More and more, baseball was infusing American culture. The 1930s witnessed a flurry of baseball-oriented movies, especially in the spoof genre. Some of them starring wide-mouthed comic Joe E. Brown include Fireman, Save My Child (1932), Elmer the Great (1933), and Alibi Ike (1935). The latter was based on the work of sportswriter Ring Lardner. Earlier on, Buster Keaton had incorporated baseball into two of his silent-era films, College (1927) and The Cameraman (1928). He made baseball the subject of One Run Elmer in 1935.

Sportswriter Ralph Davis of the Pittsburgh Press speculated that Wilson would try to cash in on his sudden fame: "The new home run champ is going to demand $50,000 of Wrigley's money for playing ball and busting the fences under Rogers Hornsby. It is no secret that the eminent fence buster doesn't relish the thought of playing under the Rajah. He probably figures that if George Herman Ruth could pull down $80,000 for all he accomplished in a home run way this year, the man who could overshadow the Babe ought to be worth 50 grand."

Even though Wilson was making the headlines, in retrospect some thought he did not get his full due of attention.

Leonard Koppet makes this point in a July 1976 column: "It is remarkable how little credit Wilson got at the time. This was only three years after Ruth had established his record of 60, so people were certainly aware of what home run records meant. But if you look in the 1931 Spalding Baseball Guide, you will find no special mention at all of Wilson's feat. It is totally ignored in the article on the Cubs' season, which is called a disappointment because they didn't win the pennant as they had in 1929."

Why the lack of attention among the baseball media? Koppet explains: "Wilson was completely obliterated by the still active figure of Ruth in the American League. The Babe so dominated the imagination of everyone that he had made the home run his personal trademark."

Koppet adds that until Wilson's final flurry of home runs in the last two weeks, he was not considered a threat to the Babe's 60.

Perhaps this is why Hack wound up signing for $33,000, far less than Ruth made, though it made him the second-best paid National Leaguer. In the public's imagination -- and in Wrigley's estimation -- squat Hack was a colorful, rising star, but he was no Babe Ruth -- who could ever be?

Still, the 31-year-old Wilson had dreams to chase as the Cubs boarded the train in February for Catalina Island and spring training. His performance had improved each year he was with the Cubs. He thought he had nowhere to go but up.

» NEXT