Baseball
During his years playing first division soccer, Wilson also made a name for himself as an excellent baseball player. When he signed with Bethlehem Steel in July 1920, the local newspaper stated, "The addition of Wilson would be a most welcome one, due to the fact that his campaigning on the baseball diamond has been as brilliant as that in soccer circles. At present he is on the receiving end of the battery for the New Haven team in the Eastern League."
In February 1923, he gave up his soccer career when he was traded from New Haven in the Eastern League to the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League for Stan Baumgartner and Jack Withrow. Wilson's National League playing career would stretch over 18 seasons (1923–40) with the Philadelphia Phillies, St. Louis Cardinals and the Cincinnati Reds. He hit over .300 four times as a regular catcher and for his career batted .284 in 1,525 games.
In 1928, he joined baseball history when he was traded by the Phillies to the Cardinals during a game between the two teams. According to one account, "Wilson was a Phil for two innings, then darted into Redbird regalia, and sat on the St. Louis bench, for the remainder of the game." After the 1933 season, he was traded back to the Phillies for fellow catcher Spud Davis and infielder Eddie Delker.
From 1934 through 1938, he was the player-manager of his hometown Phillies, one of the worst teams in baseball at the time. He guided the Phils to three seventh place and two eighth (last) place finishes; in his final season, Philadelphia lost 103 of 149 games. He then joined the Cincinnati coaching staff in 1939 and played only four games that season.
In August 1940, the Reds were stunned when Willard Hershberger, backup catcher to future Baseball Hall of Famer Ernie Lombardi, committed suicide in his Boston hotel room. The 40-year-old Wilson came off the coaching lines and joined the active roster, serving as the club's third catcher behind Lombardi and rookie Bill Baker. He played three games in August, but then in September Lombardi injured his ankle, and Wilson was pressed into starting duty. Splitting time with Baker and Dick West, Wilson played in 16 games during the pennant race, batting .243. When Lombardi was unable to return for more than spot duty in the 1940 World Series, Wilson came through, batting .353 in six games and playing a key role in Cincinnati's defeat of the Detroit Tigers, four games to three, for the world championship.
His stardom in the 1940 Fall Classic led to his second and last major league managing job, with the Chicago Cubs (1941–44), but he never had a winning record in Wrigleyville and his highest finish was fifth, in 1943. The following season, the Cubs lost nine of their first ten games and Wilson was replaced by Charlie Grimm. His final record as a manager, over nine full or partial seasons, was poor: 493 wins and 735 losses (.401).
Wilson returned to Cincinnati as a coach in 1945-46. Released along with Reds manager Bill McKechnie at the end of the 1946 season, Wilson moved to Florida and entered the citrus growing business. He died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 46 the following May in Bradenton.
Read more about this topic: Jimmie Wilson
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