Jackie Collum

Jackie Collum was a 5-foot-7 ambidextrous pitcher. Despite his lack of size, the Iowa farm boy played in nine major league seasons (1951-1958; 1962) with six teams. He appeared in 171 games, compiling a 32-28 won-lost record with a 4.15 ERA. He could also hit – his lifetime batting average was .246.

Though Collum pitched and hit only from the left side in the majors, his quirky talent was a running theme during his 16 seasons as a pro ballplayer. And even today, anybody from Grinnell, Iowa, who knows this man’s story will almost always mention his ambidexterity first – i.e., “Jackie Collum? Yeah, he could throw with either hand.”

In a 2006 interview, Collum said, “I was a mediocre ballplayer, no doubt, but I was lucky enough to play against the best of ’em. … I mean, when you play with 18 or 19 Hall of Famers, you won’t see that often.”1 But while Collum saw himself as a journeyman, he had many memorable moments in his professional career and had personal qualities that made him a press and fan favorite.

***

John Dean Collum was born on June 21, 1927, in Victor, Iowa. He was the third of four sons of John Edward Collum and Sophia Louise Lohman. Before him came Ambrose and Bruce; he was followed by Lawrence. Jackie spent his youth in Newburg, Iowa, a small farming community north of Grinnell, the town of about 8,000 in which he lived most of his adult life.

When the boy was just four years old, his left hand was damaged in an accident on the family farm. As he described it in 2006, the index and middle fingers on that hand got tangled up in a corn sheller (by other accounts, a pulley while making hay). The digits had to be reattached. “This made it more difficult to grip the ball securely, but there’s no doubt it helped me throw a sinking screwball,” Collum explained.2

In Jackie’s youth, Newburg High School had an enrollment of 50 or fewer. He was one of just four in his 1944 graduating class. Today there is no school there because Newburg consolidated with Grinnell decades ago. As a 10-year-old sixth-grader in 1938, Jackie started playing second base for Newburg High. The older players didn’t mind having the kid on the team: he was good and he sometimes meant the difference between playing a game or forfeiting. Jackie’s two older brothers were the Newburg pitchers.3  When they graduated, Jackie took their place and quickly became dominant.

As a high school senior, Collum was Newburg’s only pitcher. On one occasion in 1944, when Newburg had to play two games back-to-back, he pitched the first game left-handed and then—to rest a tired arm—hurled the second right-handed. He won both games; it is thought to be the only time an Iowa high schooler had accomplished this feat of ambidexterity. Newburg had no newspaper, and surrounding towns – Grinnell, Marshalltown, and Newton – did not cover Newburg results. Even so, the story lives on, and “the Collum legend” was born.4

Following high school in 1944, Collum served in the Army Air Forces in the Pacific Theater of Operations; he was stationed in the Philippines. Sports were a popular diversion for the troops, and he was able to resume his career as a pitcher for the Fifth Air Force baseball team. His team reached the finals of the Pacific Theatre Championship series and had to win two games to win the championship. Collum pitched the first game and defeated a team that included major leaguers Pee Wee Reese, Stan Musial, and Joe Garagiola. Collum wanted to pitch the next game, but the manager said no. Jackie’s team lost the championship game.

Nonetheless, Collum gained the confidence that he could pitch for a living if someone would give him a chance. His military catcher, Bernie Gerl, had minor league experience with the St. Louis Cardinals and recommended him to that organization. The Cardinals followed through and sent scout Walter Shannon to Grinnell in a blizzard in 1946 to sign Collum.

With the end of the war, there were plenty of baseball players trying to get to the majors – and Collum’s height (or lack thereof) caused him to get lost in the shuffle. Most thought he was too small to play major league baseball, but Collum was determined to prove them wrong. He was assigned to the Cardinals’ Class C team in St. Joseph, and the manager there, Bob Stanton, liked Collum’s desire and determination. He wouldn’t be disappointed. Collum compiled a 15-11 record on the mound in 1947. He also hit well enough to play as a reserve outfielder.

On February 28, 1948, Collum married Betty Jo Belles. Their marriage lasted 62 years until Jackie’s passing in 2009 and produced three sons (Tom, Bill, and Chris) and three daughters (Kathy, Deb, and Terry).5 

Returning to St. Joseph in 1948, Collum did even better, winning 24 of 26 decisions – including 16 in a row.6 St. Joseph won a league championship, and the fans were very supportive. “In fact, we had a better attendance than the St. Louis Browns [the city’s other big-league team then],”7 Collum said.8  But the local fans did more than simply show up at the park in record numbers to support their championship team. Late in the season, they held a “Jackie Collum Night” and showered him with more than 45 gifts worth around $1,500. This was a handsome sum for a Class C player in the 1940s; it included money, furniture, groceries, steak dinners, salon gifts or clothing for Mrs. Collum, among many other things.

