A Star Is Born

On May 10, 1937, in the small farming town of Henning, Tennessee, James Lucius Hickman was born. That may not bring most of you jumping out of your chairs, unless you are a member of Hickman's family or the Chicago Cubs family.

Jim Hickman was Mr. Dependable in the Chicago Cubs outfield during the late 1960s and early 1970s as manager Leo Durocher tried albeit unsuccessfully to bring a pennant to Chicago for the first time in a generation. Hickman came to the Cubs in a now-famous trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers that also brought relief pitcher Phil "The Vulture" Regan on April 23, 1968. While Regan won 12 games and saved 25 more, Hickman played sparingly and spent part of the campaign at AAA Tacoma.

An Original Met in 1962, Hickman broke in with the St. Louis Cardinals organization in 1956 but never saw any major league action until the Mets claimed him for their first expansion season. "Jess" (a nickname he got because the Kansas City Athletics had a pitcher named Jess Hickman in 1965-66) spent six years in New york, hitting 17 homers in 1963 with a career high 57 RBI. Hickman ended up on the Dodgers in 1967, even being called on to pitch in a lost-cause game in which he allowed onerun on two hits in two innings. By 1968, it looked like Hickman was headed not to a farm system but back to the farm in Tennessee until the Cubs tabbed him. "Grab him," Cubs coach Joey Amalfitano told Durocher as they chose a thrown-in from a list provided by the Dodgers to finalize the Regan trade. "He always hit well in Wrigley Field."

And that he did. A platooned right-handed hitter, Hickman broke into the Cubs regular lineup during that sweet and sour 1969 season, hitting memorable game-winning homers against Montreal and Houston to keep the Bruins on top in the National League East. Hickman slammed 21 homers in just 334 at-bats and played a strong right field. It was Hickman who had apparently nailed Tommie Agee at home plate in a crucial game at New York as the Mets, Hickman's old team, were closing in on the Cubs and eventually won it all in 1969.

The 1970 season was Hickman's best. Some say the ball was juiced that year because of the increase in home runs from 1,470 in 1969 to 1,683 in 1970. Hickman took advantage with a career high 32 circuit shots, 115 RBI and a .315 average, scoring 102 runs while dividing time between center field and first base in the Cubs' lineup. In the 1970 All-Star Game, Hickman lined a single to center field that scored Pete Rose with the winning run for the National League on the famous play where Rose bowled over Cleveland cacher Ray Fosse in a violent home plate collision. The Cubs meanwhile recovered from an early slump and stayed in contention until; the final week when the Pittsburgh Pirates won the East by five games.

Hickman spent three more seasons in Chicago, plagued by injuries and a decline in offensive production. His last season was 1974, back with the Cardinals as a pinch-hitter. He went back home after baseball and farmed, then lost everything as the People's Bank took the homestead and Hickman had to start all over. For details on this part of the life story, read Rick Talley's The Cubs of '69 (1989). In that book, Hickman recounted how Leo Durocher gacve Hickman $10,000 when he heard that one of his favorite players had lost the farm. Durocher also convinced the Cubs to increase Hickman's salary from $40,000 to $46,000 in 1971 as a reward for his steady play that put fans in the ballpark.

Hickman's story is much like that of Dick Ellsworth's in that a banner season seemed to make all the hard work worthwhile. Jim Hickman is a personified baseball memory for me because I link him with the other Cubs of '69 -- Billy Williams, Ron Santo, Ernie Banks and Randy Hundley, in particular -- as if he had been with the team from the beginning. Happily for Hickman, he got back into baseball after the bank took the farm and served as a hitting instructor for the Cincinnati Reds. Today, Jim Hickman is 74 years old. Where has the time gone? Too fast, for sure. So let's hear it for Cubby Jim one more time -- Hey!Hey!