Jackie Collum

Who was Jackie Collum?

John Dean Collum was a pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for eight different teams between the 1951 and 1962 seasons. Listed at 5 ft 7 in, 163 lb., Collum batted and threw left-handed. He was born in Victor, Iowa.

Collum was one of four children of John Edward Collum and Sophia Louise Lohman and the youngest of three brothers. He was raised in Newburg, Iowa, near Grinnell, and graduated from Newburg High School, where he played in the Iowa State Baseball Tournament.

He served in World War II with the United States Air Force in the Pacific Theatre of Operations, where he was stationed in the Philippines. Following the war he returned home and married Betty Belles on February 28, 1948. He pursue his major league dreams after going 24–2 in 1948 for Class-A St. Joseph team of the Western League.

Basically a reliever, Collum also served in starting roles. He entered the major leagues in 1951 with the St. Louis Cardinals, playing for them until the 1953 midseason before joining the Cincinnati Reds/Redlegs from 1953 to 1955.