Hack's 191: Hack Wilson and His Incredible 1930 Season [Hardcover]

Bill Chastain (Author), Don Zimmer (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 24, 2012

The story of the Windy City’s hard-hitting, hard-drinking speakeasy slugger, and the holder of what might be baseball’s unbreakable record.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“I have long been fascinated by Hack Wilson, and his underappreciated RBI record. In Hack’s 191, Bill Chastain marvelously explains both the man and the mark. I learned something on every page.”

     —Tim Kurkjian, senior writer, ESPN The Magazine

“Hack’s 191 is a fascinating inside look at not only the 1930 season but also one of the most intriguing, overlooked characters the game has known. Bill Chastain captures the brawling times of Al Capone’s prohibition-era Chicago and the barrel-shaped ballplayers who lived large during it. He also gives us a detailed look at a season that helped create arguably baseball’s most unapproachable record, a season that changed the course of the game.”

     —Dave van Dyck, Chicago Tribune

“Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak, Cal Ripken’s 2,632 consecutive games played, Pete Rose’s 4,256 career hits. . . . These records may never be broken. The mark least talked about is the record for runs batted in during a season. As a former Major League Baseball player and lifelong fan, I consider Hack Wilson’s 191 RBIs in 1930 to be one of the most amazing achievements in the history of the game. Bill Chastain does an incredible job of taking us back to that magical season. I felt like I was there watching the games at Wrigley Field or enjoying the speakeasy nightlife with Wilson and his Prohibition-era Cubs fans.”  

—Tino Martinez, baseball broadcaster, former Major League All-Star

“Hack Wilson’s personality and habits—at the ballpark and away—had always intrigued me, as had his record of 191 RBIs in one season, which is an amazing feat and a record that will not likely be broken. Bill Chastain’s fascinating account of that season brings to life Wilson and the city of Chicago during a raucous period complete with gangsters and speakeasies.”

—Joe Maddon, manager, Tampa Bay Rays

From the Inside Flap

Hack Wilson’s record 191 RBIs in 1930 may well stand the test of time, and so may the record of his hard-drinking lifestyle. In Hack’s 191, Bill Chastain re-creates the most productive offensive season in baseball history while giving readers unique insight into the life of one of baseball’s most fascinating, enigmatic, and yet neglected characters.

Drunk or sober, Lewis Robert “Hack” Wilson lived large in Prohibition-era Chicago, where  the entertainment and nightclub industries thrived and Al Capone, an acquaintance of Wilson, reigned as the most publicized gangster in America. Hack finished his 1929 season with the Chicago Cubs batting .345 with 39 home runs and 159 RBIs, giving him his fourth consecutive 100-plus RBI season. But he was the goat of the World Series, misplaying two fly balls that triggered a comeback by the Philadelphia Athletics. Despite losing the Series, the Cubs entered the 1930 season favored again to win the National League pennant. Complementing Wilson in the lineup were Rogers Hornsby and Kiki Cuyler. The great Joe McCarthy managed the team. After a slow start and many bad breaks—including the death of one player and a costly injury to Hornsby—the Cubs were in first place by the end of August, with Hack Wilson leading the way. In the public’s mind, Wilson’s pursuit of Babe Ruth’s single-season home run record of 60—a pursuit that saw him exceed Ruth’s pace for much of the season—overshadowed his assault on Lou Gehrig’s RBI mark of 175. Chronicling the ups, downs, and record-setting accomplishments of “Hack,” this book returns arguably the most hard-living, hard-hitting ballplayer in history to the lineup of the game’s greats.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Lyons Press; First Edition edition (January 24, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0762769637
• ISBN-13: 978-0762769636
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #343,878 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Bill Chastain began his journalism career as a freelance writer shortly after graduating from Georgia Tech in 1979. Some of the more notable publications where his stories have appeared over the years include: Razor Magazine, Nation's Business, SPORT Magazine, and Inside Sports. Chastain worked as a sports reporter for The St. Petersburg Times and The St. Petersburg Evening Independent before going to The Tampa Tribune in 1990, where he worked for twelve years as a columnist and sports reporter. While with the Tribune he also served as a correspondent for Sports Illustrated. Currently he covers Major League Baseball's Tampa Bay Rays for MLB.com.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A flawed hero with an unbeatable record May 28, 2012

By Barry Sparks VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Hack Wilson's 191 RBI in 1930 for the Chicago Cubs might be one of baseball's unbreakable records. The record has stood for 82 years, and the closest anyone has come close to the mark in the past several decades is 165 RBI by Manny Ramirez in 1999. The second closest to Wilson's mark is 184 RBI by Lou Gehrig in 1931.

