Cave Mountain | A Real Arkansas Story of Survival & Place
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Nicknames are an integral part of professional baseball culture and one of the game’s most colorful characteristics. When it comes to baseball monikers, one thing is abundantly clear. No warm-fuzzy empathy protects players from alternate identities tied to their personality and appearance.
Dozens of big leaguers have been called “Slim,” “Slats,” and “Skinny,” and a few have been tagged “Fatty,” “Runt,” and “Pudge.” Players simply called “Lefty” number in the hundreds, but “Righty” seldom sticks as a nickname. Dizzy Dean was not the only major leaguer with an alternate name based on their erratic behavior. Several other “dizzy” big leaguers have been named, and a 1970s pitcher known for his unpredictability earned the more contemporary sobriquet “Spaceman.”
With so many descriptive nicknames, Ransom Joseph Jackson’s sportswriter-given title stands alone. “Handsome Ransom” Jackson is indeed unique. The only thing about Jackson more singular than his nickname is his route to Major League Baseball fame.
The Major League Baseball All-Star known generally as Randy Jackson had an excellent big-league career. In 955 games, Jackson collected 835 hits, 103 home runs, and 415 RBIs playing for the Cubs, Dodgers, and Indians. While his pro baseball career is noteworthy, the series of events that led him from Little Rock, Arkansas, to baseball’s highest level is one of the most unlikely stories in baseball history.
Although he was a good-looking youngster, Ransom Jackson Jr. was not called “Handsome” when he was a kid. In his Little Rock neighborhood, his buddies likely called him Randy. In a SABR biography, author Jack Zerby suggests the catchy “Handsome Ransom” title was given to Jackson by a sportswriter somewhere in the minor leagues.
Ransom Joseph Jackson Jr. grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas, a few blocks from Lamar Porter Field. Although Lamar Porter was the home of a nationally competitive American Legion team known as the Doughboys, Jackson played in an alternate league.
He chose an unusual youth league in his part of the city that played a modified game with a broomstick and a sock wrapped with electrician’s tape. The league featured an official schedule, concessions, and a league championship. While the sock-ball games were a popular neighborhood attraction, they may not have been reliable preparation for big-league baseball.
His high school did not offer football, so Ransom Jackson and his pals played a modified punting game sometimes known as “setback.” Teams kicked the ball from where they caught it until a team scored on a punt that crossed an established goal line. While the punting game was popular on many playgrounds, it may not have been the suggested route to Southwest Conference football.
In his youth, Jackson’s chosen sport was golf. His dad taught him the game, and young Ransom had obvious talent. By his teen years, he was making sports page headlines as a golfer with little interest in a future that included football and baseball.
When World War II motivated young men to enter military service, Jackson chose a Navy flight training program at Texas Christian University recommended by his father. At TCU, a series of events Jackson called “accidental” began when legendary football coach Dutch Meyer discovered him on campus. Players were in short supply, and Jackson at least looked like an athlete.
Although he lacked any formal experience, his punting-game background earned him a spot as the backup punter. By mid-October, injuries had decimated the Horned Frogs’ backfield to the point that Jackson also became a starter at half-back on both offense and defense. The legendary 1944 Horned Frogs football team went 7-3-1, won the Southwest Conference title, and earned a trip to the Cotton Bowl.
Meyer’s good fortune led the coach to recruit Jackson for the TCU baseball team he also coached. Jackson recalled later that he “surprised Coach Meyer and me by leading the Southwest Conference with a .500 batting average.”
When his flight training required him to transfer to the University of Texas in the fall of 1945, Jackson continued to excel at both football and baseball with the Longhorns. He played in another Cotton Bowl with Texas in 1945 and led the SWC in batting average in both of his baseball seasons with the Longhorns.
Shortly after his graduation in the spring of 1947, Jackson was recruited by the Conroe Wildcats for a high-level semipro team that paid $400 a month. The team won the state semipro title, and the attention he got playing for Conroe led to a pro tryout with the Chicago Cubs.
In a batting practice session, the Cubs pitted Jackson against major league pitcher Russ Meyer. “It was one of those days when everything clicked. Line drives were flying all over the place.” The Cubs were impressed enough to sign Jackson for an annual salary of $6,000.
After three years of minor league success, Jackson became the Chicago Cubs’ regular third baseman in 1951. Jackson hit .275 for the last-place Cubs, led the team in stolen bases, and was second on the club in home runs and RBIs.
Jackson struggled in his second season with the Cubs, but he rebounded in 1953 with a .285 batting mark and 19 home runs. With his confidence restored, Jackson began the 1954 campaign right where he left off the previous season. He was named to his first All-Star team in July.
Jackson made his second consecutive All-Star squad in 1955. He was second on the Cubs, behind the great Ernie Banks, in most offensive categories, including home runs, RBIs, and on-base percentage.
Against all odds, the sock-ball trained youngster had become a big-league All-Star.
While Jackson liked his teammates in Chicago, he was pleased when the Cubs traded him to the Brooklyn Dodgers on December 6, 1955, but unfortunately his best years were behind him.
A series of setbacks, including a knee injury, a spider bite, and a cut from a doorknob, not only limited his playing time but ultimately affected his performance. On the next-to-last game of the 1957 season, Jackson hit a three-run home run against the Phillies in Connie Mack Stadium. It would be the last home run hit by a Dodgers player while the team represented Brooklyn.
Jackson played in only 35 games for the Dodgers after their move to Los Angeles in 1958. He played 32 games for the Cleveland Indians after the Dodgers traded him in August 1958. The Indians sent him to the Cubs in May of 1959, where he played the last 41 games of his career for the team he had joined as a rookie 10 years earlier. He was released in October 1959.
In today’s world of specialized preparation for pro athletes, the Randy Jackson story seems impossible. Handsome Ransom Jackson played in an era when a gifted athlete, without a single game of high school experience, could become a football star in the Southwest Conference. As a baseball player, the graduate of a sock-ball league led the SWC in hitting for three consecutive years and became a Major League Baseball All-Star.
Note: Special thanks to the Ransom Jackson family for their contributions. For more information: Handsome Ransom Jackson, Accidental Big Leaguer, by Ransom Jackson Jr. and Gaylon H. White, Rowman & Littlefield, 2016.
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