Collum had proven that little guys can pitch, but his stature became the characteristic that writers pinned to him. Collum used his ambidexterity a few times, but being short was every day. Over the years, reporters used various labels. “Tiny” or “little” were ubiquitous, but there were also “pint-sized,” “vest-pocket,” “demitasse,” “squat,” “diminutive,” “the bantam battler,” and others.

Collum’ childhood accident also drew notice. A writer for the Denver Post noted that Collum “labors under two handicaps that would keep almost any ball player from even thinking about the big leagues. He is supposed to be too small for a major league pitcher and the first two fingers on his pitching hand are nearly an inch short as a result of a boyhood farm accident.”9 However, he would soon come up with the “out pitch” that would launch him to the majors.

Collum’s performance in St. Joseph earned him an invitation to 1949 spring training with the big club. But the Cardinals had five left-handers who were bigger and more experienced than Collum. One of those pitchers, Harry Brecheen – who was none too large himself at 5-foot-10 and 160 pounds – took Collum aside and told him he needed to add another pitch to his repertoire. Brecheen showed him how to throw the screwball, an off-speed pitch that (from southpaws) breaks away and down on right-handed batters. Collum liked it because he could use the same motion he did for the fastball. It was a good contrast to Collum’s 88-89 MPH fastball.

One big moment for Collum in camp that spring grabbed the imagination of the press. Legendary sportswriter Red Smith covered it in one of his “Views on Sport” columns; that day’s was titled “One Sunny Afternoon.”10 Under a sub-heading, “What They Came to See,” he continued:

“[A] kid named Jackie Collum took Al] Brazle’s place as the St. Louis pitcher. Collum is a little left-handed guy no bigger than Murry Dickson. He isn’t on the Cardinals’ roster because he is not considered ready for the big league this year. They loved him in St. Joe last season. He won something like twenty-four games for the farm team and Eddie Dyer, the Cardinal manager, brought him along this spring as a reward for good work.

Against the Yankees, the kid may have been a little nervous. There was a hit, he walked a couple, and the bases were loaded with two out. Here came a real shout. Joe DiMaggio walked up to hit for the Yankee pitcher …”

Smith depicted some DiMaggio heroics from the previous spring and then observed: “This time though . . . they used a new script. Young Collum threw the ball and DiMaggio swung. And missed. Almost before the ball reached the catcher, the kid was hiking for the dugout; not strutting, exactly, but kind of hustling along with short, confident strides, very erect.”

Yes, it was only exhibition season, and Smith was trying to capture a mood, but other New York writers also noticed the dramatic full-count strikeout.11  In the Daily News, Joe Trimble’s headline read, “Yanks Edge Cards, 3-1; Johnny] Lindell HRs, Joe Whiffs.” The box score was captioned “Rookie Fans DiMag” and was accompanied by this sentence: “The fans enjoyed Joe’s discomfort and the Cardinals shook the youngster’s hand as if he had just won the seventh game of the World Series.”12 In the same paper the next day, another esteemed columnist, Jimmy Powers, led  with, “DiMaggio is fanned with the bases full by rookie Jackie Collum.”13  

On April 25, Collum himself told the Des Moines Tribune, “Everybody asks me about my striking out Joe. I guess I was just lucky. Sure it was a thrill.”14 

The Cards recognized Collum’s potential and started moving him up the minor league ladder. First there was a stint in Omaha (Class A), where he was among the Western League’s ERA leaders at 2.60, although lack of run support left him with a 3-9 record. He was promoted to the AAA affiliate in Rochester that season and continued to pitch there through 1952. In 1951, Collum posted a 15-8 record with a nifty 2.80 earned run average.

At the end of the 1951 season, the Cardinals decided to give the kid from Newburg a chance to show what he could do in the big leagues. He made the most of the opportunity. His debut came on September 21 when scheduled starter Gerry Staley begged off. “I think Gerry just pretended he was sick,” Collum recalled in 2006. “He told manager Marty Marion, ‘I don’t feel so good today. Why don’t you pitch that kid over there?’” Collum responded with a 6-0, two-hit complete-game win over the Chicago Cubs. Eight days later, Collum beat the Cubs again. He finished the season with a 2-1 record and 1.59 ERA.

