Derek Jeter Passes Honus Wagner in Career Hits

 
You can add one more item to Derek Jeter’s long list of baseball accomplishments. On August 9th, Jeter’s infield single in the Yankees’ 3-0 loss to the Cleveland Indians put him in sixth place in career major league hits with 3431, passing Honus Wagner. Here’s the hit:

So, who was Honus Wagner? His actual first name was John, and he played from 1897-1917, mostly with the Pittsburg Pirates. Like Jeter, Wagner was primarily a shortstop, though he did play other infiedl positions and well as the occasional game in the outfield. Despite playing his entire career in the so called Dead Ball Era, he still drove in 100 or more runs nine times. His 252 career triples are still third best in MLB history, his 640 doubles are ninth, and his 722 stolen bases are 10th. Not bad for a guy who last played 97 years ago. Wagner hit .329 in his career and was in the first group of players inducted in the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936.

Next on the all time hit list is Tris Speaker, another one of the ancients. Speaker had 3515 hits in his career that ran from 1907-1928, mostly with the Red Sox and Indians. With Jeter retiring after this season, Speaker is almost certainly out of reach.