Editing Hack Wilson (section)

==Life after baseball==
[[File:Hack Wilson's gravestone, Martinsburg, WV.jpg|left|thumb|Hack Wilson's grave marker, located in Rosedale Cemetery in [[Martinsburg, West Virginia]].]]
Wilson returned to Martinsburg where he opened a pool hall, but encountered financial problems due to a failed sporting goods business venture, and then a rancorous divorce from Virginia.<ref name="Hack Wilson Belted Homers, Hecklers with Equal Gusto"/>{{sfn|Parker|2000|p=177}} By 1938, he was working as a bartender near Brooklyn's Ebbets Field where he sang for drinks, but had to quit when customers became too abusive.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Freeman |first=Ed |date=1948-11-24 |title=Hack Wilson Dies; Set Homer Record |url=https://www.genealogybank.com/newspaper-clippings/title/zogusitxjatecydpumxmqroadpzknvfc_ip-10-166-46-69_1739760571701 |access-date=2025-02-17 |work=The News and Courier |page=10 |publication-place=Charleston, South Carolina |via=[[GenealogyBank.com]]}}</ref> A night club venture in suburban Chicago was another financial failure.<ref>{{cite news |title=Hack Wilson Becomes Night Club Impresario |agency=Associated Press |work=The Evening Independent |page=12 |date=August 11, 1939 |access-date=March 1, 2011 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=_c1PAAAAIBAJ&pg=5537,3317567&dq=hack+wilson&hl=en}}</ref> In 1944, he took a job as a good will ambassador for a professional basketball team in Washington, D.C., where he lamented that fans remembered his two dropped fly balls in the 1929 World Series far more vividly than his 56 home runs and 191 RBIs in 1930.<ref>{{cite news |title=Where's Hack Wilson? Very Much On Deck |agency=Associated Press |work=Sarasota Herald-Tribune |page=2 |date=October 26, 1944 |access-date=March 1, 2011 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=gB4hAAAAIBAJ&pg=2861,1663252&dq=hack+wilson&hl=en}}</ref> Unable to find work in professional baseball, he moved to Baltimore where he worked as a tool checker in an airplane manufacturing plant and later as a laborer for the City of Baltimore. When municipal authorities realized who he was, he was made the manager of a Baltimore public swimming pool.<ref name="Hack Wilson Now Managing City Swim Pool">{{cite news |title=Hack Wilson Now Managing City Swim Pool |agency=Associated Press |work=Schenectady Gazette |page=29 |date=July 22, 1948 |access-date=March 1, 2011 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ZIMuAAAAIBAJ&pg=1423,2762041&dq=hack+wilson&hl=en |archive-date=November 18, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211118115856/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ZIMuAAAAIBAJ&pg=1423%2C2762041&dq=hack+wilson&hl=en |url-status=live }}</ref>

On October 4, 1948, Wilson was discovered unconscious after a fall in his home.<ref>{{cite news |title=Hack Wilson Is Hospitalized |agency=Associated Press |work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |page=19 |date=October 5, 1948 |access-date=March 1, 2011 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=1QgNAAAAIBAJ&pg=3938,439096&dq=hack+wilson&hl=en}}</ref> Though the accident did not appear serious at first, [[pneumonia]] and other complications developed and he died of internal [[hemorrhaging]] on November 23, 1948, at the age of 48.<ref name="Death Overtakes Hack Wilson Of Home Run Fame"/>

