Lloyd Waner
The youngest Waner brother might have been overshadowed by Paul's power, but Lloyd carved out his own niche as one of baseball's premier table-setters. His .316 career average across 18 seasons speaks to remarkable consistency at the plate, while his microscopic home run total — just 27 in nearly 8,000 at-bats — tells the story of a pure contact hitter in an era when that still had tremendous value.
"Little Poison" earned his nickname not from any venom in his bat, but from his ability to pester opposing pitchers with line drives and perfectly placed singles. Playing center field for Pittsburgh through most of his career, Lloyd represented the dying breed of players who could build an entire Hall of Fame case around putting the ball in play and getting on base.
The Veterans Committee recognized what the numbers might obscure: Lloyd Waner was a master craftsman in an age when baseball still rewarded surgical precision over raw power.
Career · Batting
18 seasons| Year | Team | G | AB | HR | RBI | AVG | OPS | OPS+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1927 | PIT | 150 | 629 | 2 | 27 | .355 | — | — |
| 1928 | PIT | 152 | 659 | 5 | 61 | .335 | — | — |
| 1929 | PIT | 151 | 662 | 5 | 74 | .353 | — | — |
| 1930 | PIT | 68 | 260 | 1 | 36 | .362 | — | — |
| 1931 | PIT | 154 | 681 | 4 | 57 | .314 | — | — |
| 1932 | PIT | 134 | 565 | 2 | 38 | .333 | — | — |
| 1933 | PIT | 121 | 500 | 0 | 26 | .276 | — | — |
| 1934 | PIT | 140 | 611 | 1 | 48 | .283 | — | — |
| 1935 | PIT | 122 | 537 | 0 | 46 | .309 | — | — |
| 1936 | PIT | 106 | 414 | 1 | 31 | .321 | — | — |
| 1937 | PIT | 129 | 537 | 1 | 45 | .330 | — | — |
| 1938 | PIT | 147 | 619 | 5 | 57 | .313 | — | — |
| 1939 | PIT | 112 | 379 | 0 | 24 | .285 | — | — |
| 1940 | PIT | 72 | 166 | 0 | 3 | .259 | — | — |
| 1941 | CIN | 77 | 219 | 0 | 11 | .292 | — | — |
| 1942 | PHI | 101 | 287 | 0 | 10 | .261 | — | — |
| 1944 | BRO | 34 | 28 | 0 | 3 | .321 | — | — |
| 1945 | PIT | 23 | 19 | 0 | 1 | .263 | — | — |
| Career | 1993 | 7772 | 27 | 598 | .316 | — | — | |
Matchups, projections, comps — grounded in Lahman, Retrosheet, and Statcast.