Great First Baseman Mickey Vernon
Eisenhower's Favorite Player; All-Star Washington Senator
Dec 30, 2008
James Barton Vernon (he was given the nickname 'Mickey' by an aunt), was born on April 22, 1918, at Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania, and became a seven-time All Star with the Senators. He was said to have been a 'soft-spoken, polite first baseman who was so smooth around the bag he could have played in a tuxedo.' He was very much like his national League counterpart, first baseman Gil Hodges of the Dodgers.
Sandlot Baseball
Vernon was a star hitter at age age of fifteen when he played for a local sandlot team. While attending Eddystone High School Mickey led his team to a championship and at the same time was taken on as a player with his father's industrial-league team. Upon graduation Vernon received a scholarship at Villanova College, whose coach was also affiliated with the Easton, Maryland, Browns, in the minor leagues. Mickey was soon signed up for professional ball.
Pro Ball
As a member of the Greenville, South Carolina, Spinners, he excelled and was soon on his way. He played next for the Springfield, Massachusetts, Nationals, in the 1939 season where he was leading the league in hitting when the parent team, the Washington Senators, called him up. He was in the Major Leagues for good. In the first game for the Senators, Vernon faced the Philadelphia Athletics, his boyhood dream team, and went 1 for 4 at bat.
Personal Life
Mickey Vernon had been smitten with a girl named Anne Elizabeth Firth ('Lib') but he had been too shy to ask her for a date until he was established in baseball. They married, had a daughter Gay and lived together for sixty-three years until Lib's death in 2004.
Major League Career
Vernon joined the Senators in 1939 and played for three years, leaving at the end of the season to join the U.S.Navy. Upon his return he fought for his position at first base and had the best season of his career, winning the American League batting title with an average of .353, with 51 doubles, 8 triples and 8 homers. He was traded to the Cleveland Indians after two mediocre seasons, but was back with the Senators and in 1953 won his second batting title with a .337 average.
In 1954 Vernon hit a two-run homer to defeat the New York Yankees 5-3 in the tenth inning. He as summoned to the grandstand to meet President Dwight Eisenhower (who called Vernon 'my favorite ballplayer') and was presented with a silver bat by the president a month later.
Mickey Vernon ended his playing career records at first base including 2,044 double plays, putouts (19,754) and assists (1,444). He played in a record 2,227 games in the American League.
Ninety-year old Mickey Vernon died in Media, Pennsylvania, as the result of a stroke, on September 24, 2008. He was four votes short in the 2008 consideration for inclusion in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Source
The Ballplayers, edited by Mike Shatzkin, Arbor House, William Morrow, New York, 1990
For further reading about baseball see Satchel Paige, Willie Mays,
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