Despite this sharp performance, Collum was unable to stick with the Cards. “I had a problem with the new manager, Eddie Stanky,” he explained. “For some reason, he didn’t like me. He was the only manager I didn’t get along with.”15

So, it was back to Rochester in 1952. And while the season’s stats were less glowing than the previous year’s, Collum made key contributions during the Red Wings’ run to the International League championship, followed by their upset win over the American Association Kansas City Blues in the Junior World Series.

On September 5, as the Red Wings were fighting to make the playoffs, Collum threw his only professional no-hitter against Ottawa as part of a road doubleheader sweep that “virtually clinched third place.”16 Collum retired the first 22 Ottawa batters before giving up his only walk in the eighth inning. In the ninth a short fly ball to right was dropped for the Red Wings’ lone error of the game. “Then Jackie retired the next two hitters as the 2,144 fans sat with fingers crossed, squeezing for the pint-sized left-hander.”17  The no-hitter was the first for a Red Wings pitcher since 1943. Fans responded with a “Collum Fund” to reward Jackie, but also to help pay for surgeries his little daughter was needing for cerebral palsy. 18  

Five days later, the playoffs by then under way, Collum won Game Two of the seven-game series in a four-hit, 2-1 triumph over Syracuse that sent them to Syracuse with a 2-0 series lead. The next day’s headline read, “Red Wings Put Chiefs’ Back to Wall As Collum Hurls 4-hit Victory.”19  The Red Wings swept the series on the road.

Collum went back to the Cards in 1953 but pitched just seven games before being traded to the Cincinnati Redlegs. There, he found an appreciative audience in manager Rogers Hornsby – the former batting star on his way to the Hall of Fame – and general manager Gabe Paul. He also became a fan favorite and picked up a nickname. Hank Zureick drew a cartoon for the September 4, 1953, issue of the Redleg News captioned with the new monicker –“Half Collum” – and the following narrative:

“Jackie Collum – a 5’7”, 160-pound southpaw little guy with a big heart. The 26-year-old Collum has hurled fine ball since being acquired from St. Louis; the way the ‘mighty mite’ battles the opposition has won the hearts of Crosley Field fans.”20

Collum’s best stretch in the majors came with the Reds during the 1954 and 1955 seasons. In 1954, he appeared in 36 games, mainly as a short reliever and posted a 7-3 (.700) record with a 3.76 ERA in 79 innings, walking 32 and striking out 28. Only Joe Nuxhall (12-5, .706) had a better winning percentage for the Redlegs that year. Collum got to go to the 1954 All-Star Game as a batting practice pitcher for the National League. He admitted that he was surprised to get the telegram asking him to help the team and was honored to have the chance to mingle with major league stars.

Collum was especially proud to meet Jackie Robinson, the man who broke the color barrier in 1947, at the game. “I don’t know how he took all that abuse,” Collum said in 2006. “He was not only a great player, but a great person. He was very intelligent and determined to play ball in spite of everything that was happening around him.”21

It was in Cincinnati, perhaps early in 1954, where Collum was involved in a bizarre, historic play. He explained it this way in 2006:  

“‘One night I was lying in bed and started thinking it would be pretty easy to pick a runner off second base by throwing with my right hand. I decided to try it if the opportunity presented itself.’ Collum didn’t have to wait long. A few nights later with runners on first and second and no outs, Collum stepped off the rubber and threw right-handed to shortstop Roy McMillan, who put the tag on the very surprised base runner. Home plate umpire Al Barlick walked out to the mound and told Collum, ‘You can’t do that. You deceived the runner.’ Collum’s response back to Barlick was, ‘Tell me when a runner who is picked off wasn’t deceived.’”

Collum backed off but the Cincinnati manager went out and argued with Barlick that Collum could make the throw since he was off the rubber. The call stood and the runner went back to second.22

David Nemec, a baseball rules authority who has done extensive research on pickoff plays, explained that a rule requiring pitchers to throw on pickoff plays with their pitching arm was adopted late in the 19th century. There were then a number of major league pitchers capable of throwing with both arms. Also at that time, many players did not wear gloves. The rule adopted required that the arm with which it appeared the pitcher was going to pitch was assumed to be his pitching arm; he could not throw with the other to deceive a base runner.

