Johnny Mize facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Johnny Mize |
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Mize with the New York Giants in 1948
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| First baseman | |||
| Born: January 7, 1913 Demorest, Georgia, U.S. |
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| Died: June 2, 1993 (aged 80) Demorest, Georgia, U.S. |
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| debut | |||
| April 16, 1936, for the St. Louis Cardinals | |||
| Last appearance | |||
| September 26, 1953, for the New York Yankees | |||
| MLB statistics | |||
| Batting average | .312 | ||
| Hits | 2,011 | ||
| Home runs | 359 | ||
| Runs batted in | 1,337 | ||
| Teams | |||
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| Career highlights and awards | |||
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 Baseball Hall of Fame |
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| Induction | 1981 | ||
| Election Method | Veterans Committee | ||
John Robert Mize (born January 7, 1913 – died June 2, 1993) was a famous American baseball player. People called him "Big Jawn" and "the Big Cat." He also worked as a coach and scout. He played first base in Major League Baseball (MLB) for 15 seasons. These were between 1936 and 1953. He missed three seasons because he served in the military during World War II.
Mize was chosen for the All-Star team ten times. He played for the St. Louis Cardinals, New York Giants, and the New York Yankees. While with the Yankees, his team won the World Series five years in a row!
Johnny Mize stopped playing baseball in 1953. He had hit 359 home runs and had a .312 batting average. He also had 2,011 hits and 1,337 RBI (runs batted in). He was very good at playing first base, with a .992 fielding percentage. After he retired, he worked as a radio announcer, scout, and coach. In 1981, he was chosen for the Baseball Hall of Fame. In 2014, he was also added to the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame Museum.
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Johnny Mize's Early Life and Baseball Start
Johnny Mize was born in Demorest, Georgia. His parents were Edward and Emma Mize. When his parents separated, his mom went to Atlanta for work. But Johnny stayed in Demorest with his grandmother.
When he was a kid, he was great at tennis. He also played on his high school baseball team. Later, he played baseball for Piedmont College. Did you know he was a cousin of the famous baseball player Ty Cobb? Also, his second cousin married Babe Ruth!
Mize started his baseball career with the St. Louis Cardinals' minor league teams. In 1934, he was traded to the Cincinnati Reds. But he got a groin injury, so the Reds canceled the trade. In 1935, he injured his other leg.
Mize decided to stop playing baseball and went home. But the Cardinals asked him to see a doctor in St. Louis. He had surgery to fix some bone spurs.
After his surgery, the Cardinals kept him with the main team in St. Louis. He couldn't play regularly in the minor leagues that season anyway. The team thought he might get chances to pinch hit. Mize played his first major league game for the Cardinals in 1936. He played 126 games and had a .329 batting average. He also hit 19 home runs and had 93 runs batted in (RBI). He once said he was the "only guy who played in the major leagues because I couldn't play in the minors."
Becoming a Star Player
Johnny Mize was known for his smooth way of playing first base. That's why people called him "The Big Cat." In 1937, he had a great batting average of .364. But his teammate, Joe Medwick, had an even higher average of .374.
In 1938, Mize led the league in triples and OPS (which shows how well a player hits and gets on base). In 1939, he was second in the league's Most Valuable Player (MVP) vote. That year, he led the league with a .349 batting average and 28 home runs.
Mize hit 43 home runs in 1940. This set a new record for the Cardinals team. That record lasted for almost 60 years! At the end of the 1941 season, the Cardinals' general manager, Branch Rickey, traded Mize. Rickey liked to trade players before they started to get worse. Mize went to the New York Giants. The Cardinals got some other players and $50,000 for him.
The Giants wanted Mize because their first baseman, Babe Young, had to join the military. In 1942, Mize's batting average was .305, which was his lowest yet. But he still hit 26 home runs and led the National League with 110 RBI.
Serving in World War II and Later Career
Johnny Mize spent three years, from 1943 to 1945, serving in the military during World War II. During this time, he played baseball for the Great Lakes Naval Station team. This team was for service members and new people in training.
