Hack Wilson

Lewis Robert "Hack" Wilson (April 26, 1900 – November 23, 1948) was an American center fielder in Major League Baseball from 1923 to 1934. He is best known for his record-setting 191-RBI season of 1930. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979. Wilson grew up in the Pennsylvania steel mill town of Ellwood City. Although 5'6" tall, he weighed 195 pounds, and had an 18" neck and size-6 shoes. One sports writer wrote that he was built ... more

Lewis Robert "Hack" Wilson (April 26, 1900 – November 23, 1948) was an American center fielder in Major League Baseball from 1923 to 1934. He is best known for his record-setting 191-RBI season of 1930. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979. Wilson grew up in the Pennsylvania steel mill town of Ellwood City. Although 5'6" tall, he weighed 195 pounds, and had an 18" neck and size-6 shoes. One sports writer wrote that he was built along the lines of a beer keg, and not wholly unfamiliar with its contents. Before Wilson started in baseball he attended school for five years before dropping out in sixth grade. Once he gave up on school Wilson went on to live off of a weekly salary of $4 at a local print shop. These events led him to seek better employment thus landing him on a semiprofessional baseball team. Not long after this he was picked up by the Blue Sox, a minor league professional team in Martinsburg, West Virginia. In his first professional appearance he had the... less