Baseball is a beautiful game that takes a significant amount
of talent in order to play professionally. Although many players spend years
honing their craft in an effort to get one of the golden tickets that is the
chance to sign with a professional team, a select few come to the game by
accident. Slugger Ed Mickelson was one of those players; a natural athlete
whose first choice wasn’t the National Pastime, but ultimately drew him in like
so many before.
Mickelson grew up in Missouri and excelled in basketball and
football. He only really took up baseball after joining the service during
World War II and playing with his fellow soldiers.
At 6’3” and 205 pounds, the right-hander was a large
specimen whose size translated into impressive power. His acumen with a bat and
ball was enough to earn a contract in the minor league system of the St. Louis
Cardinals.
Playing primarily at first base, Mickelson suffered through
some injuries but had an excellent 11-year career in the minors, hitting a
combined .316 with 108 home runs in 1,189 games. In additional to the
Cardinals, he also played in the systems of the St. Louis Browns, Pittsburgh
Pirates, Brooklyn Dodgers and Chicago Cubs.
His best minor league season came in 1954 with the Double-A
Shreveport Sports in the Texas League (Browns). Appearing in 150 games, he hit
.335 with 17 home runs and 139 RBIs.
Despite spending most of his career in the minors, Mickelson
did get a few cups of coffee in the majors, appearing in brief stints with the
Cardinals (1950), the Browns (1953) and the Cubs (1957). All told, he had three
hits and three RBIs in 37 at-bats.
Mickelson does hold a place in major league history,
although he was barely there. On September 27th, 1953, he hit an RBI single to
right field off Chicago White Sox starting pitcher Billy Pierce, accounting for
the last RBI ever for the Browns- who became the Baltimore Orioles the
following year. More details about his playing career are available here.
I had the opportunity to speak with Mickelson several years
ago, and he regaled me with fantastic stories from his playing career. Make
sure to check out our conversation- as the former player came away from
baseball with quite a lot of great memories.
Ed Mickelson
Interview:
How did you first
become interested in baseball?: Well, actually, what I was interested in
was basketball. That’s what I played all the way through junior high school and
high school. I then went on to college and played basketball. I waited until my
senior year.
I got a scholarship in football to Missouri, and I was a
starter for them in football and basketball in 1944 and 1945. I was only 18
years old, but there were a lot of people in the war at the time.
But baseball, I didn’t play it until my senior year in high
school, and only played in about 15 games. Then I played somewhat when I was in
the service during World War II, when I was in Scottsdale and played for the base
team. We played about 25 game games, so I was really a neophyte when it came to
baseball.
When I signed up, I went down to Oklahoma A&M and played
basketball after I got out of the service. The coach said ‘We don’t have any
more basketball scholarships, but we have baseball scholarships.’ So I said,
‘Okay, I’ll give it a try.’ So, I think I was one-for-23, and I hit the heck
out of the ball as long as it was a curve or a changeup
When I signed with the Cardinals, I went down there and
worked out and hit some balls up into the bleachers because Del Wilber, the
Cardinals catcher, was throwing them right down the middle about 75 miles an
hour. I was laughing about it.
Playing with the Cardinals, I had to learn on the job
really. I had to learn what the strike zone was. I knew what baseball was
because I had watched a bunch of games.
Prior to college, you
really didn’t play much baseball growing up?: Not at all. I was never on a
team. I played softball, but never baseball.
What type of hitter
were you?: I was a line drive hitter. I didn’t hit a lot of home runs, but
I hit a lot of doubles, some triples, and every now and then I’d hit some home
runs.
In 1950, when you
earned your first major league promotion; how were you told?: My manager
was Charlie Metro, and the last game of the season we played in Montgomery and
I hit a home run over the scoreboard, and I was feeling good about that. Then
he told me. He said, ‘The Cardinals want you to join them.’ So, I went home to
get my stuff.
It took me about two days to get there, but I got there- in
New York. The Cardinals were playing the Giants, and we were winning about 12
to 2, and Eddie Dyer put me in as a pinch hitter, with Larry Jansen pitching. I
think he was going for his 19th victory. Anyways, I had a couple of good
pitches to hit and then took a tall third strike, which I thought was a good
three or four inches outside. But the umpire thought better about it and said,
‘Okay rookie, you gotta swing at those.’ So I got called out.
I didn’t play for four or five days, and then we went into
Boston and we played the Boston Braves. I wasn’t playing at all; I was just
sitting on the bench. Eddie Dyer came up to me and said, ‘Hey Eddie, Musial is
back at the hotel with a 103-degree fever. He ain’t playing today. Warren Spahn
is pitching.’ So he pitched a two-hitter that day, and they beat us 5-0, and I
got one of the two hits. My first hit was off Warren Spahn.
Was your first hit
against Spahn your favorite moment from your playing career?: I don’t think
so. My favorite moment was in 1972. A kid I coached in high school, Ken
Holtzman, pitched his first game in the World Series. I called Bing Devine, and
said, ‘Hey Bing, you owe me one.’ He said, ‘Okay, you got my tickets.’ So I
went to Cincinnati and saw the opening game of the 1972 World Series.
Kenny was pitching and I got to yelling at him while he was
warming up. The first pitch he threw was a strike to Pete Rose. That was
probably the most thrilling moment of my career.
Did you ever play
against any Negro League teams?: Yeah, in the fall of 1949 I played a
couple of games against some barnstormers. And that was it. I played with
Satchel Paige. I played in a game that he pitched once.
What was Satchel
Paige like?: He was one of a kind; absolutely one of a kind. He could back
up just about anything he said he could do. Of course he was the best public
relations man; Satchel himself. He would say anything to make people make a
mess of themselves. As you may know, he could throw a ball 100 miles an hour
and put it exactly where he wanted to.
How do you think he
would have done if he could have played his entire career in the majors?:
Bob Feller said he was the best pitcher he ever pitched against. Joe DiMaggio
said he was the best pitcher he ever faced. Satchel, when he used to warm up
before a game; now this was in ‘53 and he was with the Browns and I was with
the Browns. Babe Martin was the third string catcher. Babe would tell me that
Satchel wanted a chewing gum wrapper on home plate so he could hit the inside
and outside corners of a chewing gum wrapper. When you can throw the ball 100
miles an hour and exactly where you want to, they aren’t going to hit you. He
had a whole bunch of different pitches too.
I think I went to a Negro League All Star game around 1935
or 1936. There was always a feud between him and Josh Gibson. Satchel would
tell him that if he came up to the plate again he would strike him out.
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