Hack Wilson: Falling Down the List

by David Fleitz
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Lewis (Hack) Wilson, 1900-1948.  He batted .307 in his major league career, with 244 home runs in 12 seasons.

 

 

 

Poor Hack Wilson.

He was one of baseball's greatest sluggers for the Chicago Cubs in the late 1920s and early 1930s.  He is in the Hall of Fame, but he had a disappointing career, cut short by alcoholism.  Hack, who thoroughly enjoyed the life of the popular athlete, made one of baseball's highest salaries during the Depression, but he wound up deep in debt, and by the 1940s he was employed as a manager of a public swimming pool in Baltimore.  When he died suddenly at the age of 48, he was so broke that the National League paid for his funeral.

Hack was one of the oddest-looking ballplayers ever.  He was only 5 feet, 6 inches tall, with massive upper arms and a broad chest, but he wore size 5 and a half shoes.  That's not a misprint, either.  He supported his muscular body on short legs and tiny feet.  

Hack, as a result of his unusually-proportioned body, was never much of a fielder, so the Cubs put him in left field where he could do the least damage.  Still, he dropped a crucial fly ball in the 1929 World Series, and the Chicago fans never let him forget it.  They threw lemons at him whenever he came to bat for years afterwards.

Hack's reputation rests on one fantastic season.  In 1929 he belted 39 homers, finishing third in the league, but in the next season he exploded.  Hack walloped 56 home runs in 1930, setting a new National League record.  In fact, Hack surpassed the previous league record, set by Chuck Klein the year before, by 13 homers.

Hack also drove in the incredible total of 191 runs, a record that has not been seriously approached in more than seventy years.  Unfortunately, Hack's drinking and injuries began to take their toll, and in 1931 Hack hit only 13 homers with 61 runs batted in.  By 1934 he was out of the major leagues and on the road to oblivion.

He died in 1948, but his record of 56 homers lived after him. No one - not Willie Mays, not Hank Aaron, not Ralph Kiner - managed to surpass Hack's homer record for more than six decades.  Though Hack was long gone, his name appeared at the top of the list of "home runs in a season by a National Leaguer" for two-thirds of a century.  Here's how the list appeared at the end of the 1997 season:

        Hack Wilson, Chicago, 1930            56
        Ralph Kiner, Pittsburgh, 1949         54
        George Foster, Cincinnati, 1977       52
        Willie Mays, San Francisco, 1965      52
        Ralph Kiner, Pittsburgh, 1947         51
        Johnny Mize, New York, 1947           51
        Willie Mays, New York, 1955           51
        Ted Kluzewski, Cincinnati, 1954       49
        Willie Mays, San Francisco, 1962      49
        Andre Dawson, Chicago, 1987           49
        Larry Walker, Colorado, 1997          49

Wilson's 67-year reign at the top of the homer list ended in 1998.  Mark McGwire passed Wilson's record by 14 homers, much as Wilson passed Klein's old mark by 13 round-trippers.  Sammy Sosa also out-homered Wilson, and pushed Hack down to third place on the list.  At the end of 1998, this was what the list looked like: 
        Mark McGwire, St. Louis, 1998         70
        Sammy Sosa, Chicago, 1998             66
        Hack Wilson, Chicago, 1930            56
        Ralph Kiner, Pittsburgh, 1949         54
        George Foster, Cincinnati, 1977       52
        Willie Mays, San Francisco, 1965      52
        Ralph Kiner, Pittsburgh, 1947         51
        Johnny Mize, New York, 1947           51
        Willie Mays, New York, 1955           51
        Greg Vaughn, San Diego, 1998          50
In 1999, both McGwire and Sosa passed Wilson again, dropping him to fifth place:
        Mark McGwire, St. Louis, 1998         70
        Sammy Sosa, Chicago, 1998             66
        Mark McGwire, St. Louis, 1999         65
        Sammy Sosa, Chicago, 1999             63
        Hack Wilson, Chicago, 1930            56
        Ralph Kiner, Pittsburgh, 1949         54
        George Foster, Cincinnati, 1977       52
        Willie Mays, San Francisco, 1965      52
        Ralph Kiner, Pittsburgh, 1947         51
        Johnny Mize, New York, 1947           51
        Willie Mays, New York, 1955           51

Now, in 2001, Wilson has lost even more ground.  Barry Bonds passed Wilson last week, dropping him down to the sixth spot on the list.  Also, Sammy Sosa needs only two more homers to tie Wilson, and Luis Gonzalez needs only five more.  Hack Wilson might fall all the way to eighth by the end of 2001.  As it stands now, on September 17: 
        Mark McGwire, St. Louis, 1998         70
        Sammy Sosa, Chicago, 1998             66
        Mark McGwire, St. Louis, 1999         65
        Sammy Sosa, Chicago, 1999             63
        Barry Bonds, San Francisco, 2001      63 (so far)
        Hack Wilson, Chicago, 1930            56
        Ralph Kiner, Pittsburgh, 1949         54
        Sammy Sosa, Chicago, 2001             54 (so far)
        George Foster, Cincinnati, 1977       52
        Willie Mays, San Francisco, 1965      52

In another year or two, Hack Wilson might drop out of the top ten entirely.

Hitting 56 home runs in a season may not be such a big thing anymore, but for more than 120 years, from 1876 to 1998, no National Leaguer besides Hack Wilson was able to do it.  He was a funny-looking guy with a tragic life, but he deserves to be remembered.