Unbelievably rare 8 x 10” of Honus Wagner in his golden years as a batting coach with the Pirates, signed by the Dutchman himself with a personal inscription against his uniformed right pant leg as he sits in the dugout lifting a wad of tobacco to his mouth. Irony abounds here given that Wagner’s legend includes him famously demanding his image be removed from an early (and now immensely valuable) baseball card because the sponsor was a tobacco company, not wanting to condone smoking. However, the game’s greatest-ever shortstop who was among the first class of Hall of Fame inductees never made any bones about his personal habit for chewing tobacco, and clearly did not mind the image of him loading up on it in this candid taken during the Pirates’ 1949 spring training camp in San Bernardino, CA. Either that or, in his mid-70s, he just didn’t give a hang. Wagner’s crusty look as he is about to ingest the stuff seems to say just that. The signature, in black marker, reads: “Best wishes to Ed, Honus Wagner”, and it’s a thrill - not to mention a near impossibility -- to find a Wagner marker as clear and strong as this NRMT gem. Considering the photo, which is also NRMT, this is a double play with incalculable value. The “Ed” is Eddie Bockman, a utility infielder who was with the team then and had his locker right next to Wagner’s. Having obtained the gold-strike of a photo and signature, Bockman kept it in his possession ever since. Photo is very nicely mounted within a light brown matted exterior surface, and the entire display is nearly flawless. A truly fabulous find. LOA from Bockman.