A 25-year-old Hickman is the subject of this beautiful T206 portrait,
in front of a strong, green background. His white uniform with the
black collar flipped up look crisp, as does his perfectly combed black
hair, parted to the side. Some light diamond cutting with a slightly uneven top edge cut and soft, rounded corners explain the card's technical grade. Centering is to the south of the canvas, with some very moderate tobacco staining and edge chipping on the left and right sides. Hickman's is one of the harder-to-find issues of
the T206 set, being part of the Southern League subset. SGC has only ever graded 118 total examples of this Old Mill back version of the
Hickman, with only thirty-three ever receiving a higher grade than the VG 3 offered here.
John
Gordon Hickman
pitched seven seasons in professional baseball, bouncing around between
five different teams in the Southern Association in his final five
years. His longest stretch came as a member of the Mobile Sea Gulls, for
whom he played from 1908-1910, winning more than 30 games in a little
over two seasons with the club.