Jim Hickman
| Jim Hickman | |
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| Outfielder / First Baseman | |
| Born: May 10, 1937 Henning , Tennessee , United States 
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| Died on: June 25, 2016 Jackson , Tennessee , United States
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| Suggested: Right | Threw: Right |
| Debut in Major League Baseball | |
| April 14, 1962 for the New York Mets | |
| Last MLB assignment | |
| July 14, 1974 with the St. Louis Cardinals | |
| Batting average | .252 |
| Home runs | 159 |
| RBI | 560 |
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| Awards | |
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James "Jim" Lucius Hickman (born May 10, 1937 in Henning , Tennessee , † June 25, 2016 in Jackson , Tennessee) was an American baseball player in Major League Baseball (MLB). Hickman began his MLB career in 1962 at the same time it was founded with the New York Mets , where he was active for five years. Until the end of his active career in 1974, further positions followed with the Los Angeles Dodgers , Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals .
Career
Minor Leagues
Jim Hickman signed his first professional baseball contract before the start of the 1956 season with the St. Louis Cardinals . 1956 and 1957 Hickman played at Class D minor league level with the Albany Cardinals. In 1958 he was promoted to Billings and played the first half of the season at C-Level with the Billings Mustangs . There he came to 56 missions, in which he contributed 54 RBI and 14 home runs with a batting average of 25.6% . In the middle of the season he was transferred to the B-Level team, the Winston-Salem Red Birds from Winston-Salem . There he played 67 games until the end of the season.
After almost two years at AA level with the Tulsa Oilers , the first ten missions at triple A level with the Rochester Red Wings and the Portland Beavers followed at the end of the 1960 season .
Major League
In October 1961 there was an expansion draft in the National League , in which the two newly added franchises , the New York Mets and the Houston Colt .45s , could alternately fill their roster with players from other clubs. The Mets voted Hickman in their 18th vote in 36th place overall.
With the beginning of the first season of the Mets in 1962, Hickman was a regular in the team, which was disastrous in the first few years of its history. Jim Hickman was one of the few players in the new club who could call up consistently good performance. In five years with the Mets he completed 624 games and had a batting average of 24.1%. He hit 60 home runs, 210 RBI and scored 202 runs himself .
On November 29, 1966, Hickman and Ron Hunt were given to the Los Angeles Dodgers , in return Tommy Davis and Derrell Griffith came to the Mets. With the Dodgers, Hickman came to 65 missions in 1967 and was given to the Chicago Cubs after just one year just before the start of the 1968 season together with Phil Regan in exchange with Jim Ellis and Ted Savage . It was with the Cubs that Hickman could show his best career achievements. Jim Hickman had his best season in 1970, when he was also elected to the National League team for the All-Star Game for the first and only time . He set personal records this season in runs (102), hits (162), home runs (32) and RBI (115) and his best batting average in a season of 31.5%. For his achievements, Hickman was also honored with the MLB Comeback Player of the Year Award .
From 1971 to 1973 Hickman played at a consistently good level with the Cubs, but without being able to build on the outstanding performance from the 1970 season.
On March 23, 1974, the Cubs gave Hickman in exchange for Scipio Spinks to the St. Louis Cardinals, the franchise that had given him his first contract a good 18 years earlier. He finally completed 50 more games for the Cardinals in 1974 before retiring from his playing career at the age of 37.
death
James Hickman died on June 25, 2016 at the age of 79 years in a hospice in Jackson .
Web links
- Player information and statistics from Baseball Reference or Fangraphs or The Baseball Cube or Baseball Reference (Minor League) (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Jim Hickman, Slugger for Expansion Mets and All-Star with Cubs, Dies at 79th New York Times , June 26, 2016, accessed June 27, 2016 .
- ↑ 1961 Expansion Draft. baseball-reference.com, accessed May 3, 2016 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Hickman, Jim |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Hickman, James Lucius (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American baseball player |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 10, 1937 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Henning , Tennessee |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 25, 2016 |
| Place of death | Jackson , Tennessee |