Kevin Hickey is a great baseball story. He grew up on the South Side of Chicago and had no professional baseball experience; in the late 1970s, the White Sox used to have open tryout camps. This is what happened when Hickey went to one of those camps:

In 1978, Kevin Hickey was playing center field for a steel mill softball team in Chicago.

Then, his work scheduled changed, and a teammate talked him into joining the Markham Cardinals, a semipro baseball team as a catcher.

That August, the Chicago White Sox held their annual tryout at Comiskey Park, 3 miles from Hickey`s home. He was the only one of 250 players to receive a contract.

Hickey wound up pitching three major league seasons for the White Sox and was part of their 1983 AL West title team; he later pitched three seasons for the Orioles, and for the past several years had been a batting practice pitcher for the White Sox. On April 5, before the White Sox' season-opening game in Texas, Hickey was found unresponsive in his hotel room. He passed away early Wednesday:

#white sox family lost a good man today, one of my favorite lefties growing up and then a friend later in life, Kevin Hickey RIP

— Lou Canellis (@LouCanellis) May 16, 2012

Kevin Hickey was 56 years old.