Ultimate Mets Database - Memories of Jim Hickman

Heather Hickman
March 6, 2001
Jim Hickman was not only a good ball player but he is also a great grand father to all his grand kids. I know because I am one of them.I will never forget the grand slam at Wrigley.

Ed B
April 4, 2001
I think he was also the first Met to hit for the cycle. I'm fuzzy on this, but I don't they lost anyway.

Mike Dolitsky
July 9, 2001
As an 8 year old Mets fan in 1963, Jim Hickman was my favorite Met. Early in the 1963 season he hit a grand slam in one game of a doubleheader against the Milwaukee Braves, and although it's a little fuzzy, I think he also hit a home run in the other game. This was enough to catapult him to the top of my list, and he remained my favorite baseball player for the next couple of years.

It is unfortunate that his best years (including at least one All-Star appearance) came later on with the Cubs, however, he did hit several memorable home runs while a Met.

Alan Budick
December 14, 2001
Jim was the first Met to hit for the cycle. It happened in August of 1963 at the Polo Grounds. I was there that day. Mets beat the Cards and Ernie Broglio 7-3. He also hit the single in the 1970 All-Star Game that resulted in the famous collision between Ray Fosse and Pete Rose. He was on the Cubs at the time.

rich edwards
March 14, 2002
Two things I remember about Jim Hickman: He hit a grand slam against the Cubs at the Polo Grounds to end Craig's 18-game losing streak. It was described as a 270-foot fly down the leftfield line that scraped the overhanging scoreboard on the way down. The second was that the Dodgers tried him as a pitcher because his hitting got so bad. After that he had one or two monster years with the Cubs.

Mr. Sparkle
April 10, 2002
First Met to hit for the cycle, first Met to hit 3 dingers in one game, last player of all time to hit a homer in the Polo Grounds. How many other guys are the answer to 3 trivia questions. He played before my time but Jim Hickman is definitely Met to remember!

rich edwards
September 3, 2002
Correct me if im wrong but didn't Hickman hit the 3 homers at the old Busch Stadium in St. Louis?

feat fan
September 7, 2002
Let's get it straight, 9-4-65, I watched as Jimmy pelted three dingers in ST LOUEY..... Twas the end of yet another losing season....Met recalls playing that weekend including Selma,Goosen,Gardner,Harrelson and Jones.... Every time I hear the Dead's Tennessee Jed,I think of our own Tenessee Jim!

Robert
September 10, 2002
Jim Hickman may have been my all-time favorite Met. You could see he had the tools, but like so many others, never quite put it together on those sad-sack teams in the Polo Grounds. My favorite memory was the grand-slam that ended Roger Craig's losing streak. A 3- 2 pitch with 2 outs in the 9th, everybody's fantasy situation - Billy Williams was camped under the ball in left field and it hit the overhanging scoreboard on the way down. I was sorry to see him go, but was glad to see him break out with the Cubs. JIM HICKMAN ROCKS!!

SW
May 9, 2003
Poor Jim playing with those Mets. He was a talented ballplayer and went on to have some very good years. Of course they were with other teams. I remember the homer that saved Craig from having the longest losing streak. I can still hear those crazy Met fans as I watched on WOR Channel 9 in New York. Jim was a good player. He was always a favorite of mine. But I loved the whole team.

Jim Peyton
August 29, 2003
Jim Hickman was my hero as a boy growing up near his hometown of Henning Tennessee. I went to school with his son, Jim Jr. and played high school baseball with him. He gave me one of his Dad's gloves and a pair of Adidas shoes he had worn. I used them in high school and was so proud to have them. I attended the event at Opryland Hotel in Nashville when he was voted Tennessee athlete of the year.

Frank
November 15, 2003
I remember that evening, 09/03/65. Lying in bed up in my room in Albany, NY listening to the Mets on the radio. Another long summer (and losing Mets' season) nearing its end. The prospects of starting the 8th grade in a matter of days causing minor depression. And then, like magic! Jim Hickman knocks that third homer over the fence in St. Loo! I jump up and start doing an Irish jig on my bed! Yes! Yes! There is a God! The world is a good place after all! "Let's Go Mets!"

Bret
January 19, 2004
Jim Hickman became my favorite player in August, 1969, when he hit eight home runs during the month.

KMT
February 12, 2005
Does anyone remember Hickman and Ron Hunt finishing their careers with the Cards pinch hitting against the Mets in the last game of the 1974 season? I think it happened. If it did, it'd be pretty ironic! Both young stars on the infant Mets! Both traded together and both finishing up against the Mets.

