No. 1929.10.12 · Live Ball Era
Hack Wilson Loses the Ball in the Sun
The Cubs led Game 4 of the 1929 World Series by eight runs. In the seventh, Hack Wilson lost a fly ball in the sun, and the Athletics scored ten.
Game 4 of the 1929 World Series, October 12 at Shibe Park, looked finished early. The Cubs led Connie Mack's Athletics, 8–0. In the bottom of the seventh Philadelphia sent ten runs across, the largest inning in World Series history at the time, and won the game, 10–8.
The play in the middle of it was Mule Haas's fly to center. Hack Wilson lost the ball in the sun. It fell behind him and became a three-run inside-the-park home run, and the inning kept going. Wilson was not a poor player having a poor series so much as a great hitter — he would set the National League record with 191 runs batted in the next season — who had one terrible moment in the outfield with the title in reach.
The Athletics closed out the series the next day. Wilson's name stayed attached to the sun.
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