Lewis Robert "Hack" Wilson (April 26, 1900-November 23, 1948) played 12 seasons in the Major Leagues. He was one of the most accomplished power hitters in the game during the late 1920s and early 1930s. His 1930 season with the Chicago Cubs is widely considered one of the most memorable individual single-season hitting performances in baseball history. Highlights included 56 home runs (a National League record that stood until 1998, when it was broken by Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa), and 191 RBIs, an MLB record that has yet to be broken.
"For a brief span of a few years," wrote a sportswriter of the day, "this hammered down little strongman actually rivaled the mighty (Babe) Ruth."
Before he broke into the Major Leagues, however, Wilson got his start playing for the Martinsburg Blue Sox of the Blue Ridge League, a low-level minor league outfit. In 1921, he started his career there as a catcher, and suffered a broken leg while sliding into home during his first game. While hospitalized in Martinsburg, he met his future wife, Virginia.
When Wilson returned to the field, his leg injury made playing the catcher position difficult. Instead, he shifted to the outfield. His strong play in Martinsburg eventually led to promotions to a minor league team in Portsmouth, Va., and the Major League's New York Giants not long after that.
He was let go by the New York Giants in 1925 and picked up by the Cubs, where he found his great success. He finished his Major League career in the mid-1930s with a few seasons with the Brooklyn Dodgers and seven final games with the Philadelphia Phillies.
After leaving the big leagues, 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. He died in Baltimore in 1948 and his body was brought back to Martinsburg for interment at Rosedale Cemetery. Despite his records, his short career and overall unpredictability as a player kept him from being voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame until 1979.
The posted coordinates for this cache will lead you to Wilson's grave. To find the cache, which is about 750 feet away but still in the cemetery, use his MLB career statistics to solve this puzzle:
N 39 27.ABC
W 077 56.DEF
A: number of home runs hit while playing for the Giants in 1925
B: number of runs scored while playing for the Giants in 1923
C: number of triples hit while playing for the Cubs in 1931
D: number of RBI while playing for the Phillies in 1934
E: first digit in number of hits while playing for the Dodgers in 1933
F: second digit in number of at bats while playing for the Cubs in 1928
You can check your answers for this puzzle on GeoChecker.com.
Good luck with your search. Please keep in mind that as this is a cemetery cache, hunts should be limited to daylight hours.
Good luck and happy caching!