Bob P
February 14, 2005
KMT's story is partially correct. Both Hickman and Hunt did finish their careers with the 1974 Cardinals, and both did get a base hit in their final at bat against the Mets.

However, Hickman's last game in the majors was July 14 against Atlanta and his last game against the Mets was June 30. Hunt's last game in the majors was September 28 against the Cubs, and his last game against the Mets was September 12.

On June 30, Hickman was in the starting lineup for the Cards and in his final at bat in the game he singled to left off George Stone.

In Hunt's final game against the Mets on Sept 12 (the night after the 25-injning game) he came on as a pinch- hitter and walked, stayed in the game and later struck out, and then singled to center in his final at bat against the Mets.

Jonathan Stern
February 21, 2005
Hickman hit the long fly ball that enabled Pete Rose to score the 1970 All-Star Game winning run... and to smash into Ray Fosse in the process.

If I'm correct, Hickman disliked New York and playing for the Mets. As for the latter, understandable. Only a masochist would have enjoyed playing for Casey's Polo Grounds gang.

blue and orange
February 28, 2005
Jim Hickman was an original Met who got the nick name "Big Jim." When he hit a HR's to win a DH in April of 1963 he received a year's supply of tuna fish. From then on we called him Tuna Fish Tom.

AL COSTON
May 19, 2005
I don't remember much about Jim Hickman's major league career, but he certainaly was my favorite player when he played minor league ball in Albany Georgia and I beleive that was a Cardinal farm team.

jamey bumbalo
November 23, 2005
Elsewhere on this site, under Chris Cannizzaro, a fan asks about two other original Mets who made it into the 70s. (Somehow Kranepool didn't seem to qualify for the question.) One is obviously Hickman. He never hit for much of an average, but he belted his share of homers.

Tim Dixon
March 1, 2006
I had the pleasure of knowing "Gentleman Jim" for the six years he played for the Chicago Cubs. His son, Jim Hickman Jr became my best friend for those six years when his Dad played for the Cubs. I have never forgotten those "wonder" years; I was 9 when the Hickmans moved into my Chicago suburb neighborhood, and was 14 when Jim was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals in 1973. I have always treasured those six summers playing ball, and hanging out with my buddy Jim Jr. My favorite trivia question is "who got the game-winning base hit in the 1970 All-Star game that knocked in Pete Rose from 2nd base, but also ended the career of Cleveland Indian catcher, Ray Fosse?" I miss all of you: Jim, Anita, Jim, Billy, Joey and Mike. Thanks for the memories.

Lorenzo Kaufmann
May 31, 2006
When the Cubs were folding in '69, only Bill Hands and Hicker stood tall. As Santo, Banks, Williams, Jenkins and the rest failed, Hicker came through in the clutch time after time. Sadly for us Cubs fans, it wasn't enough. After a 1970 post game interview, Hicker, who had won the game in the 9th, signed for about 50 of us. He even granted my request to sign my buddy's cast, and I'd still have that cast if my friend [Dick Murphy] had not thrown it away, a thoughtless act for which I shall never forgive him. I met Jim at a fantasy camp around 1985, and he was as nice then as he was in his Cubs years. Great guy, great memories.

Al
November 4, 2006
Jim Hickman was my favorite Met in 1962 and remains so today. What was so appealing to a 13 year old was that Jim was a young guy on a team with so many veterans, so many of them on their way out, and so many others plain washed up. Jim, at least, had potential. Even though he struck out a lot, when he made contact the ball went a long way. He also had a better than average arm, though when Casey played him at third base it was almost always a disaster. But remember those were the days when the Mets set a record for most different third basemen in a season-- every season, it seemed. So even though it took till Jim got to the Cubs for him to reach the potential that some of us spotted in him in 1962, I rooted for him all those years and, oddly enough, still consider him my favorite Met 40 odd years later.

Joe Figliola
August 5, 2007
The knock on Hickman, according to the Jack Lang book, was that he took a lot of called third strikes. I can't really say comment about that, since I was well under age five during that era and was more into playing and babbling. But when he did swing, he seemed to make his hits memorable ones (i.e., the home run to break Roger Craig's losing streak).

