Chicago Cubs: ‘Smiling’ Stan Hack remains an all-time organizational great

Chicago Cubs: The calm before the storm

Hack began his second year of professional baseball in Albany, for the Senators, the Double-A club in the International League. Spending majority of the season in Albany, Hack batted .299 with a .419 slugging percentage. Following his stint there, Hack was re-called by the Cubs for the final 20 games, slashing .350/.451/.483 with an 11.2 percent walk rate and a 4.2 percent strikeout rate.

From that point on, Hack never looked back. In his second full season in Chicago, Hack played in 111 games and hit .289 with a .363 on-base percentage. As the leadoff man, Hack recorded 116 hits, with 23 of those hits going for extra bases. He was never a power threat, and Charlie Grimm, who managed the team at the time, took advantage of his grit to get on base.

From 1935-1937, Hack slashed an impressive .301/.396/.397 with a .793 OPS and a 112 OPS+. His consistency in that span was nothing short of impressive, having seasons of 149 games and 154 games, and doing a good job to avoid significant injuries. By the time 1938 rolled around, Hack was beginning to catch fire.