Stan Hack

Stan HackStan Hack

Born:  December 6, 1909

Died:  December 15, 1979

Chicago Cubs (1932-1947)

Chicago Cubs Manager (1954-1956)

Stan Hack participated in 4 World Series with the Cubs (1932, 1935, 1938, 1945) batting .348 scoring 6 runs, driving in 5 runs with 5 doubles, 1 triple and a stolen base.   

Yesterday's Cubs, Today's Metrics

There have been 116 Cubs hitters to produce a season of 5.0 WAR or higher (at the end of the 2017 MLB season).  Stan Hack has 5 of those.  Only 8 Cubs hitters have 5 or more seasons of 5.0+ WAR.

  • Ron Santo                8
  • Sammy Sosa           7
  • Cap Anson               7
  • Billy Williams        5
  • Ernie Banks            5
  • Ryne Sandberg     5
  • Stan Hack                 5
  • Hack Wilson           5

Only Stan Hack & Sammy Sosa are not in the Hall of Fame.


How does Stan Hack season's compare to other Cubs 3B in team history?

WAR rank by 3B

  • 1945         9th (T)              6.5
  • 1938       17th                    5.8
  • 1941      19th (T)             5.5
  • 1940       21st                   5.4
  • 1942       24th                  5.0
  • 1935        25th                 4.9
  • 1943      42nd (T)           3.6
  • 1936      42nd (T)           3.6
  • 1937      51st (T)            3.2
  • 1939       61st (T)           2.7

Stan Hack & Ron Santo

Until Kris Bryant plays a few more years with the Cubs, Stan Hack is really the only Cubs 3B in team history that you can compare closely with Ron Santo.  The numbers below are Ron Santo & Stan Hacks career stats with the Cubs only from Fangraphs.com.  Santo's additional 400+ plate appearances, significant advantage in home runs (337 to 57) and better defense accounts for WAR comparison of 71.9 to 55.8 for Santo over Hack, however WAR is a cumulative statistic.    WRC+ is a very good measure of a hitters overall offensive value and accounts for how the hitter compared to others of his own era (A WRC+ of 100 indicates that a player is league average).  Santo only has a slight advantage over Hack with a 128 WRC+ to Hack's 124.  

In my opinion, Stan Hack is one of the most underrated Cubs players in their team history.  


Name   PA       HR     R        RBI         SB    AVG  OBP SLG  WRC+    Off        Def WAR

Santo  8979 337 1109 1290       35   .279      .366  .472 128     277.3   78.2 71.9

Hack   8506   57   1239      642    165 .301     .394  .397 124     269.5   16.3  55.8

5-time NL All-Star (3B) (1938-1939, 1941, 1943, 1945)

Led the NL in Hits twice (1940-190, 1941-186)

Led the NL in Singles twice (1941-141, 1945-155)

Led the NL in Stolen Bases twice (1938-16, 1939-17)

Scored 100+ Runs in 7 seasons (1936-1941, 1945)

Top 10's in various offensive categories (All NL)

  •      6-time WAR (1935, 1938, 1940-1942, 1945)
  •      5-time Batting Average (1938, 1940-1942, 1945)
  •      8-time On Base % (1935-1936, 1938, 1940-1943, 1945)
  •      8-time Runs Scored (1936-1942, 1945)
  •      7-time HIts (1937-1942, 1945)
  •      5-time Doubles (1938, 1940-1942, 1945)
  •      10-time Base on Balls (1935-1943, 1945-1946)
  •      9-time Stolen Bases (1934-1941, 1945)
  •      8-time Singles (1937-1943, 1945)
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