Nemec noted that it is legal for a pitcher to pitch with both arms in the same inning and even to the same batter, as long as he switches gloves and glove hands prior to every pitch in which he intends to change arms. This must be done in full view of both the batter and any baserunners. What makes this play even more confusing is that there is no mention of pickoff attempts in the regular major league rule book. It is covered in the special umpires’ rule book which deals with special situations that for a variety of reasons are not covered in the official rule book available to the public,” Nemec explained.

Collum was likely unaware of the rule when he threw right-handed to pick off the runner. It was probably the last time this move was made in a major league game. Because unsuccessful pickoff attempts do not make the box score and may not make the news, documentation of this feat of ambidexterity is hard to come by. However, confirmation appeared on April 16, 1954. Sportswriter Van Newman’s column that day had this under the heading “Pickoff Tricks”:

“A discussion of the movement of various pitchers in attempting to pick runners off base came up during a recent gathering of baseball men … And Ernie White told of the unusual case of Cincinnati’s little lefthander, Jackie Collum … Collum, a lefthanded pitcher, throws righthanded when he wants to nick a runner off second … Standing there, with his left arm poised to pitch to the plate, he can get that ball back to second base with his right hand as slick as you please. He had phenomenal success with this pickoff in the International League, but National League umpires won’t let him use it.”23

In 1955, Collum was even more productive. He posted a 9-8 record with a 3.63 ERA in 134 innings across 32 games (17 starts). He struck out 49 and walked 37. He had become a dependable swingman. But the Reds traded him back to the Cards in January 1956 and the roller coaster ride to various teams was under way. That December, St. Louis traded Collum to the Chicago Cubs; the following May, he was sent to the Brooklyn Dodgers.

The Brooklyn experience allowed Collum to pitch to Roy Campanella, in the catcher’s last season before his paralyzing auto accident. Campy became “the best catcher he worked with.”24 Collum put it this way: “He knew the strengths and weaknesses of the hitters. I could put the ball where he wanted it. I think one of the biggest problems some pitchers of today have is that they pitch to the hitters instead of throwing to the catcher.”25

Collum pitched just two games for the Dodgers – who had moved to Los Angeles – in 1958. Both were in early May. He spent the bulk of that year, then all of 1959 and 1960, with Triple-A affiliates of the Dodgers. In 1961, he remained in Triple-A ball for the Minnesota Twins organization, in the franchise’s first season since moving from Washington.

Collum returned to the majors with the Twins in July 1962 and pitched in eight games for them. His final big-league game came against the Cleveland Indians on August 23 that same year. After the season, he retired.

Collum returned to Grinnell; in 1963, he purchased a gas station. He sold the station 10 years later and bought an auto repair business, Pioneer Oil, which he owned and managed with his wife for many years. Betty, who had previously worked for General Telephone Company in Grinnell, kept the books.26

In his leisure time, Collum enjoyed golf – and he played several years for Grinnell in a semipro summer league. Jack Smalley of Ames, who played in that same summer league, remembered hitting against Satchel Paige, one of the most respected pitchers in history, and Collum in the summer of 1964. “I had no trouble hitting against Paige,” Smalley recalled in 2006. “I got a solid single to the fence in right center off Satch, but Collum was still pretty crafty and dispatched me on three strikes with ease.”27

In 1977, writer Studs Terkel gave the commencement address at Grinnell College. In his opening remarks, he acknowledged some luminaries who came from Grinnell – the college, the town, or both. They included statesman Harry Hopkins, theatrical figure Hallie Flanagan, and attorney Joseph Welch, the Boston lawyer who destroyed Senator Joe McCarthy on TV.28

However, Terkel finished with Collum, whose Grinnell connection had been unknown to him until that weekend. Terkel said – unaware of Tony Mullane – “Jackie was the only ambidextrous pitcher in the history of the major leagues. He could throw to the plate with his right arm and on getting the ball back, pick a runner off first with his left. Truly, Grinnell has produced a unique species of American.” We can only speculate where Terkel gained his facts, but he was well-known as a Chicagoan, not a Grinnellian.

At Grinnell’s annual Fourth of July parade in 2007, Collum – who had recently turned 80 – was the Grand Marshal. Jackie Collum died on August 29, 2009, and was interred in Rock Creek Cemetery, Grinnell. Betty survived him until 2016. Their six children still live in the Grinnell area and enjoy sharing stories about their dad.

