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.

[7] Lewis Robert Wilson was born April 26, 1900, in the Pennsylvania steel mill town of Ellwood City, north of Pittsburgh.

"[10] While his unusual physique was considered an oddity at the time,[11] his large head, tiny feet, short legs, and broad, flat face are now recognized as hallmarks of fetal alcohol syndrome.

[14][17] Late in the season, New York Giants manager John McGraw purchased his contract from Portsmouth for $10,500 ($187,770 in current dollar terms).

[1] 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 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.

Giants teammate Bill Cunningham claimed that the nickname was based on Wilson's resemblance to Hack Miller, an outfielder with the Chicago Cubs.

In August, McGraw told reporters that he had "... made the mistake of rushing [Wilson] along,"[25] 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[26] — left him unprotected on the Toledo roster, and the last-place Chicago Cubs acquired him on waivers.

[31] 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,[32] and was fined one dollar.

[1] The Cubs improved to fourth place, and Wilson ended the year ranked fifth in voting for the NL's Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award.

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.

"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.

In the World Series against Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics, Wilson's .471 hitting performance was eclipsed by two fielding errors at Shibe Park.

Wilson lost two fly balls in the sun; the second, with two runners on base, led to an inside-the-park home run by Mule Haas as the Athletics won 10–8.

[45][46] After the game, McCarthy reportedly told a boy asking for a souvenir baseball, "Come back tomorrow and stand behind Wilson, and you'll be able to pick up all the balls you want!

[49] Wilson's 1930 season, aided by a lively ball wound with special Australian wool, is considered one of the best single-season hitting performances in baseball history.

[2] In addition, the NL responded to the prodigious offensive statistics of the previous year (the only season, other than 1894, in which the league as a whole batted over .300[56]) by introducing a heavier ball with raised stitching to allow pitchers to gain a better grip and throw sharper curveballs.

[58] He hit his 200th career home run at Ebbets Field on June 18 — only the fourth player ever to do so, behind Ruth, Cy Williams, and Hornsby[59] — but then fell into a protracted slump, and was benched in late May.

[66] Wilson returned to Martinsburg where he opened a pool hall, but encountered financial problems due to a failed sporting goods business venture, and then a rancorous divorce from Virginia.

[69] In 1944, he took a job as a good will ambassador for a professional basketball team in Washington, D.C., where he lamented that fans remembered his two dropped fly balls in the 1929 World Series far more vividly than his 56 home runs and 191 RBIs in 1930.

[4] Wilson — once the highest-paid player in the National League[73] — died penniless; his son, Robert, refused to claim his remains.

[73] In marked contrast to Babe Ruth's funeral, which had been attended by thousands just three months earlier, only a few hundred people were present for Wilson's services.

[76] Ten months later, Joe McCarthy organized a second, more complete memorial service, attended by Kiki Cuyler, Charlie Grimm, Nick Altrock and other players from the Cubs and the Martinsburg team (by then renamed the Blue Sox).