Mize hit 17 home runs in just 51 games for the Bluejackets. He also batted over .475 while playing first base. Other famous players on this team included Phil Rizzuto, Dom DiMaggio, and Pee Wee Reese. Many people thought this team was one of the best during World War II.
Mize returned to the Giants in 1946. He broke his toe, which caused him to miss out on the home run title by just one. Ralph Kiner won it that year. In 1947, Mize bounced back and hit 51 home runs! He tied Kiner for the league lead. He also led the league in runs and RBI. He was the only player to hit 50 home runs and strike out fewer than 50 times in the same season. His totals for runs, home runs, and RBI in 1947 were the best of his career.
In 1948, Mize and Kiner tied again for the home run championship, both hitting 40. Later in the 1949 season, Mize was traded to the New York Yankees. He wasn't happy with how much he was playing.
Mize played his last five years with the Yankees, ending in 1953. He was often a part-time player. But he was very important to the team's success. The Yankees won five American League championships and five World Series titles in a row with him!
In 1950, he hit 25 home runs. This made him only the second player to hit 25 home runs in both the National League and American League. In the 1952 World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers, he hit three home runs. One of them was as a pinch-hitter. He almost hit a fourth, but a Dodgers outfielder made an amazing catch.
In October 1953, Mize announced he was retiring. He said he wanted to retire while fans still liked him. He didn't want to play until people started to boo. Mize holds the record for hitting three home runs in one game the most times (six times!). He was also one of the few players (like Babe Ruth) to do it in both leagues. He did it five times in the National League and once in the American League. He hit three home runs in a game twice in 1938 and twice again in 1940. He finished his career with 359 home runs.
Mize still holds Cardinals team records. He has the most home runs in a season by a left-handed batter. He also has the most season RBI by a left-hander. And he has the most games with three or more home runs (6 games). He and Carl Yastrzemski are the only players to have three seasons with 40 or more home runs, but never a season with between 30 and 39 home runs.
Johnny Mize was also a very strong pinch hitter. He had a .292 batting average when he pinch-hit.
Life After Playing Baseball
After retiring in 1953, Mize worked as a radio announcer. He was also a scout and a hitting coach for the New York / San Francisco Giants from 1955 to 1960. In 1961, he coached for the Kansas City Athletics.
In the 1970s, Mize lived in St. Augustine, Florida. He worked for a company that built homes. In 1981, he was chosen for the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee. He had been on the regular Hall of Fame ballot before, but he didn't get enough votes until 1981.
Johnny Mize spent his last years at his home in Demorest, Georgia. He had heart surgery in 1982 but got better. He passed away in his sleep from a heart attack in 1993.
Johnny Mize's Baseball Legacy
When Mize died, Ralph Kiner said he was "a very affable guy and a great storyteller" off the field. Mize's hitting numbers were sometimes overlooked. This was because other big stars like Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio played at the same time.
However, Mize's lifetime on-base percentage of .397 is now more appreciated. This is thanks to sabermetrics, which is a way of studying baseball using statistics.
In 2013, Johnny Mize was honored with the Bob Feller Act of Valor Award. This award recognized 37 Baseball Hall of Fame members for their service in the United States Navy during World War II.
In January 2014, the Cardinals announced that Mize would be in the first group of players inducted into the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame Museum. You can also visit the Johnny Mize Baseball Museum at Piedmont College. The college also has the Johnny Mize Athletic Center, which is a sports complex with the school's basketball arena.
See also
- 50 home run club
- List of Major League Baseball career home run leaders
- List of Major League Baseball career hits leaders
- List of Major League Baseball career runs scored leaders
- List of Major League Baseball career runs batted in leaders
- List of Major League Baseball annual runs batted in leaders
- List of Major League Baseball batting champions
- List of Major League Baseball annual home run leaders
- List of Major League Baseball annual runs scored leaders
- List of Major League Baseball annual doubles leaders
- List of Major League Baseball annual triples leaders
- List of Major League Baseball players to hit for the cycle
- Major League Baseball titles leaders
- List of St. Louis Cardinals team records