Acknowledgments

In February 2025, Sean Forman of Baseball-Reference suggested to Tom Moore the idea of writing about Jackie Collum for the SABR BioProject. Moore discovered the previous writings of William Sherman of Des Moines on Collum. The two connected and agreed to collaborate. However, Sherman died on October 27, 2025, before the story was completed. His previous work provides the backbone of this biography, which was subsequently reviewed by Rory Costello and Bill Lamb and fact-checked by Don Zminda.

See Sherman’s article, “Jackie Collum: A Living Baseball Legend,” SABR Field of Dreams Chapter, 2006

Sources

Newspapers and magazines

Sherman, William, “Mr. Ambidextrous: Newburg’s major league pitcher, Collum, threw with both arms,” Iowa History Journal, May 2009.

Columbia Record (Columbia, South Carolina)

Des Moines Tribune

New York Daily News

Rochester Times-Union

St. Joseph News-Press

Online sources

Baseball-Reference.com

Personal Correspondence

Jackie Collum interview by William L. Sherman on May 2, 2006, in Grinnell. Available at the Drake Community Library archives, Grinnell, Iowa.

Other

Jackie Collum player file at the National Baseball Hall of Fame, Cooperstown, New York; sent via email and includes various news clippings.

Terkel, Studs, Grinnell College Commencement Address, May 14, 1977, available from Grinnell College library archives.

Cincinnati Redlegs Yearbook, 1955

Several helpful staff in the Grinnell College Library and in the Drake Community Library (of Grinnell).

Notes

1 2006 interview by William Sherman of Jackie Collum.

2 2006 Sherman interview of Collum; also in Sherman’s SABR article.

3 Ambrose Collum appeared briefly in Class D ball in 1946.

4 Jim George, Des Moines Tribune, February 7, 1957: 38.

5 Betty Jo Collum obituaries, from Grinnell library archives. (https://www.grinnell.lib.ia.us/Obit/32/CollumBettyJo.pdf, accessed February 1, 2026).

6 “Collum’s Winning Streak Terminated at 16 Games,“ The Sporting News, August 11, 1948: 36.

7 Season’s total attendance was actually higher for the Browns, but the Browns averaged 12.5% of Sportsman’s Park’s 34,000 capacity, while St. Joseph drew 52% of City Park’s 3,600 capacity.

8 2006 Sherman interview of Collum; also in Sherman’s SABR article.

9 Sherman’s SABR article.

10 Smith’s column for this day was included as a clipping in the Jackie Collum player file from the National Baseball Hall of Fame, but it was unattributed.  Smith’s columns appeared many places and we found it at: New York Herald Tribune, Paris, March 22, 1949: 6.

11 “Cardinal Rookie Collum Whiffs Pinch-Hitter DiMag,” The Sporting News, March 23, 1949: 20.

12  Joe Trimble, “Yanks Edge Cards, 3-1; Lindell HRs, Joe Whiffs,” New York Daily News, March 14, 1949: 516.

13 Jimmy Powers, “The Powerhouse,” New York Daily News, March 15, 1949: 627.

14 Tony Cordaro, “Omaha Cards Hear Riot Act, Promise Revenge on Bruins,” Des Moines Tribune, April 26, 1949: 16.

15 (All quotes in this section) Sherman’s 2006 interview of Collum; also in Sherman’s SABR and Iowa History Journal articles.

16  Al C. Weber, “Collum’s No-Hitter Gives Wings Lift for Playoff Test,” Rochester Times-Union, September 6, 1952: 12.

17 Weber, “Collum’s No-Hitter Gives Wings Lift For Playoff Test,”

18 Matt Jackson, Rochester Times-Union, September 17, 1952: 50.

19 Al C. Weber, Rochester Times-Union, September 11, 1952: 52.

20 Cincinnati Redlegs Yearbook, 1955.

21 Sherman’s 2006 interview of Collum; also in Sherman’s Iowa History Journal article.

22 This section comes from Sherman’s 2006 interview of Collum; also appears in Sherman’s SABR and Iowa History Journal articles.

23 Van Newman, sports column for the Columbia (South Carolina) Record, April 16, 1954: 14.

24 Sherman SABR article.

25 Sherman’s 2006 interview of Collum; also in Sherman’s SABR article and Iowa History Journal article.

26 Betty Jo Collum obituaries.

27 2006 Sherman interview of Collum; also in Sherman’s SABR article.

28 Studs Terkel, Grinnell College commencement address, May 14, 1977.