James George Wilson (born December 29, 1960 in

Corvallis, Oregon Corvallis ( ) is a city and the county seat of Benton County in central western Oregon, United States. It is the principal city of the Corvallis, Oregon Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Benton County. As of the 2020 United ...

) is a retired professional baseball player. He played parts of two seasons in Major League Baseball, appearing most often defensively as a first baseman, but more often as a designated hitter. He also played one season in Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan.

Career

Wilson attended Oregon State University where he played both baseball and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

for the Beavers. In 1982, he set school records in home runs and

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at bats for a given player, ...

. He was inducted into the school's athletics hall of fame in 2003. He was selected by the Cleveland Indians in the 2nd round of the

1982 Major League Baseball draft First round selections The following are the first round picks in the 1982 Major League Baseball Draft. Compensation Picks Other notable players *David Wells†, 2nd round, 30th overall by the Toronto Blue Jays * Allan Anderson, 2nd rou ...

, and played four games for the Indians in 1985. He was released by the Indians following the 1986 season. After a brief tour in the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...

organization, Wilson signed as a free agent with the Seattle Mariners on March 1, 1988, playing five games for them in the 1989 season. In 1990, Wilson played in six games for the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks in the Japanese Pacific League. He returned to North America, playing in the minor leagues, Mexican League, and independent leagues until 1994, when he retired. After his playing days were over, Wilson became a high school and legion coach in Vancouver, Washington, where he now resides. He is a play-by-play announcer with Mike Parker for the Oregon State Beavers football team.

References

External links

Jim Wilson Statistics on Baseball Almanac
1960 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Canada American expatriate baseball players in Japan American expatriate baseball players in Mexico Baseball players from Oregon Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Calgary Cannons players Cleveland Indians players Fukuoka Daiei Hawks players Indianapolis Indians players Industriales de Monterrey players Leones de Yucatán players Major League Baseball first basemen Maine Guides players Nippon Professional Baseball first basemen Olmecas de Tabasco players Oregon State Beavers baseball players Pericos de Puebla players Phoenix Firebirds players Portland Beavers players Seattle Mariners players Sportspeople from Corvallis, Oregon Vermont Mariners players Waterloo Indians players Winnipeg Goldeyes players Oregon State Beavers football players American football offensive linemen {{Baseball-first-baseman-stub