Born in 1913, Georgia native Johnny “Big Cat” Mize went on to become one of baseball’s greatest stars of his era.
Georgia Writers Museum (GWM) will present author Jerry Grillo on June 3, an authority on the amazing life Mize led, discussing his latest book, Big Cat: The Life of Baseball Hall of Famer Johnny Mize.
Mize was born in Demorest, where he played high school ball, then played for Piedmont College before making his major-league debut in 1936 with St. Louis. He interrupted his MLB career with military service during WWII and also played for the Great Lakes Naval Station baseball team.
Mize was a cousin to another Georgia baseball legend in Ty Cobb, and his second cousin was Babe Ruth’s second wife. Mize threw right-handed but batted left and posted a .312 career batting average with more than 2,000 hits and 359 home runs.
Mize spent 15 seasons terrorizing major league pitchers as a member of the Cardinals, New York Giants, and finally the New York Yankees, who won a record five-straight World Series with Mize as their ace in the hole — the best pinch hitter in the American League. Few hitters have combined such meticulous bat control with brute power the way Mize could. He was a line-drive hitter who rarely struck out, and also hit for distance, to all fields, and usually for a high average.
“Nobody had a better, smoother, easier swing than John,” Cardinal’s teammate Don Gutteridge said. “It was picture-perfect.”
In his day, Mize was tabbed as a can’t-miss Hall of Famer, but then was all but forgotten. He wound up spending 28 years waiting on the call from Cooperstown before finally being inducted in 1981.
Not one to waste the big moment, Mize delighted fans with his straightforward commentary and sly sense of humor during a memorable induction speech.
From the backroads of the minor leagues to the sunny Caribbean, where he played alongside the best Black and Latin players as a 21-year-old, then on to the Major Leagues, where he became a 10-time All-Star, home run champion, and World Series hero, Mize forged a memorable trail along baseball’s landscape.
Big Cat author Grillo has been a journalist and sportswriter for almost 30 years. He is currently the editor and publisher of the White County News. A science writer for Georgia Tech for a number of years, his work has appeared in Georgia Trend, Atlanta Magazine, Paste Magazine, and Newsday, among several other publications.
Grillo has won numerous writing awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, the Atlanta Press Club, the Magazine Association of the Southeast, and the Georgia Press Association. His first book, The Music and Mythocracy of Col. Bruce Hampton: A Basically True Biography, was published in 2021.
Contact Georgia Writers Museum (109 S. Jefferson Ave., Eatonton) at georgiawritersmuseum. org or 706-991-5119 to register for this evening of baseball nostalgia and fun. Tickets are $40 each or $35 each for two or more. Also, pre-order a copy of Big Cat for Grillo to sign after his presentation. — Contributed