This is no needs a way to disrespect special needs people. I think that special needs are cool and can be super powers in some aspects. I know this because I was in the special needs learning groups sometimes as a kid in school. No I do not have special needs, I am just very dumb and was too busy thinking about guys like Hack Wilson playing baseball instead of what an adjective is.
So Hack Wilson is the hero of our story today. He played from 1923-1934 and even won an MVP in 1930. His 1930 season is seen as one of the best seasons a hitter has ever had in baseball. He hit 56 home runs, 191 RBIs (MLB Record), and hit .356. This can be debated at another time, but there is no way anyone is ever putting together a season stat line like this ever again. Hack was inducted into the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 1979.
Hack Wilson was born in 1900 to a 16 year old mother, and a 24 year old father in a suburb of Pittsburgh. Both his parents were heavy drinkers and Hack would follow in suite as he grew older. Hack was never marked as disabled when he was alive, but if he were to be born now, he would be the textbook definition of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Some symptoms of FAS are a large head, short legs, tiny feet, and a flat face. I will now show you a picture of Hack, and you tell me if he follows any of these symptoms.
Oh and he was 5'6" and wore a size 5 shoe. He looks really funny when he was with other people. Here is is next to Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig.
Look at the little guy, he just looks so small. Do not be fooled though, make fun of his small stature and you may just catch some punches in your face. During a 1928 game against the Cardinals, Hack was playing for the Cubs and he leaped into the stands to fight a fan for heckling him. About 5,000 fans swarmed the fight and it took a few hours for the Police to restore order to finish the game that was already in the 9th inning. In 1929 Hack hit a single off of Reds pitcher Roy Kolp who was removed from the game directly after. Roy said some words to Hack while walking off of the field and so Hack did what Hack does and he charged him in the dugout and got some punches in before being separated. That same day while waiting for the train, Hack got into a fight with another Reds pitcher Pete Donohue. Later in 1929 Hack was scheduled to box Chicago White Sox player Art Shire, but was talked out of it by his wife.
Oh I also forgot to say, behavioral problems are also a sign of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Hack was really good at baseball though. His legendary 1930 season was not just a fluke. He led the league in home runs 3 time before that and was known for hitting balls out of the park, literally. Hack might have been the first person to have retard strength. Before his 1930 season, Wilson had to go through some playing troubles during the 1929 World Series when he dropped 2 easy pop ups in game 4 that lead to a 10 run inning by the Philadelphia Athletics. The cubs were up 8-0 at the time of the errors and would go on to lose 10-8 and eventually the World Series. Hack would hit .471 in the same World Series, but it doesn’t get talked about due to his poor defense.
Hack's fall from his historic 1930 season may just be the biggest in history. During the offseason of 1930 a few things happened. Hack Wilson gained 20 pounds over the offseason as he said he was celebrating his MVP award with a lot of drinking. Another thing was that his manager Joe McCarthy, signed to manage the New York Yankees. This was a big one as Joe McCarthy was known as the Hack Wilson whisperer and was great at keeping Hack's crazy behavior and drinking in order. The great Rogers Hornsby took over for McCarthy and he was much more strict on what Hack could and could not do on the field and off the field. By May of 1931, Hack was benched due to his poor approach at the plate and his batting average was .100 lower than his previous season. Hack would be relived from his duties in Chicago in September after he fought a reporter on a train. Oh Hack, if only your teenage mother wasn’t such a heavy drinker.
Hack would get traded to the St. Louis Cardinals in December of 1931 and then traded to the Brooklyn Dodgers before the 1932 season began. He would be better with the Dodgers, but never really got to be his 1930 self. He would last play for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1934 before he would retire. Hack's out of baseball career would be a lot less successful.
Hack would have several failed business ventures post baseball. He opened a pool hall in his hometown that failed along with the sporting goods store that he opened. He tried to open a night club in Chicago but that failed too. Hack would die in 1948 due to internal hemorrhaging. He died with no money, no wife, and his only child refused to claim his remains. Hack would get a proper funeral though as National League President Ford Frick would donate enough money to give Hack what he deserved. Ford Frick is an all time name.
Like and share with someone that you think has FAS to let them know that anything is possible even with a disability.
That is the Tea, with T
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