John Wilson (wilsojo02)

John Samuel Wilson, Sr.

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 2", Weight 164 lb.

• Debut May 9, 1927
• Final Game April 24, 1928
• Born April 25, 1903 in Coal City, AL USA
• Died August 27, 1980 in Chattanooga, TN USA

BR page

Biographical Information

John Wilson was a pitcher 18 years (1927-1946), all in the minors except for two cups of coffee in 1927 & 1928, losing two years to the Military (1941-1942). He was born on Saturday, April 25, 1903, in Coal City, AL.

Wilson was 24 years old when he broke into the big leagues on May 9, 1927, with the Boston Red Sox. He was sent down to Pittsfield - Waterbury in the Eastern League but came back to Boston the next Spring, where he played his final MLB game on April 24, 1928 at age 24.

He returned to the minors with Pittsfield in the Eastern League (1928-1929); the Buffalo Bisons of the International League (IL) (1930-1935), except for 1933 when he spent part of the year with Jersey City; Ft. Worth in the Texas League (1935); the Birmingham Barons of the Southern Association (SA) (1935); Buffalo (1936-1937); the Toronto Maple Leafs (IL) (1937-1938); the Indianapolis Indians of the American Association (AA) (1939-1940); Atlanta - Montgomery (SA) (1943); the Chattanooga Lookouts (SA) (1944-1945); and Wilson in the Coastal Plain League (1946); ending his baseball career at age 43.

In 1928, his best year in the minors, he was (16-10) with an ERA of 3.12. Overall in MLB, he was (0-2) with 4 games finished, 2 complete games in 2 games started, 9 strikeouts, 19 walks and 0 shutouts in 30⅓ innings pitched with an ERA of 4.45 and a WHIP of 1.846 in 7 games. Overall in the minors, he was (141-140).

Wilson was a PFC in the U.S. Army during World War II (BN,VA) [1]. Retired Chattanooga carpet salesman. He died at age 75 at a VA Hospital in Chattanooga, TN on August 27, 1980 and is buried at Chattanooga National Cemetery in Chattanooga (SECTION P-1 SITE 10). Surviving him was his son, John Samuel Wilson, Jr.

Sources

Principal sources for John Wilson (wilsojo02) include newspaper obituaries (OB), government Veteran records (VA,CM,CW), Stars & Stripes (S&S), Sporting Life (SL), The Sporting News (TSN), The Sports Encyclopedia:Baseball 2006 by David Neft & Richard Cohen (N&C), old Who's Who in Baseballs (none) (WW), old Baseball Registers (none) (BR) , old Daguerreotypes by TSN (none) (DAG), Stars&Stripes (S&S), The Baseball Necrology by Bill Lee (BN), Pat Doyle's Professional Ballplayer DataBase (PD), The Baseball Library (BL), Baseball in World War II Europe by Gary Bedingfield (GB) ; The Texas League in Baseball, 1888-1958 by Marshall D. Wright; The Southern Association in Baseball, 1885-1961 by Marshall D. Wright; The International League: Year-by-year Statistics, 1884-1953 by Marshall D. Wright; The American Association: Year-By-Year Statistics for the Baseball Minor League, 1902-1952 by Marshall D. Wright; and independent research by Walter Kephart (WK) and Frank Russo (FR) and others.

VA Hospital and National Cemetery Records

WILSON, JOHN S SR PFC US ARMY WORLD WAR II DATE OF BIRTH: 04/25/1903 DATE OF DEATH: 08/27/1980 BURIED AT: SECTION P-1 SITE 10 CHATTANOOGA NATIONAL CEMETERY 1200 BAILEY AVENUE CHATTANOOGA, TN 37404 (423) 855-6590

Related Sites

• John Wilson at the SABR Bio Project
• John Wilson at the Baseball Almanac
• Bio at Baseball Page
• and a full Bibliography from SABR's The Baseball Index (TBI)