[Eugene Church]

MY LIFE IN 2023
EC's Life's Is Filled with Glee in '23

EC read about "The Big Cat" this morning... that's Hall-of-Famer Johnny Mize of St. Louis Cardinals and New York Yankees fame... I discovered a fascinating fact and thought I would share it.

"Quips and Quotes from the Diamond Minds"

From Joe Posnanski's "The Baseball 100"

"How good a hitter was Johnny Mize? He was Lou Gehrig good, Stan Musial good, Mel Ott good, Frank Robinson good, Joe DiMaggio good. Albert Pujols good. There is only one player in baseball history, just one, who hit more than 50 homers and struck out less than 50 times in a single season. That was Johnny Mize in 1947

And he did that as a 34-year-old, who had come back from the war."

Mize hit 50 homers and only struck out 42 times in 1947... he batted .302 with 128 runs scored and 137 RBIs, topping the National League in HRs, Runs and RBIs.
He finished third in the MVP voting... Mize wound up second twice in the MVP poll in his career... if the Cards had won the pennant those seasons, he would have won the MVP awards... instead Cincinnati pitcher Bucky Walters and first baseman Frank McCormick won those years, 1939 and 1940... the Reds were the NL champion those seasons.