On July 29th, 1915, 41-year-old Honus Wagner became the oldest player in the history of the modern era to hit a grand slam.

Honus Wagner is probably most famous now for the being the player featured on the world’s most expensive baseball card, his 1909 T-206 card. In a 2022 auction someone paid $7.25 million dollars for one.

Wagner is one of the original Hall of Fame members. If you look at his Baseball Reference page you can see why he is generally considered one of the best players in the history of the game.

His T-206 baseball card is expensive because of its rarity. In 1909 baseball cards were distributed by tobacco companies as inserts in packs of cigarettes. Wagner did not smoke or drink and did not want a card with his likeness attached to tobacco products. He asked that the cards not be distributed. By mistake though, a small number were actually distributed anyway. Thus creating an accidental scarcity that has made his card the most sought after of all sportscard collectibles.

Wagner played until he was 43 years old, from 1897-1917. Since he played in the “Dead-Ball Era” he did not hit a lot of home runs (only 101 in his career). Of these 5 were grand slams, so even more rare than his T-206 baseball card.