OK, this guy was named Big Poison, but he was only 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighed 156 pounds according to Baseball Reference. Of course, his younger brother Lloyd was Little Poison. But it must have been because he was younger as he was taller and weighed only six less pounds. While a decent player Lloyd wasn’t near the player his brother was. I have him 666 on my list. Lloyd was a better fielder as he played center. Neither was a great fielder but they were both solid fielders out in the field.
The big difference between the two was that Paul could hit for power and Lloyd didn’t. In 1932 Waner hit 62 doubles to lead the league. That is more doubles then a lot of players have extra base hits. Waner hit a lot of doubles and triples but not many homeruns. Of course, Forbes Field really wasn’t a homerun park.
Interestingly, Paul Waner was known for being a heavy drinker. Waner use to joke (at least I think he was joking) about which drink was best to drink before coming to at bat. My favorite story was when Pie Traynor was the manager he asked Waner to stop drinking one season so could hit .400. So Waner starts the season not drinking and is hitting in the low .200s. Traynor sees this not drinking stuff is not working so he convinces Waner to go party all night before the next game. Waner then went 4 for 4 and goes on to win the batting title. Now there is a season identified where he broke a slump by going 4 for 4 and he won the batting title. I doubt he the part of the story he stopped drinking is true. But if you find any evidence of the truth of this story let me know.
