Hack Wilson honored with historical marker

ELLWOOD CITY ― Friday is Hack Wilson Day, a time to honor an Ellwood City native Hall-of-Famer who slugged his way into Cooperstown with his prodigious power hitting.

At 11 a.m. at the Lincoln High School Baseball Fields, the Ellwood City Area Historical Society will celebrate Wilson with the unveiling of a Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission roadside marker.

Chicago attorney John Racinelli, the keynote speaker, is a baseball historian, a member of the Society of Baseball Research (SABB) and the membership director of the Chicago chapter of SABB and founder and co-chairman of the SABB Baseball Landmarks Research committee. His official biographies and articles have been published by SABB, and Racinelli is ranked the top collector of Hack Wilson baseball cards.

In 2021, Racinelli traveled the Hack Wilson trail from Wrigley Field to Cooperstown with stops in Ellwood City and Martinsburg, W.Va., to experience firsthand the formative places that brought Wilson to baseball's highest place of honor.

Lewis Robert "Hack" Wilson (1900–48) was one of baseball's greatest power hitters in the 1920s and '30s. He played for the New York Giants, Chicago Cubs, Brooklyn Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies. His 1930 season with the Cubs is widely considered one of the most memorable individual single-season hitting performances in baseball history. His 56 home runs was the National League record for 68 years. His 191 runs-batted-in record has not been beaten.

In 1979, Wilson was elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

"Though his tenure in baseball was relatively short, Hack Wilson made an imprint on the game that resonates to this day," Racinelli said.

Wilson played in major league baseball for 12 seasons, finishing his career with a lifetime .307 average, 244 home runs and 1,063 RBIs.

Ellwood City Area Historical Society president Robert Morabito said, "Yet, because of his undisciplined habits, his life is a cautionary tale of an individual with tremendous talent who allowed his drinking and brawling to dull the even greater impact he could have had on professional baseball and ultimately led to an ignominious end."

Morabito said Hack understood this.

In a CBS radio interview just before his death at the age of 48, he stated: "Talent isn't enough. You need common sense and good advice ... Don't be too big to accept advice. Don't let what happened to me happen to you." A framed copy of this excerpt hangs in the Cubs' clubhouse.

"We recognize Hack Wilson's accomplishments and value his gained wisdom by our celebration," Morabito said.

Wilson was born April 26, 1900, in Ellwood City. His mother, Jennie Kaughn, 16, was a drifter from Philadelphia and his father, Robert Wilson, 24, was a steelworker. His parents, who never married, were heavy drinkers. In 1907, his mother died of appendicitis at the age of 24.

Wilson left school in 1916 to work at a locomotive factory, earning $4 a week swinging a sledgehammer.

Although Wilson was 5-foot, 6-inches tall, he weighed 195 lbs., had an 18-inch neck and wore a size 5 1/2 shoe. His large head, tiny feet, short legs and broad, flat face are now recognized as fetal alcohol syndrome, a group of conditions that can occur in a person who is exposed to alcohol before birth.

The historical society's Hack Wilson Marker Committee, chaired by Everett Bleakney, was formed in 2021. Getting the marker starts with a proposal by a sponsoring agency to the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission on a historically significant person, place, or event. That proposal must contain sufficient, verifiable historical facts supporting the marker's placement. The commission does an exhaustive job researching and verifying the facts. Once approved by the commission, the Pennsylvania State Historical Preservation Office works with the sponsoring agency on the specific location, wording and dedication.

"In the case of the marker honoring Hack Wilson, the idea was presented to our board in September of 2021 and the process will complete with the marker dedication on Aug. 25, 2023," Bleakney said.

The public is invited to celebrate a native son who had an impact on baseball history.

What: Hank Wilson Day

When: 11 a.m. Aug. 25

Where: Lincoln High School Sports Complex

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Hack Wilson honored with historical marker in his native Ellwood City