#282 Warren Hacker - Chicago Cubs

Warren Louis Hacker
Chicago Cubs
Pitcher

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'1"  Weight:  185
Born:  November 21, 1924, Marissa, IL
Acquired:  Sent from the Shreveport Sports (Texas League) to the Chicago Cubs in an unknown transaction, September 1948
Major League Teams:  Chicago Cubs 1948-1956; Cincinnati Reds 1957; Philadelphia Phillies 1957-1958; Chicago White Sox 1961

Died:  May 22, 2002, Lenzburg, IL (age 77)

Warren Hacker pitched for a dozen seasons in the majors, with his best seasons coming in the early 1950s with the Cubs.  Hacker made his debut with the Cubs in 1948, appeared in 30 games for the club in 1949, and then pitched sporadically over the next two seasons spending most of his time in the minor leagues.  He came up for good in 1952, winning a career-high 15 games in what was by far his career year.  Hacker was 15-9 with a 2.58 ERA in 33 games pitched, leading the league with a 0.946 WHIP and earning MVP votes following the season.  He'd struggle the following season, losing 19 games for the Cubs in 1953.  An excellent fielder, Hacker led all National League pitchers with a 1.000% fielding percentage in 1952, 1954 and 1956.

Hacker appeared in at least 30 games each season between 1952 and 1957, and he'd disappear from the majors for two seasons in 1959 and 1960 before returning with the White Sox in 1961.  In his final season in the majors, Hacker relieved in a career-high 42 games, pitching to a 3.77 ERA.  He'd spend five seasons between 1962 and 1966 pitching for the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians, which were some of the best professional seasons of his career.  In 306 career major league games, Hacker was 62-89 with a 4.21 ERA in 1,283 1/3 innings pitched.  Following his playing career, Hacker remained in the game as a minor league pitching coach in the Athletics and Padres organizations until the mid-1970s.

December 12, 2003 - My family at the Buena Tavern

Building the Set
December 25, 2003 from San Diego, CA (Kit Young Cards) - Card #249
My Dad/Santa brought me nine cards for our set for Christmas in 2003, with all but one of the cards coming from his dealer of choice, Kit Young Cards in San Diego.  The Brooklyn Dodgers team card (#166) was the lone non-Kit Young Cards addition, as that card came from TemDee in Turnersville, New Jersey.  It was a strange mix of commons from Kit Young Cards, with no semi-star or star card to balance out the lot.  We were admittedly in a lull collecting the set, with only 18 cards added during all of 2003 and only six cards added, as Christmas presents, in 2004.

Pictures from the Christmas of 2003 show us opening gifts at my Mom's house on December 26th, which has since become a tradition for us.  So while the official set records indicate these nine cards were added on December 25th, it was most likely a day later I opened the cards while in Millville.

The Card / Cubs Team Set
Hacker returns to Topps with this card, after having been exclusively in Bowman sets in 1953, 1954 and 1955.  The first cartoon panel on the back references his near no-hitter.  On May 21, 1955, Hacker was two outs away from a no-hitter against the Braves when George Crowe (#254) hit a solo home run to deep right field.  Hacker retired the next two batters and the Cubs would still win the game, 2-1.

1956 Season

In his final season with the Cubs, Hacker was 3-13 with a 4.66 ERA in 34 games, including 24 starts.  Cubs manager Stan Hack used a starting pitching rotation of Hacker, Bob Rush (#214), Sam Jones (#259) and Don Kaiser (#124) for most of the season.  Hacker threw four complete games and pitched 168 innings overall.

Phillies Career
The Phillies selected Hacker off waivers from the Redlegs on June 26, 1957.  In 20 games with the Phillies in 1957, including 10 starts, he was 4-4 with a 4.50 ERA.  He'd see much less time with the club in 1958, appearing in only nine games in May, June and early July.  With the Miami Marlins, then the Phillies' top farm team, he was 5-6 in 1958 with a 3.11 ERA.  Hacker last pitched for the Phillies on July 6, 1958 and he'd spend all of 1959 and 1960 pitching for their Triple-A team in Buffalo.  With the Bisons, and as one of their top starters, Hacker was 10-8 in 1959 and 9-11 in 1960.  His time with the Phillies came to an end on June 1, 1961 when he was sold to the White Sox.

A part of the organization for nearly four years, Hacker appeared in only 29 games for the Phillies, going 4-5 overall with a 5.04 ERA in 91 innings pitched.

1951 Bowman #318

1952 Topps #324

1954 Bowman #125

1957 Topps #370

1958 Topps #251

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1951 Bowman #318
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (4):  1952, 1956-1958
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1983 Topps 1952 Reprint Series #324

18 - Hacker non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 2/23/24.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database

The Trading Card Database

Wikipedia

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Set Order: #281 Art Houtteman - Cleveland Indians / #283 Hal Smith - St. Louis Cardinals

Order Collected: #281 Art Houtteman - Cleveland Indians / #297 Bob Skinner - Pittsburgh Pirates