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Hack Wilson

Baseball is an outdoor sport in which a pitcher pitches a hard, fist sized ball to the hitting area of a batter. The batter hits the hard ball with a tapered, smooth, cylindrical bat made up of wood or metal. The batsman scores by running counter-clockwise within the four markers called the bases arranged at the corners of a diamond. Baseball is sometimes called hardball to differentiate it from similar games such as softball.

Hack Wilson is one of the former baseball players who hold the honor of being inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Hack was born on April 26, 1900 in the Ellwood City at Pennsylvania. He was only 23 years old when he broke into the big leagues as a professional on September 29, 1923 with the New York Giants baseball team.

Hack was a physical phenomenon with 195 pounds weight and a 5 feet 6 inches tall frame. As a young man it was all muscle, a barrel chested upper body, blacksmith arms, and bulging thighs and calves on the short. Originally a New York Giant contender, he performed creditably in 1924, but slumped to 0.239 the following year and was sent down to Toledo, then a Giant farm. In the postseason draft, the Cubs drafted him for a measly 5,000 dollars contract over a tiring Giant protest. Thereafter, batting cleanup in the Cubs' awesome array of hitters, he was one of the National League's top power hitters.

Hack was a powerful striker of the ball and loved the high fastball, bringing the bat around from the right side to meet it with little elegance and mighty effort. Like many big swingers, he often led the league in strikeouts, but never exceeded 94 strikeouts in any season. Along the way he had 25 and 27 game hitting streaks, hit for the cycle, and in his best season of 1930, he had a slugging average of 0.723.

Hack compiled 56 home runs which was a National League record that stood until 1998, He also posted a single season record that still stands from that year. His professional stint ended due to alcoholism and the lack of discipline it encouraged. Following his tremendous 1930 season, Hack slumped alarmingly, hitting a 0.261 mark with 13 home runs and 61 runs batted in record. Hack never had any equal as a fielder, base runner and batsman, combined with heady work of a quality.

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