when the baseball hall of fame held its first election in 1936, wagner tied for second in the voting with babe ruth, trailing cobb. a 1942 "sporting news" poll of 100 former players and managers confirmed this opinion, with wagner finishing 43 votes behind cobb and six ahead of ruth. in 1969, on the 100th anniversary of professional baseball, a vote was taken to honor the greatest players ever, and wagner was selected as the all-time shortstop. in 1999, 82 years after his last game and 44 years since his death, wagner was voted number 13 on "the sporting news"' list of the 100 greatest players, where he was again the highest-ranking shortstop. that same year, he was selected to the major league baseball all-century team by the oversight committee, after losing out in the popular vote to cal ripken, jr. and ernie banks.