Major League Baseball
Wilson was drafted in the 4th round of the 1950 NFL draft (52nd pick overall) by the Cleveland Browns under Paul Brown, but opted for a baseball career after leaving Wisconsin. He was signed by the Chicago White Sox as an amateur free ageint in 1950, playing 85 games for the White Sox from 1951 to 1953. In May 1954, Wilson was traded by the White Sox to the Tigers for Matt Batts. Wilson played for the Tigers for 7 years from 1954 to 1960. Wilson ended his career with the Cleveland Indians in 1960.
Wilson was the primary catcher for Tigers pitcher Frank Lary, who was known as "'The Yankee Killer" because of his 16–3 record against the Yankees with Wilson catching. Wilson batted .354 in the 21 games where he was paired with Lary against the Yankees - 96 points above Wilson's career average.
Wilson's best season was 1958 when he played in career-high 103 games, hit for a .299 batting average and a .373 on base percentage. He also stole 10 bases, 8th best in the American League. Wilson also had an excellent year as a catcher in 1958, with a Range factor of 5.93 -- 0.59 points ahead of the league average for catchers. On July 20 of that year, he caught Jim Bunning's no-hitter. The following year (1959), Wilson had a career-high Range factor of 6.23 -- 0.92 points above the league average.
Read more about this topic: Red Wilson
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