Ancestor of the Month – April 2007

Mizell Family History Project

Generation 10

Children:

Private

Born Leakesville, Mississippi

Wilmer Mizell was born and raised in Leakesville, Mississippi, which is in the southeastern part of the state not far from the Alabama state line.  He was the great-great-great-grandson of James Mizell (Generation 5, see # 22) and the GG-grandson of David Mizell #63 in Generation 6.  David was born in Georgia in 1800 and moved to Mississippi as a young man.  Thus, Wilmer David was born to a line of

Mizells that go back to the early years of Mississippi heritage. As a teenager, Wilmer David learned to play baseball in Vinegar Bend, Alabama, just east of Leakesville.  According to later stories, Vinegar Bend Alabama had about 50 people living there.  Wilmer David graduated from Leakesville High School in 1949.

Baseball Minor Leagues

In 1948, he went to a St. Louis Cardinals tryout camp in Biloxi, Mississippi, and struck out three batters on nine pitches.  After high school, he was assigned to the Albany Georgia Cardinals, where a local sports writer called him "The wild left-hander from Vinegar Bend".   He spent some time playing for the Winston-Salem, North Carolina minor league team.  One night he rode around the field on a mule and then sang country music over the public address system.  "I walked behind more mules than I walked batters - and that's saying a lot" he said of his farm-boy days.

While he was pitching for Houston of the Texas League in 1951, management staged a Vinegar Bend night.  They flew in 32 people supposedly representing the town's entire adult population.  Mizell noted that the town was so small that some of the group "must've come from the suburbs." In 1951, he was named the Southern Baptist Christian Athlete of the Year.  He spent three years in the minor leagues, before being drafted into the US Army in 1953.  While in the Army, he served at Fort McPhearson, Georgia and at Fort Jackson, South Carolina.

The Value of Talking

He left the Army in 1955, and returned to the Cardinals organization.  Frank Lane, the Cardinals General Manager in 1956, recalled negotiating with Mizell for his contract.  "I was looking for a typical "Ozark Ike" type and Vinegar told me how he had turned most of his earnings over to his family to put

them on their feet, how he had bought a truck for his brother, and now that he was married and expecting his first child, he thought it was time to get something for himself.  I never got a chance to open up my mouth for the next half-hour.  He signed for more than I had intended to give."

Vinegar Bend Mizell and Major League Baseball

He pitched in St. Louis with the Cardinals in 1957 and 1958, gaining a reputation as a power pitcher, striking out 319 batters in 414 innings.  During his rookie season, he led the National League in batters walked.  He was hampered by wildness and had difficulty holding runners on base.  In what might have been his finest game, on September 1, 1958 he shut out the Reds on four hits despite allowing nine walks and five stolen bases.  He must have used some great power pitching to get out of every one of those innings! In 1959, he complied at 13-10 won-loss record and made the National League All-Star Team.

In May 1960 he was traded by the Cardinals to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Julian Javier and Ed Bauta.   During the 1960 Season, he went 13 wins - 5 losses for the Pirates, helping them win the World Series.  He had a low 3.12 Earned Run Average (ERA) that season. In the Spring of 1962, he was traded to the newly-formed New York Mets, and quit after 2 losses and no wins.  During his baseball career, he posted a 90-win / 88 loss record, which included 15 shutouts and a overall 3.85 ERA.

Life after Baseball

In 1963, he took a sales promotion job in Winston-Salem, NC with the Pepsi Cola Company.

In 1966 he was elected a County Commissioner in Davidson County, NC.  That was the start of his political career.

U.S. House of Representatives (1969-1974)

In 1968 he ran on the Republican ticket for the U.S. House of Representatives in North Carolina's Fifth Congressional District, and was elected.  In 1969, he received the Distinguished Citizen Award from George Washington University.

At an annual congressional baseball game, he struck out seven Democrats in a row, prompting an opposing manager to announce "if this guy throws one more pitch, we walk off the field."  He served three terms in the House, before loosing to Democrat Stephen Neal in 1974.

Government and Public Service

In March 1975, he was appointed as Assistant Secretary of Economic Development  under President Gerald Ford, as Assistant Secretary of Agriculture for Governmental Affairs under President Ronald Reagan.  He ran for the House seat against Neal in 1976, but lost again.  In 1982, he was appointed Assistant Secretary of Agriculture for Governmental and Public Affairs by President Ronald Reagan.  He later served as a member of the Council on Physical Fitness under President George Bush.

He was active in civic and community affairs, including the American Legion, and served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Tocca Falls College, Tocca Falls, Georgia.  He attended Faith Missionary Alliance Church in Winston-Salem, NC, and served as lay speaker, deacon, Sunday school superintendent, and church board member.  He returned to St. Louis on occasion, and was the featured speaker at the St. Louis Mayor's annual prayer breakfast in the 1980s.

Late in Life

Later in life, he lived in Midway, NC.  He suffered a heart attack in October 1998.  He died in Kerrville, Texas in February 1999 while visiting his wife's family.  He was buried in North Carolina. On September 12, 2004, the St. Louis Post Dispatch carried an

article about five all-time nicknames in baseball to remember:  1) Wilmer “Vinegar Bend” Mizell, 2) “Wild Horse of the Osage” Pepper Martin, 3) “Charlie Hustle” Pete Rose, 4) Dennis “Oil Can” Boyd and 5) “Say Hey Kid” Willie Mays.