Pablo975 wrote:My point was that Wagner is not memorable to the casual fan, where Ruth is one of the 5 most recognized faces on Planet Earth.
I agree, anyone considering themselves a baseball fan should know Wagner, but I was refering to the Joe Schmoes on the street. Wagner is a nobody to them. They'll know Neon Dieon before they know true legendary players.
And I was taking that kind of recognition, fame, awards, etc, into account on my list.
I doubt Babe Ruth is one of the five most recognized faces on earth. Go to China or Africa and show them a picture of Babe Ruth. I very much doubt they would recognize him. We tend to think that because WE know who Babe Ruth is that that means everyone else in the world does. This is not true. The only other country where he might be recognizable would be Japan. Ruth traveled to Japan in the 1930s.
It is true that the "casual" fan doesn't know Wagner but the casual fans doesn't really know Ruth either. Oh, they've heard the name and might recognize his face but ask them simple questions about his career (when did he play? what teams did he play for? what is he famous for?) and they wouldn't know.
The reason that Wagner is not known today is because he played in the time of no TV, no film, and the baseball media was still very much in its infancy. When Ruth came along 20 years later the media world was much more advanced. There is no film of Wagner playing at all that I am aware of.
When you get a chance you might want to check out Wagner's career. He was truly an amazing player, easily one of the five greatest.
by Pablo975 » Mon Sep 27, 2004 12:27 pm 