I have a slight memory of him from his days with the Cubs. Good power. And I learned about his playing days with the Mets from the back of his '72 Topps baseball card.

cj
November 25, 2007
Jim was my favorite Met. Two memories stick out in my mind, although both are fuzzy. I remember the Mets could never beat the best pitcher I ever saw, Sandy Koufax. And one night at the Polo grounds Sandy was killing us, shutting us out, as always. Hickman in the late innings (7th or 8th) hit a long triple to right field that drove in 2 runs and we actually BEAT KOUFAX 2-1. The other vivid memory was Jim diving to catch a ball in right field and his index finger, which he wore outside of his glove, getting caught in the ground and breaking (I was horrified); it cost us his steady bat for quite some time, if not the season. I still have the Daily News clipping somewhere of Jim leaving the hospital in a cast.

Dan Gurney
November 29, 2007
I remember as a kid begging my mother to let me stay up late on August 9th, 1963 to see if the Mets could break Roger Craig's 18 game losing streak. Craig had switched numbers to "13" that night because a clubhouse attendant had a dream where Craig won wearing "13". With two outs in the bottom of the 9th Hickman hit a grand slam off Lindy McDaniel and the Cubs. Mom even let me stay up to watch Hickman and Craig on "Kiner's Korner".

ira
December 6, 2007
Fuzzy is the right word. The Mets never beat Koufax at the Polo Grounds, by a Jim Hickman hit or anyone else's. Koufax had a perfect W-L record against them until August 25, 1965 when Tug McGraw beat him for the first time. Hickman played in that game, but did not perform the heroic feats you attribute to him. That game took place at Shea.

jim peyton
January 24, 2010
Jim Hickman has always been my baseball hero. I live near him in west Tennessee and played high school baseball with his son, Jim Hickman, Jr. Jim, Sr. is a truly humble man. His nickname, Gentleman Jim, is well deserved. Thank you for your kind remarks concerning Jim Hickman. He is now over 70 years old and I will share with him some of the kind words you guys made about him.

E. Smith
February 17, 2010
Didn't Jim Hickman hit 2 grand slams in each game of a doubleheader at the Polo Grounds? He was a steady player who was a long ball threat back in the day.

Mr. Roboto
February 21, 2010
E. Smith, Jim never did hit grand slams in each game of a doubleheader. According to information on baseball-reference.com, he homered in each game of a twinbill on April 21, 1963 against the Milwaukee Braves, with a slam in the first game and a two-run HR in the second. Also in '63, Jim hit a game-winning grand slam in the bottom of the ninth against the Cubs on August 9. All of this happened at the Polo Grounds. Perhaps you're confusing one of these days with the other?

At Shea in 1964, Jim hit two-run HRs in each game of a doubleheader on July 26, which was also against the Braves.

Ed K
May 16, 2010
One other notable achievement by Jim Hickman: On 9/29/64 and 9/30/64 in Milwaukee, he had nine hits in two consecutive games which I believe is still a Met record. Of course, the Mets lost both games anyway!

David Allen
August 14, 2011
Does anyone remember Jim's unbelievable running, guggling catch in right field with the Cubs?

Tony R
March 12, 2013
A childhood buddy across the street went to what would go down as classic Mets theater. I watched the game on WOR TV 9 hoping to both see him in the left field stands and Roger Craig break the jinx. The NY newspapers really built up the drama. The game really unfolded serious tension. CLASSIC 2 out...bases loaded...3-2 count and HICKMAN DID IT!! Mets beat the Cubs this same way back in June 63 on a Tim Harkness grand slam at the PG. These, Hickman's slams against Milwaukee in April and the wild, Mardi Gras fan reaction at the Polo Grounds scoped me a vision of the 69 Mets to come. May Hickman be forever blessed for the happy memories.

TC Conn
May 26, 2014
I met Jim AFTER his playing days were over. I was stationed at Blytheville Air Force Base Arkansas. He was a friend of my ex-wife's dad and she knew him also and I was fortunate to get to make that trip over to Tn., and meet him and his family. He and his family were great people, truly a humble individual. He would never talk about his baseball career unless you were to ask him a question about it. Got to play softball with him and his kids and some friends and we had a blast. We got to spend the weekends at their place on several occasions. One memory I have was we were on a small makeshift raft and were enjoying a short trip and it started sinking...OMG that was hilarious. Thanks Jim and family for the memories.

Matthew Schwartz
May 30, 2014
Jim Hickman rented a house on Summit Ave. in my hometown of River Edge, N.J. around 1963 when he played for the Mets, my favorite team. I played with his son a few times and met Mr. Hickman, and he couldn't have been nicer. Even though I've been a Mets fan my whole life, I always rooted for him when he played for the Cubs and other teams.

