John Dean Collum (June 21, 1927 – August 29, 2009) was a

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB) who played for eight different teams between the 1951 and 1962 seasons. Listed at , , Collum batted and threw left-handed. He was born in

Victor, Iowa Victor is a town in Poweshiek and Iowa counties in the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 875 in the 2020 census, a decline from the population of 952 in 2000. History Victor was laid out in the 1860s. The town was originally called Wilso ...

. 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. Collum served in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

with the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

in the

Pacific Theatre of Operations The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast ...

, where he was stationed in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. Following the war he returned home and married Betty Belles on February 28, 1948. He pursued his major league dreams after going 24–2 in 1948 for Class-A St. Joseph team of the Western League. Basically a

reliever In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed because of fatigue, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection, or for other strategic reasons, such as inclement weather ...

, Collum also served in starting roles. He entered the major leagues in 1951 with the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

, playing for them until the 1953 midseason before joining the

Cincinnati Redlegs Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line w ...

from 1953 to 1955. After spending two years out of baseball, he rejoined the Cardinals in 1956 and also pitched with the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

in 1957 and for two

Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...

teams; in 1957, when they were leaving

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

for the sunny skies of

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

starting the 1958 season. Collum's most productive season came with Cincinnati in 1955, when he recorded career-numbers in wins (9),

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

(3.63) and complete games (5), while pitching 134 innings. Collum also had stints with the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...

and

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive F ...

in 1962, his last major league season. In a nine-season career, Collum posted a 32–28 record with a 4.15 ERA in 171 appearances, including 37 starts, 11 complete games, two shutouts, 12 saves, 171

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...

s and 173 walks in 464 innings of work. Collum also helped himself with the bat, hitting for a .246

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

(29-for-118) with one

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

, 15 runs, 13 RBI, five doubles, and a .321

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batter reaches base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA), as it is rarely presented as a ...

. Following his baseball career, Collum worked in the automotive business in

Grinnell, Iowa Grinnell is a city in Poweshiek County, Iowa, United States. The population was 9,564 at the time of the 2020 census. It is best known for being the home of Grinnell College. History Grinnell was founded by settlers from New England who we ...

, and was owner of Grinnel Pioneer Oil. He was inducted into the Iowa Baseball Hall of Fame and was also a member of the Major League Baseball Alumni Association and the Grinnell Eagles Lodge. Collum died in the Mayflower Health Care Center in Grinnell at the age of 82. He was buried at Rock Creek Cemetery of Grinnell.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Collum, Jackie 1927 births 2009 deaths People from Victor, Iowa Baseball players from Iowa Brooklyn Dodgers players Chicago Cubs players Cleveland Indians players Cincinnati Redlegs players Cincinnati Reds players Los Angeles Dodgers players Minnesota Twins players St. Louis Cardinals players Major League Baseball pitchers United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II St. Joseph Cardinals players Omaha Cardinals players Rochester Red Wings players Montreal Royals players St. Paul Saints (AA) players Syracuse Chiefs players Vancouver Mounties players Military personnel from Iowa