Updated: May 16, 2012 12:34PM
Kevin Hickey was the South Side’s Natural — a punk kid from Burroughs Playground in Brighton Park who by sheer will, talent and a little the luck of the Irish made it to the big leagues to pitch for the Chicago White Sox, his favorite team.
Hickey, a batting practice pitcher for the club, died on Wednesday. He was 56.
He was 16-inch softball hero without a lick of baseball coaching when the Sox signed Hickey to a minor league contract in 1977. He agreed to a minor league deal — $500 a month — on the day after he threw just a couple dozen pitches at Old Comiskey Park during an open tryout, a gimmick that mostly gave false hope to playground heroes.
Hickey made his major league debut at the 1981 home opener, pitching a perfect 9th inning before a sell-out crowd.
“My heart was jumping out of my chest,” Hickey said in a recent interview.
“Besides having my kids, I gotta say it was the best moment of my life.”
Hickey pitched most of three seasons with the Sox until injuring his shoulder near the end of the 1983 season. Hickey labored in the minor leagues for five years before getting called up to pitch for the Baltimore Orioles in 1989, a rag-tag team of mostly has-beens that nearly won the American League East title. He retired from baseball in 1991. He starred as “Schoup” in the film “Major League II” alongside Charlie Sheen in 1994.
Then, Hickey fell on hard times. He was a used car salesman in Columbus, Ohio for nearly decade before moving back to Chicago to live with his mother.
In 2003, the Sox hired Hickey as a batting practice pitcher, a job he cherished. And every year since, Hickey was a cheerleader from the bench, a “top-stepper” who loved to be the first guy on the field to congratulate the pitcher after a win. When the Sox won the World Series championship in 2005, Hickey rushed the field to celebrate with the players on the field with the players.
Services are pending.
Kevin Hickey was the South Side’s Natural — a punk kid from Burroughs Playground in Brighton Park who by sheer will, talent and a little the luck of the Irish made it to the big leagues to pitch for the Chicago White Sox, his favorite team.
Hickey, a batting practice pitcher for the club, died on Wednesday. He was 56.
He was 16-inch softball hero without a lick of baseball coaching when the Sox signed Hickey to a minor league contract in 1977. He agreed to a minor league deal — $500 a month — on the day after he threw just a couple dozen pitches at Old Comiskey Park during an open tryout, a gimmick that mostly gave false hope to playground heroes.
Hickey made his major league debut at the 1981 home opener, pitching a perfect 9th inning before a sell-out crowd.
“My heart was jumping out of my chest,” Hickey said in a recent interview.
“Besides having my kids, I gotta say it was the best moment of my life.”
Hickey pitched most of three seasons with the Sox until injuring his shoulder near the end of the 1983 season. Hickey labored in the minor leagues for five years before getting called up to pitch for the Baltimore Orioles in 1989, a rag-tag team of mostly has-beens that nearly won the American League East title. He retired from baseball in 1991. He starred as “Schoup” in the film “Major League II” alongside Charlie Sheen in 1994.
Then, Hickey fell on hard times. He was a used car salesman in Columbus, Ohio for nearly decade before moving back to Chicago to live with his mother.
In 2003, the Sox hired Hickey as a batting practice pitcher, a job he cherished. And every year since, Hickey was a cheerleader from the bench, a “top-stepper” who loved to be the first guy on the field to congratulate the pitcher after a win. When the Sox won the World Series championship in 2005, Hickey rushed the field to celebrate with the players on the field with the players.
Services are pending.
