Wilson Collins was one of the fastest men in the majors. A baseball, football, and track star at Vanderbilt University, he was a pinch-runner in at least half of his games. But in two seasons with the Boston Braves, the speedster never stole a base.

His athletic career began at the Massey School, a private prep later known as Massey Military Academy in Tennessee. Massey, behind Wilson, won the prep championship of Tennessee and Alabama in 1909, a feat it repeated in 1910 when he was team captain.

He enrolled at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. In football, with Wilson at right halfback, the Vanderbilt Commodores finished 8-1, outscored the opposition 259-9, and won the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association championship.

He was also on the pitcher’s mound at the start of Vanderbilt’s 1912 baseball season. Vanderbilt (15-3) won the championship as Wilson posted a 6-0 record. In football, Vanderbilt (8-1-1) won the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association football championship for the third consecutive year and Wilson was named All-Southern second team, called the fastest back in the South.

Wilson had turned down offers from the Athletics and the Senators so he could stay at Vanderbilt, but the offers continued to come, and by mid-April Collins had signed with the Boston Braves. Manager George Stallings had outbid at least six other teams to get him.

Wilson made his major-league debut in left field in May 1913, in a 6-4 Braves win over St. Louis.

In a game on July 28th, with the Braves trailing Chicago 9-3 and two outs in the top of the ninth, Wilson came in as a pinch-runner. He kept running on a ground ball error by the shortstop and headed toward third base. The thirdbaseman tagged Wilson but dropped the ball. In the excitement after the play, he tucked the ball under his arm and a few seconds later, Wilson stepped off third and was tagged out, ending the game. It was the fifth time a major-league game ended on the hidden-ball trick.

In August Wilson was sold to the International League’s Buffalo Bisons, where the Braves hoped he would get some work as an outfielder and pitcher. But Wilson declined to report and returned to Nashville, where he attended classes at the Vanderbilt Law School.

The following spring, in 1914, Wilson did well in spring training, but once the season began he would be limited to mostly being used as a pinch-runner or late-inning defensive replacement. The platoon-loving Stallings would give him nine starts, eight versus left-handers and one against a right-hander.

Wilson would play in his last major-league game on July 8th as a late-inning replacement. In mid-July he would be optioned to the Binghamton Bingoes of the New York State League. He would later be called back to the Braves, but be released in September.

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Wilson Collins (pic)

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