Jimmie Collins

Jimmie Collins (some sources list his given first name as James; others say Jimmie was his given first name)

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 6' 2", Weight 185 lb.
• School Southern University
• High School Dawson High School (Bains)

• Born November 19, 1948 in Canton, MS USA (one source lists his birthplace as Baton Rouge)

BR minors page

Biographical Information

Jimmie Collins hit .328 with 2,280 hits and 282 steals (albeit with unimpressive steal percentages) in a 17-year minor league career. He was known mostly as a singles hitter with some gap power. He began his career in 1971 with the Wytheville Braves, batting .339/.393/.536 - he would have been second in average but only had 56 AB, well shy of the number needed to qualify for the league lead. In 1972 the 23-year-old outfielder played for the Greenville Rangers, batting .280 in the Western Carolinas League. A year later Jimmie hit .325/~.412/.435 for the Kinston Eagles, second in the league and ten points behind leader Terry Whitfield but again without plate appearances to qualify for the batting title. Collins made the Carolina League All-Star team. In '74, Collins found himself in AA with the Savannah Braves, but Jimmie struggled and hit .259/~.328/.322 and striking out 101 times. Collins improved in his second season with Savannah, finishing 6th in the Southern League in batting average with a line of .296/~.351/.364.

At the relatively old age of 27, Collins made his AAA debut in 1976 with the Richmond Braves. He held his own, batting .293/~.349/.394 for the International League club. He was one of just 3 players of the 33 most-used Braves that year who never would play in the majors. The next season Collins returned to Richmond and hit just .241, finishing his seven-year run with the Atlanta Braves organization.

In 1978 Collins signed with the Centauros de Chihuahua and put on a fine show, hitting .350/~.411/.511 with a career-high 11 homers. Collins finished 5th in the Mexican League in average, 16 points behind Romel Canada. Jimmie was just getting going - in 1979 he set a new Liga record for batting average when he posted a .438/~.498/.594 line - the last .400 hitter had been Cool Papa Bell (.437) in 1940. Collins led the league in doubles (35) and hits (206) and scored 95 runs for the Centaurs. His batting record would be broken seven years later by Willie Aikens. His hit total was the third highest in Mexican League history.

Collins remained hot into 1980, hitting .379/~.460/.543, third in the Liga as of July 3. That's when a player's strike suspended action. Six teams remained active and in the season extension Collins moved to the Saltillo Saraperos, hitting .380/~.444/.526 and taking home the batting title for that part of the year. He also led in hits (52), total bases (72) and RBI (31) for that portion of the season and tied for the triples lead (3).

Jimmie hit .323/~.391/.466 for Saltillo and Chihuahua at the age of 32 in 1981. In '82, he moved to the Coatzacoalcos Blues and batted .322/~.384/.385 and then fell under .300 the next season (.296/~.355/.366 with a career-high 39 steals in 51 tries). He also led the Mexican Pacific League in average, only the second player to lead both of Mexico's top leagues within a calendar year; Hector Espino had done it three times. The next time it happened would not be until 2007 when Carlos Rivera did it. Collins again lit up the LMB circuit in 1984, winning his third batting title in Mexico by hitting .412/~.495/.563 for the Mexico City Red Devils and Cafeteros de Cordoba. He also smacked 35 doubles that season.

In 1985 the 36-year-old flyhawk fell almost 100 points to a line of .317/~.392/.434, again splitting his time between two teams (Cordoba and the Veracruz Eagle). Jimmie kept up his two-team pace in 1986, batting .367/~.451/.532 with 102 runs and a league-leading 41 doubles for the Leon Braves and Tuneros de San Luis. In his final season in 1987, Collins hit .329/~.387/.474 for the Plataneros de Tabasco. Overall in Mexico he had batted .354/~.425/.489 in 10 years. Among players with over 3,000 at-bats, Collins ranks third in Mexican history in batting average behind Alfred Pinkston and Alonso Perry. He was one of 5 players to win 3 or more batting crowns.

Collins has made the Veterans Committee ballot of the Salon de la Fama in 2007 and 2009 but was not voted in either time. He finally made it in 2011.

Sources include Various Baseball Guides, Viva Beisbol Newsletter by Bruce Baskin (10/15/05), "The Mexican League: Comprehensive Player Statistics" by Pedro Treto Cisneros