Hack Wilson

Note: This page is for Hall of Famer Hack Wilson; for the minor league player with the same name, click here.

Lewis Robert Wilson

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 6", Weight 190 lb.

• Debut September 29, 1923
• Final Game August 25, 1934
• Born April 26, 1900 in Ellwood City, PA USA
• Died November 23, 1948 in Baltimore, MD USA

Inducted into Hall of Fame in 1979

BR page

Biographical Information

Hack Wilson had a relatively short career for a Hall of Famer but led the league four times in home runs. Most notably, he hit 56 homers in 1930, a National League record that stood for almost seven decades, until eclipsed in 1998 by Mark McGwire, who was later revealed to have been using PEDs. Wilson continues to hold the all-time single-season RBI record with 191, achieved that same season, however.

He stood only 5' 6", but weighed 190 lbs.

Although remembered primarily for his days with the Chicago Cubs, Wilson broke in originally with John McGraw's New York Giants and in 1924 was a regular on the Giants team that went to the World Series. Late in his career he was the RBI leader for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1932, driving in Lefty O'Doul, who was the runs scored leader.

He first played in the minor leagues for the Martinsburg Mountaineers and Martinsburg Blue Sox of the Blue Ridge League in 1921 and 1922, and the Portsmouth Truckers of the Virginia League in 1923 before coming to the majors in 1923. His lowest batting average during those three years was .356, in his first season. When he came to the majors, there was no uniform to fit the short, stocky Wilson, so he wore McGraw's uniform (McGraw was 5' 7"). He played for the Toledo Mud Hens for part of 1925.

He didn't get along with the Cubs' manager, Rogers Hornsby, in 1931 and also had a propensity to get into fistfights, with opponents, teammates, fans and the like. In 1928, he went after a fan who was heckling him from the grandstand at Wrigley Field, and thumped him loudly before teammates also went into the crowd to stop the fight; the fan later sued Wilson for injuries, but Wilson was exonerated thanks to the testimony of his teammates, who supported Wilson's assertion that the fan was the one who had jumped on Wilson. For all his hitting prowess, he was a poor defensive outfielder - he famously lost two balls in the sun during the 1929 World Series - and his lack of personal discipline often placed him into conflict with management - not just with Hornsby.

After the majors he played for the Albany Senators in 1935. After baseball he worked in a war plant and then became a municipal parks employee in Baltimore, MD. He died there at age 48. He was largely forgotten by the time he was voted in to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 1979; Bill James later wrote that no one who had actually seen him play ever voted for him as a Hall of Famer, and that the Veteran Committee's decision was solely based on his numbers - achieved in an era when offensive numbers were at an all-time high.

Notable Achievements

• NL Slugging Percentage Leader (1930)
• NL OPS Leader (1930)
• 4-time NL Home Runs Leader (1926, 1927, 1928 & 1930)
• 2-time NL RBI Leader (1929 & 1930)
• 2-time NL Bases on Balls Leader (1926 & 1930)
• 20-Home Run Seasons: 6 (1926-1930 & 1932)
• 30-Home Run Seasons: 4 (1927-1930)
• 40-Home Run Seasons: 1 (1930)
• 50-Home Run Seasons: 1 (1930)
• 100 RBI Seasons: 6 (1926-1930 & 1932)
• 100 Runs Scored Seasons: 3 (1927, 1929 & 1930)
• 200 Hits Seasons: 1 (1930)
• Baseball Hall of Fame: Class of 1979

Records Held

• Home runs, center fielder, season, 56, 1930 (tied with Ken Griffey Jr.)
• Runs batted in, season, 191, 1930
• Runs batted in, right handed batter, season, 191, 1930

Further Reading

• Clifton Blue Parker: Fouled Away: The Baseball Tragedy of Hack Wilson, McFarland, Jefferson, NC, 2000.
• John Racanelli: "Hack Wilson: Pugilist", The National Pastime, SABR, 51, 2023, pp. 73-77.
• Thomas E. Schott: "Hack Wilson", in Gregory H. Wolf, ed.: Winning on the North Side: the 1929 Chicago Cubs, SABR, Phoenix, AZ, 2015, pp. 176-181. ISBN 978-1-933599-89-2

Related Sites

• Hack Wilson at the SABR Bio Project
• Hack Wilson obituary