Wilson — once the highest-paid player in the National League<ref name=autogenerated1>Berkow, I (September 5, 1998): On Baseball; Hack Wilson's Lesson Still Valid. [https://www.nytimes.com/1998/09/05/sports/on-baseball-hack-wilson-s-lesson-still-valid.html ''New York Times'' archive] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180928082844/https://www.nytimes.com/1998/09/05/sports/on-baseball-hack-wilson-s-lesson-still-valid.html |date=September 28, 2018 }}. Retrieved September 23, 2013.</ref> — died penniless; his son, Robert, refused to claim his remains. NL President [[Ford Frick]] finally sent money to cover his funeral expenses.<ref>{{cite news |title=Last Rites Held For Hack Wilson |agency=Associated Press |work=The Day |page=8 |date=November 27, 1948 |access-date=March 1, 2011 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=nh8iAAAAIBAJ&pg=1984,5384665&dq=hack+wilson&hl=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |author=Steadman, John |date=February 1990 |title=The Sad Demise of Home Run King Hack Wilson |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_baseball-digest_1990-02_49_2 |url-access=limited |access-date=2025-02-17 |work=Baseball Digest |pages=65-67 |volume=49 |issue=2}}</ref> His gray burial suit was donated by the undertaker.<ref name=autogenerated1 /> In marked contrast to [[Death and funeral of Babe Ruth|Babe Ruth's funeral]], which had been attended by thousands just three months earlier, only a few hundred people were present for Wilson's services.<ref name="Services Held For Hack Wilson">{{cite news |title=Services Held For Hack Wilson |agency=United Press International |work=The Pittsburgh Press |page=28 |date=November 28, 1948 |access-date=March 1, 2011 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=g2YcAAAAIBAJ&pg=3733,4675298&dq=hack+wilson&hl=en |archive-date=November 27, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211127052748/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=g2YcAAAAIBAJ&pg=3733%2C4675298&dq=hack+wilson&hl=en |url-status=live }}</ref> He was buried in Rosedale Cemetery in the town where he made his professional playing debut, Martinsburg, West Virginia.<ref name="Services Held For Hack Wilson"/>

Ten months later, Joe McCarthy organized a second, more complete memorial service, attended by [[Kiki Cuyler]], Charlie Grimm, [[Nick Altrock]] and other players from the Cubs and the Martinsburg team (by then renamed the Blue Sox). A granite tombstone was unveiled, with the inscription, "One of Baseball's Immortals, Lewis R. (Hack) Wilson, Rests Here."{{sfn|Parker|2000|p=194}}<ref>Photos of Wilson's Art Deco-style grave monument can be viewed here. (A replica of his Hall of Fame plaque was added to the reverse side in 1982.) [http://www.thedeadballera.com/GravePhotos/GravePhotos_W/Wilson.Hack.Grave.html thedeadballera.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304113749/http://www.thedeadballera.com/GravePhotos/GravePhotos_W/Wilson.Hack.Grave.html |date=March 4, 2016 }}. Retrieved September 23, 2013.</ref>

One week before his death, Wilson gave an interview to CBS Radio which was reprinted in Chicago newspapers. In 1949, Charlie Grimm, the Cubs' new manager, posted a framed excerpt from that interview in the Cubs' clubhouse, where it remains.{{sfn|Parker|2000|p=195}} It reads, in part:

<blockquote>Talent isn't enough. You need common sense and good advice. If anyone tries to tell you different, tell them the story of Hack Wilson. [...] There are kids in and out of baseball who think because they have talent they have the world by the tail. It isn't so. Kids, don't be too big to accept advice. Don't let what happened to me happen to you.{{sfn|Parker|2000|p=2}}</blockquote>

In 1979, Wilson was inducted into the [[National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum|Baseball Hall of Fame]] by the [[Veterans Committee]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Hack Wilson, Giles gain baseball Hall of Fame |work=The Montreal Gazette |page=21 |date=March 8, 1979 |access-date=March 2, 2011 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=-ogxAAAAIBAJ&pg=5446,2834483&dq=hack+wilson&hl=en |archive-date=November 22, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211122035112/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=-ogxAAAAIBAJ&pg=5446%2C2834483&dq=hack+wilson&hl=en |url-status=live }}</ref> A Martinsburg street is named Hack Wilson Way in his honor,<ref>Umstead, M (May 11, 2012). Martinsburg's heritage includes start of Hack Wilson's Hall of Fame career. [http://articles.herald-mail.com/2012-05-11/news/31673529_1_roundhouse-and-shop-first-railroad-strike-east-martin-street ''The Herald Mail'' archive] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160107031056/http://articles.herald-mail.com/2012-05-11/news/31673529_1_roundhouse-and-shop-first-railroad-strike-east-martin-street |date=January 7, 2016 }} Retrieved May 24, 2012</ref><ref>[http://wvde.state.wv.us/ed_directory/index.html?county_id=04&school_id=203 West Virginia Department of Education web site] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200808154551/http://wvde.state.wv.us/ed_directory/index.html?county_id=04&school_id=203 |date=August 8, 2020 }} Retrieved May 24, 2012</ref> and the access road to a large city park within his hometown, Ellwood City, Pennsylvania, is known as Hack Wilson Drive.<ref>[http://www.ecboro.com/parks.htm Borough of Ellwood City web site] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120301083109/http://www.ecboro.com/parks.htm |date=March 1, 2012 }} Retrieved May 24, 2012</ref>