PHOTO COURTESY OF BOB KEANEY
Jim Hegan starred in two fall classics for the Cleveland Indians in his career.
By BOB KEANEY
Jim Hegan was to Lynn English what Harry Agganis was to Lynn Classical.
Both were nationally known athletes, model Lynn citizens, and all about family. And Hegan family history rises to the top when it comes to talking about the World Series.
Big Jim starred in two Fall Classics for the Cleveland Indians during his 17-year career as a Major League catcher.
How great a catcher was he? Well, he caught three no-hitters and six 20-game winners, and was an All-Star team selection five times. He threw out 50 percent of the runners who tried to steal on him — which is more than Johnny Bench or Yogi Berra.
Hegan could have piled up more stats, but he, like others of his era, had their careers interrupted when they served in World War II.
One of Hegan’s more dramatic seasons occurred in 1948, when his Indians were locked in a pennant race with the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox (with Ted Williams, Johnny Pesky and all the other local luminaries). It was so close Sox and the Indians ended up tied.
With Hegan calling the pitches at Fenway Park, Cleveland defeated the Red Sox, 8-3, in the one-game playoff and ruined Boston’s bid for a Subway Series as the National League champs that season were the Boston Braves.
Two days later, the World Series began. Hegan, who caught Bob Feller, Bob Lemon, Satchel Paige, Don Black and Early Wynn, hit a homer during the series, and the Indians ended up beating the Braves — the last time they won the World Series (pending this year’s result).
In 1954, Agganis was a rookie with the Red Sox, and both he and Hegan enjoyed their “Lynn rivalry.” The Indians won 111 games, but Hegan and his ran into the New York Giants and Willie Mays (who made that otherworldly catch against Vic Wertz in Game 1) and the New York Giants. With Dusty Rhodes providing unexpected power, the Giants swept the Indians.
A third Lynner to play in the 1954 season was Agganis’ former Classical buddy George Bullard, who got in one game with the Detroit Tigers — against Hegan’s Indians.
Hegan, who was also a good basketball player, was on a state championship-winning baseball team at English under coach Tom Whelan. He and Ray Bessom also led Lynn Post 291 team to the American Legion national championship in New Orleans.
Athleticism ran in the family, too, as Hegan’s son, Mike, became a Major Leaguer himself.
Hegan also had a brief stint with the Chicago Cubs at the age of 39. He had retired from the Major Leagues in early 1960s, but later returned to catch for the Cubs. Facing future Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Hegan walloped a pinch-hit home run in a Cubs victory which knocked Koufax out ofo the box. It was homer No. 92 out of 92 (his son had 53 Big League homers).
Hegan died in 1984 at the age of 63, and his son, Mike, in 2013 at 71. Both are enshrined in the Cleveland Sports Hall of Fame.