Andrew Weiss
July 16, 2014
I recently was doing some research, and found that I saw the only game in which Jim Hickman pitched. It was for the Dodgers against the Giants on June 23, 1967. I remember that game because it was the evening of the last day of school before summer vacation.

Anyway, I did an internet and found Jim Hickman living in Tennessee. I just got off the phone with him. What a pleasure ... he's a real gentleman and we had a nice ten-minute conversation. He got a kick out of the fact that I saw him pitch.

Chris Arnold
October 4, 2015
I met big Jim when I was 13 years old. My mother and Jim Jr. got married that summer, so he then was my grandad. He was a man of little words, but it was the coolest thing to tell all your buddies about big Jim. He had all kind of autographed baseballs from Santos to Brian Pick. He would autograph baseball pictures for my friends. The Cubs was always on with everyone watching in hopes that this would be the year. I'll be a Cubs fan forever. He gave me the bug. I'm truly humble to have known this great and kind man.

Michael Johnstone
February 19, 2016
Closest person resembling a star (ok Ron Hunt) when I saw my first game at Shea Stadium 5/13/66 at 8 years old. Unfortunately, broke his wrist in 2nd inning trying to make sliding catch in RF. Exciting game lasted 4 1/2 hours with Mets losing 5-4 in 17 innings. Willie Mays tied game in 8th with HR. Still a HUGE Mets fan and umpire youth baseball in NJ!

Dave
June 27, 2016
As a 10 year old whose grandfather adopted the expansion Mets as his team I followed suit and decided that Jim Hickman would be my favorite player. I still have vivid memories of him being the first Met to hit for the cycle and hit three home runs in a game. I was heartbroken when he was traded but always rooted for him to succeed. I was happy to see him make the All Star team as a Cub. Sad to hear of his passing but thankful for the memories he gave this lifelong Mets fan.

Ed Holic
June 27, 2016
I met Jim in 1969 when he became a Chicago Cub. My dealership in Schaumburg, Illinois gave him some Dodge Charger R/Ts. He was a true gentlemen and his wife Anita was so down to earth, also very polite.

The world was a better place because he was in it.

penaltykiller9
August 2, 2016
R.I.P Jim.

Great childhood memories of Jim Hickman. I can still hear Bob Murphy saying, "In center field tonight the tall and rangy Tennessean Jim Hickman." I remember a game 1965 when he made a great play to rob Vada Pinson and save the game. Also a tremendous HR off Bob Gibson to deep CF in old Busch stadium. Thanks for the great memories Jim.

tom hylas
September 2, 2016
My dad took me and my brother to the Polo Grounds for my 10th birthday on August 9, 1963 and witnessed the bottom of the 9th 3-2, 2-out walk off. I still remember this like it was yesterday , and yes we still remember the siren guy who was blowing it directly in his friends "sleeping" ear" as my Dad kindly described to us. RIP Jim.

O. B. White
May 10, 2019
Jim became the first Mets player to hit for the cycle in in 1963. Two years later, he became the first Met ever to hit three home runs in a game. No one else accomplished both of these things as a Met for the rest of the 20th century. Only Jose Reyes has done so in the 21st.

Hickman's cycle came in the natural order of single-double-triple-homer, which made him only the second player in National League history to do it that way. His feats stand out among all-time Mets to this day. It's too bad he played during the team's unsuccessful early years.

Henry Frenulum
February 27, 2020
My friend Normie told me Jim was into wood working big time. He was known for his painted wooden ducks featuring human genitalia. I’d like to purchase one if they are available.

Tom McNally
September 30, 2020
My father was an NYPD detective and had a temporary assignment at the Travelers Hotel near Shea Stadium where he became a “drinking buddy” of Jim’s. If I recall correctly, it was a very hot day in early September 1965ish when my father told me he and Jim had a few too many the night (and early morning) before and didn’t know how Jim would be able to play the double header that day at Shea. Well Jim proceeded to hit 3 HR’s and just missed the 4th (caught at the wall in Left Field. Between games, Jim called my father to ask when they were going to “party” again. When asked how he was able to hit 3HR’s he said “I just shut my eyes and swung hard”.

A few days later he and Charlie Smith (3rd Baseman) came over to the house on LI for a home cooked meal. Word got out and the driveway was chock full of bicycles.

Jim was a great role model and just a real stand-up guy. Sorry to hear of his passing in 2016.