Kevin Hickey
Kevin John Hickey, was an American left-handed pitcher who spent six seasons in Major League Baseball with the Chicago White Sox and Baltimore Orioles. It was with the White Sox that he was a reliever with the American League West titlist in 1983 and a batting practice pitcher for the 2005 World Series Champions.
Hickey was born on February 25, 1956 in Chicago's South Side and was raised in the Brighton Park neighborhood. He first attended St. Rita of Cascia High School on a basketball scholarship, but was expelled for excessive truancy. He completed his secondary education at Thomas Kelly High School.
In August 1978, Hickey attended an open tryout held by the White Sox at Chicago's McKinley Park. Hickey was recruited after a staffer saw him playing 16" softball for the Bobcats at Kelly Park. He was the only player out of 250 to receive a contract, signing a minor league deal for $500 a month.
Hickey was one of several former major league players to appear in the baseball film Major League II, which was released in 1994. In it, he played the role of "Schoup".
After Hickey's retirement as a player, he worked as a car salesman in Columbus, Ohio for almost ten years. He then moved back to Chicago and in 2003, the White Sox hired him to be their batting practice pitcher. He continued to work in that capacity for the rest of his life. On April 5, 2012, he was found unresponsive in his hotel room in Arlington, Texas where the White Sox opened their 2012 season against the Texas Rangers. Hickey died on May 16, 2012 at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. He was 56.
