Wilmer Mizell

Wilmer David Mizell
Pitcher
Born: August 13, 1930 Vinegar Bend , Alabama , United States
Died on: February 21, 1999 Kerrville , Texas , United States
Suggested: Right	Threw: Left
Debut in Major League Baseball
April 22,  1952  with the  St. Louis Cardinals
Last MLB assignment
July 25,  1962  with the  New York Mets
Win-loss	90-88
Earned run average	3.85
Strikeouts	918
Teams
St. Louis Cardinals (1952–1953, 1956–1960) Pittsburgh Pirates (1960–1962) New York Mets (1962)

Wilmer David Mizell (born August 13, 1930 in Vinegar Bend , Washington County , Alabama , †  February 21, 1999 in Kerrville , Texas ) was an American politician and athlete. Between 1969 and 1975 he represented the state of North Carolina in the US House of Representatives .

Career

Wilmer Mizell attended high school in Leakesville , Mississippi , until 1949 . Between 1953 and 1954 he served in the United States Army . Between 1949 and 1963, with the interruption of his military service, he was a professional baseball player . The left-handed pitcher , nicknamed "Vinegar Bend" because he began playing baseball there, played from 1952 in Major League Baseball for the St. Louis Cardinals as a starter. In 1959, after a good first half of the season, he took part in the All-Star Game for the first and only time - in 2007 Time magazine named him one of the ten worst All-Stars of all time, as he had an ERA of 5 for the remainder of the 1959 season . 94 threw very weak. In the 1960 season he moved to the Pittsburgh Pirates , for whom he contributed a loss in the 1960 World Series himself in his only start as a starter in Game 3, but with whom he won the championship title after the 4-3 victory over the Yankees celebrated. During the 1962 season he moved to the New York Mets , where he was used almost exclusively as a reliever and ended his career in the same year. In total, "Vinegar Bend" Mizell had 268 major league appearances, in which he achieved an ERA of 3.85 and a tight winning record of 90 to 88.

Between 1963 and 1967 Mizell worked in Winston-Salem for Pepsi in sales management and public relations. At the same time he began a political career as a member of the Republican Party . He became a member and 1966 chairman of the Davidson County County Council . In the 1968 congressional elections , he was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC , in the fifth constituency of North Carolina , where he succeeded Nick Galifianakis on January 3, 1969 . After two re-elections, he was able to complete three legislative terms in Congress by January 3, 1975 . During this time the Vietnam War ended . In 1974, the work of Congress was also overshadowed by the Watergate affair , which damaged Mizell's party and which also helped him to be voted out of office that year.

Between 1975 and 1976, Mizell worked at the US Department of Commerce as the department head for economic developments. In 1976 he sought his return to Congress without success. During the Ronald Reagan presidency (1981-1989), Mizell served as Assistant Secretary for the Department of Agriculture . He then worked for the Department of Veterans under President George Bush . He was also the Executive Director of the Presidential Fitness Commission. Wilmer Mizell spent his old age in Midway . He died while visiting Texas.

Web links

• Wilmer Mizell in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• Wilmer Mizell in the database of Find a Grave (English)
• Player information and statistics MLB  or  Baseball Reference (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ according to other sources Leakesville, Mississippi
2. ^ Richard Goldstein: Vinegar Bend Mizell, Pitcher, Is Dead at 68. In: New York Times . February 23, 1999, accessed December 14, 2011 . 
3. ↑ Sean Gregory: Top 10 Worst MLB All-Stars. In: Time . July 14, 2009, accessed December 14, 2011 .