April 26
The birthday of Cubs great and Hall of Famer, Hack Wilson (1926-1931). Hack Wilson hit 56 home runs with 191 RBI (still an MLB record) in 1930. He led the NL in home runs in 4 of his 6 seasons with the Cubs. He led the NL in RBI twice.
Born: April 26, 1900
Died: November 23, 1948
Elected to the Hall of Fame in 1979 by the Veterans Committee
Led the NL in Home runs 4 times (1926-21), (1927-30), (1928-31)
Led the NL in RBI's twice (1929-159), (1930-191)
NL/MLB RBI record of 191 for one season (1930) still stands (as of end of 2018 season).
December 9, 1931
Hack Wilson traded to the St. Louis Cardinals.
June 9, 1932
Hack Wilson as a member of the Dodgers, hits a grand slam to defeat the Cubs and Pat Malone (a good friend of Wilson's) 5-2.
Yesterday's Cubs-Today's Metrics-Hack Wilson
Is Hack Wilson better than Sammy Sosa or Billy Williams? Looking at the advanced metrics and considering how much fewer games he played than either one of them, I would say Wilson has a claim on best Cubs OF of all-time. His 153 WRC+ is much better than Sosa, Williams, and Bill Nicholson.
Name PA HR R RBI SB AVG OBP SLG WRC+ WAR
Sammy Sosa 7898 545 1245 1414 181 .284 .358 .569 134 60.7
Billy Williams 9504 392 1306 1353 86 .296 .364 .503 134 58.9
Bill Nicholson 5614 205 738 833 26 .272 .368 .471 135 37.8
Hack Wilson 3719 190 652 769 34 .322 .412 .590 153 33.9
Phil Cavarretta 7509 92 968 896 61 .292 .371 .416 119 33.7
Hack Wilson had 3 seasons that rank in the top for Cubs OF'ers since 1906. Sosa did have 2 seasons in the top ten. Billy Williams only made the top ten once, but if you take a look at the top 20, Williams has 4 seasons. Wilson and Sosa both have 4.
The list does include Kris Bryant's 2016 season since he played enough games at OF to appear on Fangraphs list of outfielders.
Season Name PA HR R RBI SB AVG OBP SLG WRC+ WAR
2001 Sammy Sosa 711 64 146 160 0 .328 .437 .737 186 9.9
1930 Hack Wilson 709 56 146 191 3 .356 .454 .723 171 8.0
2016 Kris Bryant 699 39 121 102 8 .292 .385 .554 148 7.9
1943 Bill Nicholson 684 29 95 128 4 .309 .386 .531 164 7.2
1998 Sammy Sosa 722 66 134 158 18 .308 .377 .647 159 7.1
1965 Billy Williams 719 34 115 108 10 .315 .377 .552 155 7.1
1930 Kiki Cuyler 741 13 155 134 37 .355 .428 .547 134 7.0
2007 Alfonso Soriano 617 33 97 70 19 .299 .337 .560 122 6.7
1927 Hack Wilson 646 30 119 129 13 .318 .401 .579 159 6.6
1929 Hack Wilson 670 39 135 159 3 .345 .425 .618 152 6.6
This Day in Chicago Cubs History-Hack Wilson
June 23, 1930
Hack Wilson hits for the Cycle and drives in 6 runs as Cubs beat the Phillies 21-8 at Wrigley Field.
August 10, 1930
Cubs sweep a doubleheader over the Boston Braves at Wrigley Field. In game 1, Hack Wilson homers 3 times and Charlie Root pitches a 3-hitter and in game 2, Pat Malone pitches a 5-hitter in an 11-1 Cubs win.
August 26, 1930
Hack Wilson sets NL record for HR's (at the time) with his 44th HR of the season
September 27, 1930
Hack Wilson hits 2 home runs (55th and 56th of the season) and Pat
Malone wins his 20th game of the season as the Cubs defeat the Reds
13-8 at Wrigley Field.