Lloyd Waner

The younger half of one of baseball’s most famous brother combinations, Lloyd Waner joined the Pirates in 1927 and settled in centerfield, next to brother Paul in right. Paul was known as Big Poison and Lloyd as Little Poison. While Paul captured most of the headlines by winning the 1927 National League batting crown (.380), Lloyd finished third (.355). He set a ML rookie record with 223 hits – 198 of them singles, setting the modern ML record. His 133 runs scored led the league. The Waners led Pittsburgh to the 1927 NL pennant; Lloyd had six hits in 15 at-bats in his first and only World Series, which the Yankees took in four games. The 5’9″ 150-lb Waner was a lefthanded line-drive hitter. He collected more than 200 hits in each of his first three seasons and led the NL in at-bats in 1928 and 1929 and in triples in 1929. Coming off a .353 season, he missed most of 1930 due to appendicitis but returned with a vengeance in 1931, leading the NL with 214 hits and 681 at-bats (.314). He batted .309 or better in 10 of his 13 seasons as a Pirate regular. Waner was also an accomplished centerfielder. His arm was not outstanding, but he led the league in putouts four times, using his excellent speed to cover the spacious Forbes Field outfield. Waner retired after playing 101 games for the Phillies in 1942, but in 1944 he had a change of heart and returned to the Dodgers, to whom he had been traded during spring training of 1943. Released by the Dodgers on June 14, 1944, he signed with the Pirates the next day and remained with them, mostly as a little-used pinch hitter, through 1945. He scouted for Pittsburgh until 1949 and for the Orioles in 1955. The Committee on Baseball Veterans elected him to the Hall of Fame in 1967.