James Franklin Hitchcock Jr. (June 28, 1911 – July 23, 1959) was an American

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

player and

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), ...

player during the

Depression Era The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

. Hitchcock played for the

Auburn Tigers football The Auburn Tigers football program represents Auburn University in the sport of American college football. Auburn competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Western Division o ...

team of

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest uni ...

(then Alabama Polytechnic Institute), where he was the school's first All-American in both football and baseball.

Early years

Jimmy Hitchcock was born on June 28, 1911 in Inverness, Alabama to James Franklin Hitchcock, clerk of the circuit court in Bullock County, and Sallie Louise Davis.

Auburn

Known as "The Phantom of Union Springs", where he played in high school, Hitchcock earned three varsity football letters at Auburn from

1930 Events January * January 15 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. This is the closest moon distance at in recent history, and the next one will be ...

1932 Events January * January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel. * January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident (1932), Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort ...

. As a triple-threat halfback, he led his team to the 1932

Southern Conference The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. Southern Conference football teams compete in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly ...

championship. Hitchcock was named a member of the 1932

Walter Camp Walter Chauncey Camp (April 7, 1859 – March 14, 1925) was an American football player, coach, and sports writer known as the "Father of American Football". Among a long list of inventions, he created the sport's line of scrimmage and the system ...

College Football All-America Team The College Football All-America Team is an honor given annually to the best college football players in the United States at their respective positions. The original use of the term ''All-America'' seems to have been to the 1889 College Football ...

and was inducted into the

National Football Foundation The National Football Foundation (NFF) is a non-profit organization to promote and develop amateur American football on all levels throughout the United States and "developing the qualities of leadership, sportsmanship, competitive zeal and the dr ...

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...

in 1954. He was a member of an All-time Auburn Tigers football team selected in 1935. He was posthumously inducted into the

Helms Athletic Foundation The Helms Athletic Foundation, founded in 1936, was a Los Angeles-based organization dedicated to the promotion of athletics and sportsmanship. Paul H. Helms was the organization's founder and benefactor, funding the foundation via his ownership ...

Hall of Fame in 1966 and the

Alabama Sports Hall of Fame The Alabama Sports Hall of Fame (ASHOF) is a state museum located in Birmingham, Alabama, dedicated to communicating the state’s athletic history. The museum displays over 5,000 objects related to athletes who were born in Alabama or earned fame ...

in 1969. He was nominated though not selected for an ''Associated Press'' All-Time Southeast 1920-1969 era team.

Baseball

Hitchcock was also a

letterman Letterman may refer to: * Letterman (sports), a classification of high school or college athlete in the United States People * David Letterman (born 1947), American television talk show host ** ''Late Night with David Letterman'', talk show that ...

in baseball and garnered All-America honors. Following his playing career, Hitchcock returned to Auburn as head baseball coach and assistant football coach (backfield). He also took a position on the Auburn University Board of Trustees which was responsible for the hiring of legendary football coach "Shug" Jordan. Auburn's baseball facility,

Hitchcock Field at Plainsman Park Plainsman Park, officially ''Samford Stadium – Hitchcock Field at Plainsman Park'', is the college baseball venue for the Auburn University Tigers. As of 2015, its seating capacity is 4,096. In 2003, '' Baseball America'' rated the facility th ...

, is named in honor of Jimmy and his younger brother,

Billy Hitchcock William Clyde Hitchcock (July 31, 1916 – April 9, 2006) was an American professional baseball infielder, coach, manager and scout. In Major League Baseball ( MLB), he was primarily a third baseman, second baseman and shortstop who appeared i ...

, who played and managed in the majors.

Major League Baseball

He played

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

for nine seasons (1933–40; 1946), including a stint as the

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists who ...

for the

Boston Bees The Atlanta Braves, a current Major League Baseball franchise, originated in Boston, Massachusetts. This article details the history of the Boston Braves, from 1871 to 1952, after which they moved to Milwaukee, and then to Atlanta. During it ...

(now known as the

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. The Braves ...

) of the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

in 1938. Hitchcock saw action in only 28 games. He collected 13

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014 - a British compilation album se ...

(all

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

) and three

bases on balls A base on balls (BB), also known as a walk, occurs in baseball when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls '' balls'', and is in turn awarded first base without the possibility of being called out. The base on balls is defined in Se ...

in 79

plate appearances In baseball statistics, a player is credited with a plate appearance (denoted by PA) each time he completes a turn batting. Under Rule 5.04(c) of the Official Baseball Rules, a player completes a turn batting when he is put out or becomes a runner ...

, hitting .171 with seven

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the bat ...

After college

Outside of sports, Hitchcock served in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

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 ...

. He later parlayed his popularity in Alabama into a political position on the

Alabama Public Service Commission The Alabama Public Service Commission, commonly called the PSC, was established by an act of the Alabama Legislature in 1915 to primarily replace the State Railroad Commission. The PSC's responsibility was expanded in 1920 to include regulating ...

, for which he served until his death in 1959.

References

External links

Jimmy Hitchcock
at SABR (Baseball BioProject) {{DEFAULTSORT:Hitchcock, Jimmy 1911 births 1959 deaths All-American college football players All-Southern college football players American athlete-politicians American football halfbacks American football punters American football quarterbacks Auburn Tigers baseball coaches Auburn Tigers baseball players Auburn Tigers football players Baseball players from Alabama Binghamton Triplets players Boston Bees players Chattanooga Lookouts players Columbus Red Birds players Major League Baseball shortstops Newark Bears (IL) players Oakland Oaks (baseball) players People from Bullock County, Alabama Players of American football from Alabama Rochester Red Wings players Wheeling Stogies players United States Navy personnel of World War II