Description
Book Synopsis During his 15-season Major League career, slugger Johnny Mize was among the preeminent power hitters in baseball, a star for the St. Louis Cardinals and the New York Giants, and a clutch player for the New York Yankees when they won five straight World Series in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Raised in rural Georgia, Mize caught the tail end of the Cardinals'' Gas House Gang era and had his career interrupted by World War II before achieving greatness at the plate. An MVP, perennial All-Star and four-time National League home-run champion, he made a science of batting and wrote a book on it (How to Hit, 1953). This first full-length biography traces the arc of Mize''s career through his prime years in the limelight to his retirement, when renewed interest in his legacy saw him inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Table of Contents
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1. Beginnings
- 2. The Minors
- 3. The Majors—Rookie Year
- 4. Cardinals Stardom
- 5. Low-Key Johnny Amid the Wild Men
- 6. Hitting Your Best
- 7. Home Runs in Bunches
- 8. 1939
- 9. St. Louis Shakes Things Up
- 10. Giants and War
- 11. Getting Back in the Swing with the Giants
- 12. Johnny Mize's Greatest Year
- 13. Last Call with the Giants
- 14. A Winner in No Time
- 15. Getting Set for a World Series
- 16. The 1949 World Series
- 17. Let's Do It Again
- 18. Legends Crossing
- 19. 1952
- 20. Last Call
- 21. Retirement
- Epilogue: The Hall at Last
- Chapter Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
