elects its first members in Cooperstown, New York: Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Christy Matthewson and Walter Johnson.