Career
He worked in Major League Baseball umpire from 1921 to his death in 1928, serving stints in both the American and National Leagues. He began playing professional baseball as a catcher in the old Class C South Atlantic League ("Sally League") in 1911, but had to give up playing early in that season due to an arm injury. He then umpired college baseball games, before moving up to the then-Class Associate of Arts Western League.
In 1921, Wilson was appointed as an American League umpire by Ban Johnson.
Two years later, in 1923, he became a National League umpire. In May 1922, player-manager Ty Cobb and outfielder Harry Heilmann of the Detroit Tigers engaged in a heated argument with Wilson during a game with the Saint Louis Browns.
Cobb, it was alleged, deliberately stepped on Wilson"s foot during the confrontation and then refused to leave the field after Wilson ejected him from the game, resulting in Cobb"s suspension by American League President Ban Johnson on May 30. However, a dispute over the game ensued between Johnson and Wilson.
The umpire resigned early in the season and joined the National League staff for 1923.
In a spring training game between the New York Yankees and the Boston Braves in Saint St. Petersburg, Florida, on March 24, 1927, Wilson ejected nine Yankee players early in the game for heckling him from the bench, only to have them return unnoticed to the dugout later in the game. On June 12, 1928, Wilson died of acute appendicitis at Victory Memorial Hospital in Brooklyn, New York at age 38. He fell ill more than a week before his death and underwent two surgeries before he died.
