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American baseball player

Willie James Wilson (born July 9, 1955) is an American former professional baseball player. He played 19 seasons in Major League Baseball for the Kansas City Royals, Oakland Athletics, and Chicago Cubs. He was an outfielder known for his speed and ability as an effective leadoff hitter. Wilson's career total of 668 stolen bases currently ranks him in 12th place all time among major leaguers. In his senior year, he hit .436 and stole 28 bases in 28 attempts. The Kansas City Royals picked him in the first round (18th overall) of the 1974 Major League Baseball draft. He started his professional career with the Gulf Coast Royals, batting .252 with a home run, 14 RBI and 24 stolen bases in 47 games. He moved up to Single A in 1975 for the Waterloo Royals, leading the 1975 Midwest League champions in both RBI (73) and stolen bases (76). In 1976, Wilson played for the Double A Jacksonville Suns, batting .253 with a home run, 35 RBI and 37 stolen bases in 107 games. Wilson began the 1977 season with the Triple A Omaha Royals. In what turned out to be his last minor league action (not counting a stunt appearance in 2009), he batted .281 with four home runs, 47 RBI and 74 stolen bases in 132 games. He also appeared in three games in the 1978 American League Championship Series against the New York Yankees, going 1 for 4 (.250) in the series.

Wilson started the 1979 season as the Royals' fourth outfielder, but by mid May he had established himself as the team's starting left fielder. In 154 games, he batted .315 with six home runs and 49 RBI. On defense, he led the league in range factor and putouts and finished second in assists among left fielders.

In 1980, Wilson started the year as the starting center fielder when Amos Otis opened the season on the disabled list, and acquitted himself well, posting an above average range factor and making just one error in 195 total chances for the year in center. He moved back to left when Otis returned in late May, and wound up leading the league in several categories. Wilson finished with a .326 average, three home runs, 49 RBI and 79 stolen bases (in 89 attempts) in 161 games. He also led the league in hits (230), runs scored (133), triples (15), and singles (184). Wilson finished second in stolen bases, and had at least 100 hits from both sides of the plate. He won both the Gold Glove and Silver Slugger Awards, and was fourth in the AL MVP voting, his best finish. Wilson batted .308 and tied George Brett for the team lead in runs batted in with four during the series as the Royals swept the Yankees in three straight games. In the 1980 World Series, Wilson batted just .154 and struck out against Tug McGraw for the final out of the Royals' Game 6 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies. This strikeout was Wilson's 12th of the Series, breaking the record of 11 held jointly by Eddie Mathews and Wayne Garrett in the 1958 and 1973 World Series, respectively. Ryan Howard would break Wilson's record by striking out 13 times in the 2009 World Series.

Wilson's batting average slipped to .303 in the strike shortened 1981 season, and most of his other numbers were off from the previous two seasons as well. In the 1981 American League Division Series against the Oakland A's, he batted .308, but failed to score a run, steal a base, or get an extra base hit in the three game sweep. Although the Royals missed the playoffs for the first time since 1979, Wilson made his first American League All Star team that year and winning his second Silver Slugger Award. In 1983, Wilson moved to center field in June when the club decided to shuffle their outfield, moving long time center fielder Otis to right field, and moving Pat Sheridan and Leon Roberts, who had been sharing right field, over to left. In the midst of the shuffle, Wilson had his worst season at the plate to date, batting .276 with two home runs and 33 RBI in 137 games. They became the first active major leaguers to serve jail time, serving 81 days at the Fort Worth, Texas, Federal Correctional Institution. He was suspended by commissioner Bowie Kuhn for the entire 1984 season, but the suspension was reduced on appeal and he was able to return on May 15. with only Wilson returning to the Royals. He hit .301 with two home runs and 44 RBI in 128 games, and stole 47 bases in 52 attempts. leaving Wilson as the starting center fielder. He played in 132 games, his most since 1988, and batted .270 with 37 RBI and 28 stolen bases. He started 1993 in a center field platoon with Dwight Smith, later splitting time with Sammy Sosa when the latter wasn't playing in right field. He batted .258 with one home run and 11 RBI in 105 games, but managed just seven stolen bases—a career low for a full season. For his career, Wilson hit 13 inside the park home runs, the most of any major league player playing after 1950. He topped a .300 batting average five times and also led the league in triples five times, being one of only four players to accomplish the feat. Wilson posted a .987 fielding percentage as an outfielder in the majors.

Wilson coached in the Toronto Blue Jays system in 1995 and 1997. He was elected to the Royals Hall of Fame in 2000. In 2003, Wilson was named manager of the London Monarchs of the fledgling Canadian Baseball League, but the league folded halfway through the season. Wilson also came out of retirement in 2009, signing a one day contract with the Kansas City T Bones, a team playing in the independent Northern League. He currently runs the Willie Wilson Baseball Foundation in Kansas City, Missouri.