after wheat retired from baseball, he moved back to his farm in polo, missouri, until the great depression forced him to sell it in 1932. he moved to kansas city, missouri, where he operated a bowling alley with cotton tierney. he later became a police officer. it was during his duties as an officer in 1936, that he was chasing a fleeing felon in his vehicle, when he crashed and nearly died. wheat spent five months in hospital after the accident, and after he was discharged, he moved his family to sunrise beach, missouri, a resort town on the lake of the ozarks, to recuperate. it was here that he opened a hunting and fishing resort.