On March 7, Wrigley's casino on his island property held its annual dancing contest. Cub players had a chance to escape Hornsby and be footloose and fancy-free. Women were invited from Los Angeles and Hollywood to serve as partners in the competition. In a sign of the times, players without wives along had to obtain written permission from the Cubs management to compete in the dance. Couples would dance and then take bows. The Lindy, named after the aviation hero Charles Lindbergh, was a popular tune at the time. Kiki Cuyler, however, had the Charleston mastered, and won many contests during his Cub days.

Hack did not dance. He stood on the aisles, with a cigarette in his mouth. That afternoon Hack had a double and homer as the Cubs blasted the Pacific Coast League's Los Angeles Angels 12-1.

However, it turned out to be one of the few good games he enjoyed in spring training. Years later, Hack recalled that he didn't quite feel right that spring. He told J. Roy Stockton of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in the 1931-32 off-season that "even in the spring exhibition games I found myself fussing and swearing because I couldn't get hold of the ball. It wouldn't carry for me and I was missing more swings than usual." He would attribute this to the tweaked ball, the pressure of his contract and "living up to his 1930 record."

Nonetheless, sportswriter Thomas Holmes noted that "this season may see a new gentleman installed on the throne of sluggers. A year from now old hackery may be generally recognized as the successor of the great Babe."

The unbelievable was being discussed -- a new Babe? However incredible that may sound to contemporary ears, however far from reality that turned out to be, it was at least a possibility before the 1931 season had begun.

It starts with comparison. Holmes described the "physical oddities" between Ruth and Wilson: "There is Ruth, with his massive torso and powerful arms, dashing around gallantly in his 37th year on a pair of pipestem Annie Oakleys. There is Wilson, a giant of a little man, one who looks as though he might have been battered down to his five feet, six inches by a ponderous blacksmith's hammer. He has the head of a giant perched upon the neck and shoulders of a Goliath. But his body and his legs, although ultimately strong and sturdy, are short. His feet are in proportion to his height. They are the feet of a ballet dancer or bantamweight fighter."

He goes on: "His powerful and stocky frame drips perspiration at every pore. He doesn't spare the horses as he slides into a base and usually plows up the ground for ten feet or so. His recipe for ensuring a good grip upon his bat is to juggle enormous handfuls of loose earth. He then wipes his hands dry on his steaming uniform and within a few minutes bears a strong resemblance to a hard-working stoker at the end of his shift."

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