Wilson clouted 56 homers that season, erasing Chuck Klein National League record of 43 and challenging Babe Ruth's mark of 60. His home run effort drew more attention than his RBI production. The RBI didn't become an official stat until 1920.

Despite a season or two of glory, Hack Wilson was one of baseball's most tragic figures. He was a functional alcoholic, a flawed hero, someone who was once described as "a wayward soul headed in the wrong direction on a one-way street."

At 5-foot-6 and 195 pounds, Wilson didn't look like a ballplayer. He wore a size six shoe, but wore a size 18 collar. Author Bill Chastain says Wilson "stuck out like a pit bull in a poodle show."

Although Wilson batted .471 in the 1929 World Series against the Philadelphia Athletics, he earned the goat horns as he lost two balls in the sun. He was humiliated by the errors and was forever tagged with the sarcastic nickname "Sunny Boy."

Chastain sets the stage for the 1930 season by recounting the 1929 season and some of the Cubs' major players--Manager Joe McCarthy, infielder Rogers Hornsby and Cubs' owner William Wrigley. McCarthy understood Wilson better than anyone else and he was able to get the maximum out of his talent. Hornsby was despised by his teammates, often tried to undermine McCarthy (eventually ousting him) and poisoned the clubhouse. Owner Wrigley sided with Hornsby more than McCarthy and passed the managerial reins onto Hornsby, much to chagrin and detriment of Wilson.

Chastain does an excellent job of painting a portrait of these key players and providing context for the 1930 season, a year when the entire National League batted over .300.

Wilson's home run prowess gained the most attention. He was 15 games ahead of Ruth's 60-homer pace on June 30 and a week ahead of Ruth's pace at the end of August. McCarthy was fired late in the season and replaced with Hornsby. Wilson finished with 56 homers, 191 RBI (long thought to have been 190) and batted .356. Wilson's RBI production was aided by teammates Riggs Stephenson (.367), Kiki Cuyler (.355), Gabby Harnett (.339) and Woody English (.335). Chastain details Wilson's performance during the 1930 season in about 90 pages.

The following season, 1931, was termed Wilson's "hangover season." The slugger hit .261, slammed just 13 homers and drove in 61 runs. At the end of 1931, the Cubs traded Wilson to the Cards, who sent him to Brooklyn. Wilson continued to struggle in Brooklyn the next two seasons. His career ended in 1934. He lost everything after baseball and spent the rest of his life working menial jobs for low pay. He died on Nov. 23, 1948 at age 48.

Chastain adds interesting and helpful chapters about putting the 1930 season and 191 RBI in perspective and the quest to correct the records to give Wilson 191 RBI instead of the long-accepted 190.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Informative January 26, 2012

By Warhistoryreader

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Very good book about Hack Wilson who during that time was basically the "Babe Ruth of the National League." I was first intrigued about Hack when I was younger and had a baseball card with Hack Wilson as the holder of the National League RBI record w/ 190 RBI. This book dwells on the 1930 season with a good accounting of Hack's season. It also goes into detail how hitting averages exploded in 1930 and pitcher's ERA's skyrocketed as well. The book has a good section explaining how Hack's RBI total was upped to 191 based on a missed RBI during the 1930 season. The books recounting of Hack's youth is good, but I wish it had a little more detail. I would have given this book five stars; however, the link with Al Capone and the gangsters of Chicago was not as much as I hoped or expected based on the publisher's description. Overall a very good book about baseball's glorious years, any baseball history buff will enjoy the reading.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Somewhat disappointed February 5, 2012

By Doug

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Overall the book was interesting and informative but I was a little disappointed. I noticed a few editing mistakes such as when the author wrote Rogers Hornsby hit a homerun off Yankee great Lefty Grove in 1933. Grove nevered pitched for the Yankees, it was Lefty Gomez. Also the author did not include a listing of Wilson's career stats although that is easily looked up. I would liked to have seen
a little more detail on Wilson's game to game stats, maybe a chart if that is possible. At times the author skipped game information such as talking about a game which moved Wilson to 176 RBI then a few paragraphs later he has 182 RBI, what happened in between? I did like the chapter on the struggle to get the record corrected. The book does show what a difference a manager can make in the confidence of a player and how much it can affect his performance.