Leon Lamar Wagner (May 13, 1934 – January 3, 2004) was an American professional baseball left fielder who played Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Francisco Giants (–, ), St. Louis Cardinals (), Los Angeles Angels (–), Cleveland Indians (–), and Chicago White Sox (). He batted left-handed and threw right-handed.
Early life
Wagner was born on May 13, 1934, in Chattanooga, Tennessee to Eugene and Hattie Lee Wagner. His father found work near Detroit and the family moved to the area when Wagner was an infant. Wagner attended Inkster High School, where he starred in baseball, basketball and football, graduating in 1952. He went to college on a football scholarship at Tuskegee University (then called Tuskegee Institute). He left before graduating, returning to Michigan. He was half-Cherokee and half-African American.
Wagner was drafted into military service after the 1956 season, and did not play professional baseball in 1957. He did play on an Army baseball team with future major league player, and teammate, Willie Kirkland, and future country singer Charley Pride. among others (all of whom were superior fielders), he was traded to the Cardinals after the 1959 season, along with Daryl Spencer for Don Blasingame.
St. Louis Cardinals, Los Angeles Angels
Wagner was relegated to a reserve role for St. Louis in 39 games and hit four home runs. amassed 107 RBIs, 96 runs, 164 hits, and 21 doubles (all career highs), while batting .268. In the second contest, he went 3-for-4, including a two-run home run. Wagner was voted the second All-Star Game's Most Valuable Player (MVP), and became the first AL player to receive the All-Star Game MVP Award that was first introduced that year, and for both games.
The first true slugger in Angel history, he hit 91 home runs with 276 RBIs in 442 games for them. but during the offseason was surprisingly sent to the Cleveland Indians in a trade that brought slugging first baseman Joe Adcock and pitcher Barry Latman to the Angels. Wagner was unhappy about the trade. He enjoyed playing and living in Los Angeles, and liked playing for manager Bill Rigney (who had earlier managed him with the Giants), and resented the Angels for trading him and never forgave them for trading him. Prior to the trade, he has once compared Angels general manager Fred Haney to Soviet Union leader Nikita Khrushchev.)
Wagner then signed as a free agent with his first big league team, the Giants, playing in only 11 games. Although he had begun his MLB career with the Giants in and ended his career with them eleven seasons later, Wagner’s Giants games played total amounted to only 172 of his MLB career 1152-game total.