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Chief Wilson

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Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox baseball biography John Owen "Chief" Wilson (August 21, 1883 – February 22, 1954) was an American professional baseball right fielder. He played in Major League Baseball from 1908 to 1916 for the Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals.

Wilson played minor league baseball for three teams until the end of 1907, when he signed with the Pirates. After spending six seasons with the organization, he was traded to the Cardinals, where he spent the last three seasons of his major league career. Wilson is best known for setting the single-season record for triples in Template:Mlby with 36, a record that still stands.

Early lifeEdit

Wilson was born on August 21, 1883, in Austin, Texas.<ref name=BR>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He grew up at a ranch owned by his family located approximately 50 miles north of Austin in Bertram.<ref name=sabr>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Wilson started his baseball career playing on several teams in independent leagues, before joining the Austin Senators in 1905.<ref name=sabr/><ref name=BRm>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He was known for his introverted nature; his Pirates teammate and roommate Bobby Byrne recounted how Wilson "wouldn't say two words all day."<ref name=sabr/>

Contrary to popular belief, Wilson was not of Native American descent.<ref name=encyclopedia/> He was nicknamed "Chief" because his Pittsburgh teammates and manager Fred Clarke thought Wilson, a native Texan who stood Template:Convert,<ref name=pleasure>Template:Cite news</ref> resembled a "Chief of the Texas Rangers."<ref name=sabr/>

Professional baseball careerEdit

Minor leaguesEdit

In Template:Baseball year, Wilson signed with the Austin Senators, a minor league baseball team in the Texas League.<ref name=BRm/> However, the team disbanded in the middle of the season on June 6, and Wilson joined the Fort Worth Panthers, playing for them until he was promoted to the Des Moines Champs of the Western League in Template:Baseball year. He performed well, posting a batting average of .323 in 56 games.<ref name=sabr/><ref name=BRm/> It was during his first (and only) season with the Champs that Wilson was spotted by Denver Grizzlies pitcher Babe Adams, who had signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates at the end of 1907. Adams informed Pirates owner Barney Dreyfuss of Wilson's "tremendous arm" and his ability "not only as a hitter but as a fielder."<ref name=sabr/> This prompted Dreyfuss to sign Wilson to the Pirates as their right fielder.<ref name=sabr/>

Pittsburgh Pirates (1908–1913)Edit

File:1912 T207 Chief Wilson.jpg
A 1912 T207 baseball card depicting Wilson

Wilson made his major league debut for the Pirates on April 15, 1908, at the age of 24,<ref name=BR/> in a 3–1 Opening Day win against the St. Louis Cardinals.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> During his Template:Mlby rookie season, Wilson had a relatively disappointing year,<ref name=sabr/><ref name=encyclopedia>Template:Cite book</ref> batting .227, slugging .285 and finishing sixth in the National League (NL) in strikeouts with 66. Out of his 120 hits that season, only 18 were extra base hits.<ref name=BR/><ref name=sabr/> As a result of his offensive woes, Pirates fans booed him on a constant basis.<ref name=sabr/> Wilson greatly improved his batting in the following season, raising his batting average to .272, playing all 154 games of the season and finishing fifth in the NL in triples with 12.<ref name=BR/> This success culminated in the Pirates winning the World Series at the conclusion of that season.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In the Opening Day game of the Template:Mlby season, Wilson got injured and had to sit out for seven games, with Vin Campbell taking his place in the lineup.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On July 3, against the Cincinnati Reds, he hit for the cycle.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He finished the season with similar statistics as the previous year,<ref name=sabr/> batting .276 and hitting 13 triples.<ref name=BR/>

The Template:Mlby season was a breakout year for Wilson. He posted a batting average of .300, finished third in the NL in doubles (34), fifth in home runs (12) and sixth in slugging (.472) and drove in 107 runs batted in (RBI), thus becoming the league's RBI champion.<ref name=BR/> The 12 home runs he hit that season marked a Pirates team record he held until Template:Mlby.<ref name=sabr/>

In Template:Mlby, Wilson recorded the same batting average as the year before and finished second in the league in slugging (.513) and games played (152), third in home runs (11), fourth in RBI (95) and seventh in hits (175).<ref name=BR/> Furthermore, he set the MLB single-season record for triples, hitting 36 in total that year.<ref name=sabr/> However, his record received almost no press coverage. Baseball sportswriter Ernest Lanigan suggested that this was because a record book erroneously attributed Nap Lajoie with having 44 triples in Template:Mlby, when he hit only 11 that year.<ref name=sabr/> As a result, several newspapers – most notably The Pittsburgh Press – were under the belief that Lajoie held the record.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Wilson's record still stands today and is currently the third oldest single-season record, behind Lajoie's .426 batting average in 1901 and Jack Chesbro's 41 wins in 1904.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> It is considered one of baseball's most unbreakable records,<ref>Template:Cite news Template:Subscription required</ref> as only Sam Crawford (1914) and Kiki Cuyler (1925) have come the closest to breaking the record; both players hit 26 triples.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Wilson's record also accounted for part of the 129 triples amassed by the Pirates that year, setting a single-season record for most triples by a team since 1900.<ref name=sabr/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Due to his stellar and record-breaking performance, Wilson finished eighth in that season's voting for the Chalmers Award, the precursor to the MLB Most Valuable Player Award.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

St. Louis Cardinals (1914–1916)Edit

Wilson finished his career playing three seasons for the Cardinals. He played his last MLB game on October 1, 1916.

Later lifeEdit

After he retired from baseball, Wilson returned to his family ranch in Bertram, where he became a stock farmer and held various positions in service to the community.<ref name=hail>Template:Cite news</ref> He died on October 24, 1954, at the age of 70 and was interred at Austin Memorial Park.<ref name=BR/><ref name=sabr/> On March 31, 2007, the Bertram Little League Sports Complex was dedicated to and named after Wilson.<ref name=hail/>

See alsoEdit

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ReferencesEdit

GeneralEdit

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SpecificEdit

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Further readingEdit

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External linksEdit

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