His name is Wilmer Mizell, he signs his name David Mizell and everyone but his momma calls him Vinegar Bend. I guess we'll see a cartoon about the fermentation of alcohol by acetic acid bacteria today...
Mizell never touched a baseball until he was sixteen!
To gain control, he threw at a knothole in a barn door!
It was good practice - but he threw so hard he knocked down the barn door several times!
I like how 16 year old Wilmer is built like a stevedore and is wearing a fedora while he practices throwing a baseball at a barn. Wilmer, er David, um Vinegar Bend was a pretty dang good pitcher for the Cardinals in the '50s, although he missed a couple seasons serving in the Army during '54 and '55. He ended up finishing his career with the '62 Mets, but that wasn't the most incompetent organization he was associated with. Nope, Vinegar Bend went on to become a Congressman, serving North Carolina's 5th district from 1969-1975. After 6 years in Washington the Mets must have seemed like a tightly run ship! Who would you rather have leading you - Casey Stengel or Richard Nixon? Remember kids - if you throw baseballs at a barn door one day you too might be a congressional representative. Or something like that.
Ya know who else knocks down barns....
1 comment:
The 1953 Topps Wimer Mizell is one of my favorite cards http://canthavetoomanycards.blogspot.com/2010/03/card-of-day_22.html Am I wrong or do all former players who go into politics become Republicans?
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