Wilmer David Mizell

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Wilmer David "Vinegar Bend" Mizell (August 13, 1930 - February 21, 1999) was an American left-handed pitcher in major league baseball who went on to serve three terms as a Republican U.S. congressman from North Carolina between 1969 and 1975. He represented North Carolina's 5th congressional district, including Winston-Salem. Defeated for a fourth term in 1974, Mizell was among dozens of Republicans nationwide punished by voters irate over Watergate.

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[edit] Mizell in baseball

He was born in tiny Vinegar Bend in Washington County, Alabama. He graduated from high school in adjacent Leakesville, Mississippi, in 1949. He was a professional pitcher between 1949 and 1963, although he served in the United States Army from 1953 to 1954. During his major league baseball career, he played for the St. Louis Cardinals (1952-1960), Pittsburgh Pirates (1960-1962), and New York Mets (1962). Mizell was known as Vinegar Bend Mizell during his major league career.

In a nine-season career, Mizell was 90-88 with a 3.85 ERA in 268 games, 230 of those starts. He pitched 61 complete games, including 15 shutouts. He allowed 654 earned runs and struck out 918 in 1528 and 2/3 innings pitched.

After leaving baseball, Mizell worked in sales and public relations for the Pepsi-Cola company in Winston-Salem until 1967.

[edit] Mizell in politics

Mizell entered politics in the 1960s as well. He was elected to the Davidson County board of commissioners in 1966. He was the chairman of the board for the two years when he was a member.

In 1968, Mizell, a Republican, was elected to a seat in the 91st United States Congress; re-elected twice, he served a total of six years in the national legislature. A previous Republican candidate, G. Fred Steele, Jr., had polled 46.9 percent of the vote in District 5 in 1966; Steele's showing helped prepare the district for a party transformation in 1968. Mizell defeated Democratic nominee Smith Bagley, an R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company official, 84,905 (52.4 percent) to 77,112 (47.6 percent). The previous District 5 representative, Democrat Nick Galifianakis, was moved to District 4 for the 1968 elections.

In 1970, Mizell defeated Democrat James G. White, 68,937 (58.1 percent) to 49,663 (41.9 percent). In 1972, he trounced former liberal Arkansas Congressman Brooks Hays, who had moved to North Carolina, 101,375 (64.8 percent) to 54,986 (35.2 percent). Hays had lost his seat in Arkansas to fellow Democrat Dale Alford in 1958, when he supported school desegregation during the Little Rock crisis of 1957.

Mizell may have thought that his 1972 margin would insulate him from further Democratic challenges in 1974. If so, he did not reckon with the impact of Watergate on Republican House members. Mizell was unseated by Democrat Stephen L. Neal, 64,634 (52 percent) to 59,182 (47.6 percent).

After the stinging 1974 defeat, in which Mizell polled less than three fifths of the total votes that he had received in 1972, President Gerald R. Ford, Jr., a former House colleague, appointed him as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development, a post he held from March 1975 to May 1976.

In 1976, Mizell challenged Neal and again lost, 83,129 (45.6 percent) to 98,789 (54.2 percent). Neal, a strong supporter of Democratic presidential nominee Jimmy Carter, polled almost the same raw vote as Mizell had four years earlier, when he was running on the Nixon--Agnew slate.

In 1981, Mizell was named Assistant Secretary of Agriculture for Governmental and Public Affairs in the Reagan administration, and as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Intergovernmental Affairs, Department of Veterans Affairs in the George H. W. Bush administration. Mizell also worked as executive director of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.

[edit] Mizell in retirement

After leaving government life, he resided in Midway, North Carolina. In the fall of 1998, Mizell had a heart attack while watching his son, Dave Mizell, coach High Point Andrews High School in a football game against North Davidson High School in Welcome. Just before kickoff, rescue crews were called, and the game was postponed for about a half hour. Mizell was taken to the cardiac care unit of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. He recovered for a few months.

Mizell died at the age of 68 in Kerrville, Texas (Kerr County), where he was visiting his wife's family. Being involved in politics and professional baseball he helped make the Mizell family one of the most well known and prestigious families in North Carolina.

Preceded by
Nick Galifianakis (D)		 United States Representative for North Carolina's 5th congressional district
1969–1975		 Succeeded by
Stephen Neal (D)

[edit] External links

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