1953 Topps Project - Post #31

#128 - Wilmer Mizell - St. Louis Cardinals

As dayf already noted in this A Pack A Day post, Wilmer Mizell had one of the best baseball nicknames of all time, "Vinegar Bend". The story behind the nickname isn't nearly as interesting as the nickname itself, it derives from the fact that he played baseball in Vinegar Bend, Alabama at one point in his career. Pretty exciting, I know...

Vinegar Bend was a fairly decent pitcher during his tenure in the majors, finishing with a respectable 90-88 record and with a 3.85 career ERA. He pitched an astounding 61 complete games, including 15 shutouts. In this day and age of coddling pitchers in the name of preserving arms, it's doubtful that any pitcher will ever even come close to 61 career complete games again.

As dayf also touched on, Wilmer went on to become a United States Congressman, serving for three terms. The Watergate scandal basically cost him his seat in Congress, but he would later serve as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development in the Ford administration, Assistant Secretary of Agriculture for Governmental and Public Affairs in the Reagan administration, and as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Intergovernmental Affairs in the George H.W. Bush administration. Not a bad resume...

Vinegar Bend passed away in February of 1999 at the age of 68.