Paul Louis Wanninger (December 12, 1902 – March 7, 1981) was a backup

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball positions, baseball or softball fielding position between second base, second and third base, which is considered to be among the Defensive spectrum, most demanding defensive positions. Historically, the ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

who played in and for the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

(1925),

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...

(1927) and

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. The Reds compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Divisi ...

(1927). Listed at , 150 lb., he batted

left-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to and causing it to be stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply l ...

and threw

right-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to and causing it to be stronger, faster or more Fine motor skill, dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dext ...

. A native of

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Alabama, Jefferson County. The population was 200,733 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List ...

, Wanninger is best known as the player who ended one consecutive-game streak and helped start another. As a rookie, he replaced

Everett Scott Lewis Everett Scott (November 19, 1892 – November 2, 1960), nicknamed "Deacon", was an American professional baseball player. A shortstop, Scott played in Major League Baseball for 12 seasons as a member of the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees ...

at shortstop for the Yankees on May 5, 1925, to end Scott's then major league record of 1,307 consecutive games. On June 1, 1925

Lou Gehrig Henry Louis Gehrig ( ; June 19, 1903June 2, 1941), also known as Heinrich Ludwig Gehrig, was an American professional baseball first baseman who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees (1923–1939). Gehrig was ...

started his famous 2,130 game consecutive streak when he pinch hit for Wanninger. For the season, Wanninger had a .247

average In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...

in a career-high 117 games. Wanninger returned to the minor leagues for all of 1926. He was on the 1927 Red Sox Opening Day lineup and was obtained by Cincinnati in midseason. In a two-season career, Wanninger was a .234 hitter (130-for-556) with one

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

and 31 RBI in 163 games, including 53 runs, 15 doubles, eight

triples TripleS (; ; stylized as tripleS) is a South Korean 24-member multinational girl group formed by Modhaus. They aim to be the world's first decentralized idol group, where the members will rotate between the full group, sub-units, and solo activi ...

and five

stolen base In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base unaided by other actions and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or out ...

s. He died at the age of 78 in

North Augusta, South Carolina North Augusta is a city in Aiken and Edgefield counties in the U.S. state of South Carolina, on the north bank of the Savannah River. It lies directly across the river, and state border, from Augusta, Georgia. The population was 24,379 at the ...

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Retrosheet
1902 births 1981 deaths Boston Red Sox players Cincinnati Reds players New York Yankees players Major League Baseball shortstops Baseball players from Alabama Minor league baseball managers Okmulgee Drillers players Augusta Tygers players St. Paul Saints (AA) players Louisville Colonels (minor league) players Milwaukee Brewers (minor league) players Augusta Tigers players Anniston Rams players 20th-century American sportsmen Selma Cloverleafs players {{US-baseball-shortstop-stub

See also

External links