Most people in the United States know John Peter “Honus” Wagner as the player whose name and image appeared on the legendary T-206 tobacco card, the most valuable baseball card ever printed. Historians of the game also consider Wagner to be perhaps the best shortstop of all time.
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Born in Carnegie, Pennsylvania, in 1874, Wagner lived almost his entire life in that town. His former house at 605 Beechwood Avenue in Carnegie still stands as a private residence, looking much like it did when Wagner lived there.
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The house was built for Wagner in 1917, his last year as a player, and he lived there until his death in 1955. The house is a two-and-a-half story, tan-brick foursquare, with a central dormer and a front porch with matching tan-brick columns.
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Four grey-painted concrete steps lead from the sidewalk to a clay-tiled front porch.
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An ornate wood front door with leaded glass panels on either side of the door and in the transom above.
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To the left of the entrance is the house number “605″ set inside a shield carved in granite, and to the right, a similar granite shield with the initials “JW” framing the doorbell.
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Just a ten mile drive from old Forbes Field and seven miles from PNC Park, the current home of the Pirates, Wagner’s house on Beechwood Avenue is a well-preseved time capsule and well worth the stop.