Lewis Robert "Hack" Wilson (April 26, 1900 – November 23, 1948) was an American Major League Baseball player who played 12 seasons for the New York Giants, Chicago Cubs, Brooklyn Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies. Despite his diminutive stature, he was one of the most accomplished power hitters in the game during the late 1920s and early 1930s. His 1930 season with the Cubs is widely considered one of the most memorable individual single-season hitting performances in baseball history. Highlights included 56 home runs, the National League record for 68 years, and 191 runs batted in, an MLB record yet to be approached; the closest any player has come to having that many RBIs came in the very next season, when Lou Gehrig had 185 for the New York Yankees. "For a brief span of a few years," wrote a sportswriter of the day, "this hammered down little strongman actually rivaled the mighty Ruth."
While Wilson's combativeness and excessive alcohol consumption made him one of the most colorful sports personalities of his era, his drinking and fighting undoubtedly contributed to a premature end to his athletic career and, ultimately, his premature death. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979.
According to biographical information, Lewis Robert Wilson was born April 26, 1900, in the Pennsylvania steel mill town of Ellwood City, north of Pittsburgh. His mother, Jennie Kaughn, 16, was an unemployed drifter from Philadelphia.
According to civil records, his mother was "Jennie Kuhn", who married Hazen Caldwell in Ellwood City on 29 January 1900, apparently while pregnant. She gave birth to a son recorded as "Louis Caldwell" in Beaver County a few months later. By the time of the 1900 census, Hazen Caldwell was living with his father and siblings in Ellwood City on 8 June 1900, listed as still married. On 9 June 1900, 17-year-old Mrs. Jennie Caldwell (still married) and her son, Lewis (said to be born in April) were living with her father in North Sewickley Township, along with Robert Wilson (already married), a steel worker listed as a boarder. She was a heavy drinker, and in 1907 died of appendicitis at the age of 24. Her death certificate continued to list her under the name "Caldwell", so she evidently never married Robert.
In 1916, Wilson left school to take a job at a locomotive factory, swinging a sledge hammer for four dollars a week. Although only 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) tall, he weighed 195 lb (88 kg) with an 18-inch neck, and feet that fit into size 5+1⁄2 shoes. Sportswriter Shirley Povich later observed that he was "built along the lines of a beer keg, and was not wholly unfamiliar with its contents." While his unusual physique was considered an oddity at the time, his large head, tiny feet, short legs, and broad, flat face are now recognized as hallmarks of fetal alcohol syndrome. In the 1920 census, he was living with Robert H Wilson in Leiperville, Ridley Township.
In 1921, Wilson moved to Martinsburg, West Virginia, to join the Martinsburg Mountaineers of the Class "D" Blue Ridge League. After breaking his leg while sliding into home plate during his first professional game, he was moved from the catcher's position to the outfield. In 1922, he met Virginia Riddleburger, a 34-year-old office clerk; they married the following year. In 1923, playing for the "B" division Portsmouth Truckers, he led the Virginia League in hitting with a .388 batting average. Late in the season, New York Giants manager John McGraw purchased his contract from Portsmouth for $10,500 (equivalent to $590,000 in 2025).
Wilson made his major league debut with the Giants on September 29, 1923, at the age of 23, and became the starting left fielder the following season. By mid-July he was ranked second in the National League (NL) in hitting. He ended the season with a .295 average, 10 home runs, and 57 runs batted in (RBIs) as New York won the NL pennant. In the 1924 World Series he averaged only .233 in a seven-game loss to the Washington Senators.
Multiple stories exist to explain the origin of Wilson's nickname. By one account, a New York newspaper held a nicknaming contest; the winning entry was "Hack" because he reminded many fans of another stocky athlete, the popular wrestler Georg Hackenschmidt. In another version, McGraw is said to have remarked that Wilson's physique was reminiscent of a "hack" (slang for taxicab in that era). Giants teammate Bill Cunningham claimed that the nickname was based on Wilson's resemblance to Hack Miller, an outfielder with the Chicago Cubs. The New York Times printed the first documented usage of "Hack" on June 10, 1924.
Early in the 1925 season, Wilson hit the longest home run on record at Ebbets Field against the Brooklyn Robins, but fell into a slump in May, and was replaced in left field by Irish Meusel. On July 2, Wilson hit two home runs in one inning, tying Ken Williams' major league record set in 1922, but his hitting slump continued. In August, McGraw told reporters that he had "... made the mistake of rushing [Wilson] along," and sent him to the Giants' minor league affiliate, the Toledo Mud Hens of the American Association. At season's end, a front office oversight — or possibly, deliberate inaction — left him unprotected on the Toledo roster, and the last-place Chicago Cubs acquired him on waivers. "They let go the best outfielder I ever played alongside," said Giants right fielder Ross Youngs, "and they're going to regret it."
During the 1925 World Series, Wilson's son, Robert, was born.
Wilson regained his form as the Cubs' center fielder in 1926, and he quickly became a favorite of Chicago fans. On May 24, he hit the center field scoreboard with one of the longest home runs in Wrigley Field history as the Cubs came from behind to defeat the Boston Braves. Later that evening, he made news again when he was arrested during a police raid of a Prohibition-era speakeasy while trying to escape through the rear window and was fined $1 (equivalent to $18 in 2025). He ended the season with a league-leading 21 home runs along with 36 doubles, 109 RBIs, a .321 batting average, and a .406 on-base percentage. The Cubs improved to fourth place, and Wilson ended the year ranked fifth in voting for the NL's Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award.
Another strong performance followed in 1927 as Wilson once again led the league in home runs. Although the Cubs were in first place heading into the final month of the season, the team faltered and again finished fourth. Wilson posted a .318 average with 30 home runs and 129 RBIs and led NL outfielders with 400 putouts. He led the NL in home runs for a third consecutive year in 1928 with 31, along with 120 RBIs and a .313 average as the Cubs improved to third place.
Wilson had a combative streak and sometimes initiated fights with opposing players and fans. On June 22, 1928, a near-riot broke out in the ninth inning at Wrigley Field against the St. Louis Cardinals when Wilson jumped into the box seats to attack a heckling fan. An estimated 5,000 spectators swarmed the field before police could separate the combatants and restore order. The fan sued Wilson for $20,000, but a jury ruled in Wilson's favor. The following year, Wilson took offense at a remark by Cincinnati Reds pitcher Ray Kolp, and — upon reaching first base after hitting a single — he charged into the Reds dugout, punching Kolp several times before they could be separated. Later that evening at the train station, Wilson exchanged words and blows with Cincinnati pitcher Pete Donohue. In late 1929, he signed a contract to fight Art Shires of the Chicago White Sox in a boxing match, but reneged after Cubs president William Veeck, Sr. enlisted Wilson's wife Virginia to dissuade him, and then Shires lost a fight to George Trafton of the Chicago Bears. There was nothing to gain, Wilson said, by fighting a defeated boxer.
Wilson's "penchant for festivities" is also well documented. Biographer Clifton Blue Parker described him as "... the Roaring '20s epitome of a baseball player, primed for an age of American excess ... at a time when baseball was America's favorite sport." His love of drinking and partying did not endear him to Cubs owner William Wrigley, who abhorred alcohol consumption. (Wilson always insisted that he never played drunk; "hung over, yes; drunk, no.") Manager Joe McCarthy worked hard to shield Wilson from Wrigley and to keep him on an even keel. "Better than any other manager," wrote sportswriter Frank Graham, "Joe understood Hack, made allowances for him when he failed, and rewarded him with praise when he did well. Joe could be strict and stern with his players ... but he never was with Hack, and Hack repaid him by playing as he never had before, nor would again."