November 11, 2009 – Jackie Collum was small in stature (5’7” and 163 pounds) but he had a big heart and a devastating screwball that he turned that into a 9 year major league career. Jackie was born on June 21, 1927 in Victor, Iowa and died at the age of 82 on August 29, 2009 in Grinnell, Iowa. Collum pitched for the Cardinals, Reds, Cubs, Dodgers (in Brooklyn and LA), Twins and the Indians. Collum also spent numerous years in the minors including a couple years with the St. Paul Saints in 1959 and 1960.
Jackie Collum’s stint with the Twins was brief, he pitched for Minnesota in 1962 appearing in just 8 games and had a 0-2 record and an ERA of 11.15 but that was at the tail end of Collum’s big league career. The Twins traded Collum and a player to be named later (Georges Maranda) to the Cleveland Indians in August of 1962 for Ruben Gomez. Collum only pitched in 1 game for the Indians before his major league career ended at the age of 35.
Although Jackie Collum’s time in Minnesota was short, he had a very interesting career and is a baseball legend in Iowa and by clicking here you can read a very interesting story written about Jackie Collum by William L. Sherman for the Field of Dreams chapter (Iowa) of SABR.