For all the laudatory preseason attention, it wasn't clicking for Hack. When the Cubs traveled north to San Francisco to play two minor league teams there, he went just 4 for 26 as the Cubs lost four of six exhibition games. Hornsby actually benched the 56-homer slugger on March 30 for what the newspaper called "insomnia" and "feeble hitting." In Fort Worth and Kansas City, the Cubs played better but Hack still had not found his swing.

Hack's free-swinging style annoyed the straight-backed Hornsby. Like others at the time, including McGraw, Hack's greatest doubter, Hornsby still believed in the hit and run, delayed steals, and take and hit signs. The Rajah, a three-time .400 hitter, emphasized a controlled swing within a disciplined strike zone. He thought Hack swung too hard and, sometimes, too erratically. It didn't help matters that Hack had led the National League in strikeouts the past four years.

However, some Cubs were not impressed with Hornsby as a manager. Amid rumors of friction between the Rajah and several players, the Cubs reached Chicago with a 22-14-1 spring season record. It was a good beginning for what would be a wildly unstable season.

A rookie, Billy Herman, who would go on to become one of the finest Cubs second basemen, said, "I broke in with the Cubs under Hornsby in 1931. He ignored me completely, and I figured it was because I was a rookie. But then I saw he ignored everybody. He was a very cold man. He would stare at you with the coldest eyes I ever saw. If you did something wrong, he'd jump all over you. He was a perfectionist and had a very low tolerance for mistakes. He was one of the greatest hitters who ever lived -- maybe the greatest -- but he never talked hitting with us."

Herman added, "Hornsby tried to have discipline on the club, but he had some bad actors and couldn't control them -- fellows like Pat Malone and Hack Wilson. They'd get drunk and get into fights, and sometimes end up tossed in jail someplace. He'd fine them, but it didn't make any difference."

Like most managers, Hornsby had his favorites, or at least one favorite, and that was the quiet and polite English. Said the shortstop: "You know, I liked the guy, because see, he was so good to me. I couldn't help but like him, but a lot of players didn't like Rogers."

On Opening Day April 14, Hack started in center field and made one hit in three at bats. He walked once and scored a run. The next day he was walked three times and went hitless in his only official at bat. On the 16th, Hack went to the plate four times without a hit. So far he had no RBIs, but had also not struck out, which at least must have pleased Hornsby. It was short-lived.

In the next three games, Hack collected three hits in 12 at bat, with one double while walking twice and striking out four times. Still, no home runs or RBIs.

On April 20, in his seventh game of the 1931 season, Hack finally drove in his first runner. The next day he went hitless again.

On the 25th and 26th, his bat awakened, with four hits in 10 at bats, with one double and one RBI. However, in the next game, he was collared again.

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