An interview with the author of a new book about Jim Gilliam, who won Rookie of the Year with Brooklyn, played 14 years for the Dodgers and coached for the team until his death in 1978.
Jim Gilliam is near the top of several franchise leaderboards in Dodgers history, and his number 19 is retired by the team though he isn’t in the Hall of Fame. Yet, it could be argued that Gilliam is quite underrated.
Steve Dittmore wrote a book chronicling Gilliam’s life, entitled ‘Jim Gilliam: The Forgotten Dodger,’ that was released by August Publications on February 4.
You might remember Dittmore from some of his writing at True Blue LA, including this 2021 essay arguing that Gilliam and Willie Davis deserved more consideration for induction to Cooperstown.
Dittmore in his day job is in college administration, and is currently the dean of the college of education and human services at the University of North Florida. He was a guest of mine and Jacob Burch on the Three-Inning Save podcast taking about his process for writing the book on Gilliam, which began back in 2019.
“I was born in Los Angeles, grew up as a Dodger fan in the 1970s,” Dittmore said on the podcast. “I knew Gilliam as a first base coach. After I moved away, I maintained the Dodger fandom. I was always fascinated by understanding that his number 19 was retired, and he was the only non-Hall-of-Fame player to have his number retired [by the Dodgers].
“As I got older, I did more reading and became a real student of the Negro Leagues. I knew I wanted to write a book. I wanted to challenge myself a little bit. He was a subject that, throughout Dodgers history, his name was always present, at least during the 1950s, ‘60s, and ‘70s. I didn’t know too much about him or his life, or anything about that.”
This book helps tell the story of Gilliam’s life, including growing up in Nashville, playing in the Negro Leagues, then playing and coaching for the Dodgers for 26 years before his death on the eve of the 1978 World Series.