Dave Hillman, in many ways, personified the Cubs of the 1950s.
Signed in 1950, he had several good years in the Cubs system but somehow wasn’t called to the big club until 1955, when he was 27. Then he posted reasonable numbers in 1958 and 1959, which were the team’s two best years of that decade, and Ernie Banks’ two MVP seasons.
All that got him was traded, to the Red Sox in the 1959-60 offseason, and there’s a story behind that. I’ll get to that shortly.
Hillman passed away Sunday in Kingsport, Tennessee, aged 95.