THE OUTLAW

October 17, 2023

Good evening. This is Dead Legends. The daily newsletter that loves baseball as much as Nomar loved adjusting his batting gloves.

Let’s dive in.

Today’s story is about a man who lived hard and died hard.

On May 9, 1924 Bill Wilson was found dead on the floor of a speakeasy - stabbed 10 times.

Once you understand Bill, it’s pretty easy to see how things ended up that way.

In 1890, many prominent players of the time were defecting from the NL to the Players’ League.

This opened up roster spots on NL teams for scrubs like Bill Wilson.

Wilson’s Major League debut in 1890 was uneventful - he went hitless and his team, the Pittsburgh Alleghenys, lost 6-1.

They went on to have a brutal season, going 23-113 - Wilson hit .214.

After the 1890 season, the Players’ League failed and a lot of the players came back to their former teams.

Bill’s services were no longer needed, and he took off to play in the pacific northwest for a few years.

In 1894, Wilson signed with the Minneapolis Minnies and did very well; hitting over .300 two years in a row.

As his performance got better, he got bolder and cockier.

He was known for being a loudmouth who was never afraid to throw hands, even though he couldn’t fight at all.

He was also known to party a lot and cheat on his wife - basically an all-around terrible guy.

One time, Wilson got his ass kicked by an umpire twice in one day.

After a bad call, he tried to choke umpire Bob Clark, but Clark broke the chokehold and submitted Wilson.

Then Wilson waited for Clark after the game and attacked him, only to be whooped by the umpire again until the fight was broken up by the cops.

Wilson continued to bounce around over the years; his last season in the big leagues was with Louisville Colonels in 1898.

Bill “officially” retired in 1905, and after a couple of years he developed an alcohol addiction and descended into a life of crime.

In 1909, he was caught stealing postal money orders, but his accomplices saved him from police custody and he went on the run.

Eventually, he was arrested in Seattle and sent to prison for two years.

Upon his release, he started building a reputation for himself on the streets; he was known by the alias Baseball Wilson. 

In the end, his bad decisions and combative nature cost him his life.

On the day he was killed, Wilson was in the same speakeasy he’d been thrown out of the week before.

When he returned on May 9, he got tuned up, started talkin’ a whole lotta shit, and a brawl ensued.

He was stabbed during the fight, and because of his criminal record and general bad reputation, no one really bothered to track down the killers.

Bill’s epitaph was short and simple: “Baseball Wilson lived hard and died hard.”

FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME

If you love this newsletter, there’s a decent chance you’re pretty romantic about baseball.

One of the reasons we love Homage is because they preserve the dopest aspects of our culture and memorialize them in their apparel.

Here’s a sample platter from the site:

Quick links to the collections:

STRANGE NAMES

If you're just joining us, we play this game every day where we try to find the weirdest names throughout baseball history.

Why? Don't ask us, it's just something we like to do.

If you've been rocking with us for awhile now, you know what time it is.

Today's winner is:

In 1911, when Shultz finally signed with the Phillies, his contract was the richest ever given to a college player heading to the major leagues - $3,500 a year.

He did not deliver.

Over two years, he pitched 84 innings, lost seven games, and ended with a 6.0 ERA.

After his time in the big leagues, he did bounce back a bit though.

In 1914, Toots pitched for the Providence Grays with Babe Ruth and Carl Mays.

Despite a good year, nobody offered him a contract, and he never made it back to the show.

THE DEAD LEGENDS ARCHIVE

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