Johnny Mize

Infobox MLB retired
name=Johnny Mize


position=First baseman
bats=Left
throws=Right
birthdate=birth date|1913|1|7|mf=y
city-state|Demorest|Georgia
deathdate=death date and age|1993|6|2|1913|1|7
city-state|Demorest|Georgia
debutdate=April 16
debutyear=by|1936
debutteam=St. Louis Cardinals
finaldate=September 26
finalyear=by|1953
finalteam=New York Yankees
stat1label=Batting average
stat1value=.312
stat2label=Home runs
stat2value=359
stat3label=Runs batted in
stat3value=1,337
teams=
* St. Louis Cardinals (by|1936-by|1941)
* New York Giants (by|1942, by|1946-by|1949)
* New York Yankees (by|1949-by|1953)
highlights=
* 10x All-Star selection (1937, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1953)
* 5x World Series champion (1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953)
* 1952 Babe Ruth Award
hofdate=by|1981
hofmethod=Veteran's Committee

Johnny Mize (January 7, 1913 – June 2, 1993) was a baseball player who was a first baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals, New York Giants, and New York Yankees. He played in the Major Leagues from 1936 through 1953 and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1981.

Mize was born in Demorest, Georgia, where he later played baseball for Piedmont Collegecite news | url = http://media.www.piedmontnavigator.com/media/storage/paper524/news/2008/02/11/Features/Johnny.Mize.Collection-3202076.shtml| title = Johnny Mize Collection |last=Phelps |first=Myron |work=The Navigator | date = 2008-02-11 | accessdate = 2008-06-10 ] cite news | url = http://media.www.piedmontnavigator.com/media/storage/paper524/news/2008/01/28/Features/Living.At.The.mont-3172172.shtml| title = History of Sports |last = Suda | first=Tim |work=The Navigator | date = 2008-01-28 | accessdate = 2008-06-10 ] , baseball Hall of Famer. in 1930s. Mize was known as both "Big Jawn" and "The Big Cat" for his smooth fielding around the bag at first base. He had a fine batting eye, and in his early career hit for high averages, leading the National League with a .349 batting average in 1939. In 1938 he batted .363, but Cardinals teammate Joe Medwick took the title with a .374 average. Mize then changed targets and went for power instead of batting average. He led the National League in home runs in 1939 with 28, and in 1940 with 43, also leading the league in runs batted in twice, in 1940 and 1942. At the end of the 1941 season, however, he was traded to the New York Giants by Cardinals general manager Branch Rickey, who famously believed in trading players before they reached their declining years.

Mize spent 1943 through 1945 in military service during World War II. Returning to the Giants in 1946, a broken toe caused him to fall one short of the home-run title, won by Ralph Kiner of the Pittsburgh Pirates. In 1947 he rebounded to hit 51 home runs and tie Kiner for the league lead. He also led in runs and RBI, and became the only player to strike out fewer than fifty times while hitting fifty home runs. (This combination of power and control was a mark of Mize's style; he also had seasons of 43 home runs and 49 strikeouts, and of 40 home runs and 37 strikeouts.)

In 1948, Mize and Kiner again tied for the league home run championship with 40 each. Mize was traded to the New York Yankees late in the 1949 season after expressing discontent with the amount of his playing time.

Mize spent the last 5 years of his career with the Yankees, mostly as a part-time player, ending in 1953. He was, however, considered a valuable contributor to their winning an unprecedented 5 consecutive American League pennants and World Series titles. He hit 25 home runs in 1950 (despite spending part of the season on minor league rehab) to become the 2nd player, joining Hank Greenberg 3 years earlier, to have a 25-home run season in both leagues. In the 1952 World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers, he hit 3 home runs, 1 as a pinch-hitter, and was robbed of a 4th by Dodger right fielder Carl Furillo, who made a leaping catch above the fence in the 11th inning to preserve a win for the Dodgers.

Mize holds the Major League record for the most times hitting 3 homers in one game, a feat he performed 6 times. He also was one of a handful of players (also including Babe Ruth) to do it in both leagues — 5 times in the National League and once in the American. He was the first player to hit 3 home runs in a game twice in one season in 1938 and did it twice again in 1940. He finished his career with 359 home runs. Like DiMaggio, Ted Williams, and Hank Greenberg, all of whom spent at least 3 years in the military at the peak of their power, Mize undoubtedly lost a large number of home runs because of his service. His 43 home runs in 1940 broke the Cardinal record of 42 set by Rogers Hornsby in 1922 - and remained the record until Mark McGwire hit 70 in 1998. He and Carl Yastrzemski are the only 2 players to have 3 seasons of 40 or more home runs, without a season of 30-39 home runs.

Mize had one notable idiosyncrasy: he never stepped out of the batter's box between pitches.

For a player with such notable sabermetric statistics, he was also quite late in being inducted into the Hall of Fame, finally being chosen by the Veteran's Committee 28 years after his retirement. During his playing years, Mize apparently did not enjoy particularly good relations with the baseball sportswriters; members of this community vote on candidates for the Hall of Fame. Mize's fine batting statistics were overshadowed by those of bigger stars Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio, and Stan Musial, and later Jackie Robinson. And his extremely good on-base percentage is valued more highly today, in the light of sabermetric analysis.

In 1981, the same year that he was finally elected to the Hall of Fame, Lawrence Ritter and Donald Honig included him in their book "The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time". Maury Allen, in 1981, also included Mize in his "to 100" book. Mize spent the last few years of his life at his home in Demorest, GA.

References

ee also

*50 home run club
* Top 500 home run hitters of all time
* List of major league players with 2,000 hits
* List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 runs
* List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 RBI
* List of Major League Baseball RBI champions
* List of Major League Baseball batting champions
* List of Major League Baseball home run champions
* List of Major League Baseball runs scored champions
* List of Major League Baseball doubles champions
* List of Major League Baseball triples champions
* Major League Baseball hitters with three home runs in one game
* Major League Baseball titles leaders

External links

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* [http://www.johnnymize.com Johnny Mize Official site]