Editing Johnny Mize (section)

==Military service and later career==
[[File:Johnny Mize 1953.jpeg|thumb|180px|Mize with the Yankees]]
Mize spent 1943 through 1945 in military service during World War II. During his service he played for the Great Lakes Naval Station baseball team for service members and new personnel in training. Mize hit 17 home runs in 51 games and batted over .475 while manning first base for the Bluejackets. Other team members included: Phil Rizzuto who belonged to the Yankees; outfielders Sam Chapman, Dom DiMaggio and Barney McCosky; Frankie Pytlak; and Brooklyn shortstop Pee Wee Reese, and Johnny Lipon. The team was considered one of the best WWII era teams assembled.

Returning to the Giants in 1946, a broken toe caused him to fall one short of the home run title, won by [[Ralph Kiner]] of the [[Pittsburgh Pirates]]. In 1947 he rebounded to hit 51 home runs and tie Kiner for the league lead. He also led in [[Run (baseball)|runs]] and RBI, and became the only player to [[strike out]] fewer than fifty times while hitting fifty home runs.<ref name=HOF>{{cite web|title=Mize, Johnny|url=http://baseballhall.org/hof/mize-johnny|publisher=[[Baseball Hall of Fame]]|access-date=August 20, 2013}}</ref> Mize's 1947 totals in runs, home runs and RBI were all career highs.<ref name=BR/> In 1948, Mize and Kiner again tied for the league home run championship with 40 each. Mize was traded to the New York Yankees late in the 1949 season after expressing discontent with his playing time.

Mize spent the last five years of his career with the Yankees, mostly as a part-time player, ending in 1953. He was, however, considered a valuable contributor to their winning five consecutive [[American League]] pennants and World Series titles. Despite spending part of the 1950 season on minor league rehab,<ref name=Release>{{cite news|title=Yankees release Big Johnny Mize to Kansas City|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=950&dat=19500515&id=f-tPAAAAIBAJ&pg=1567,5892924|access-date=January 31, 2014|newspaper=[[Evening Independent]]|date=May 15, 1950}}</ref> he hit 25 home runs to become the second player to have a 25-home run season in both leagues. In the [[1952 World Series]] against the [[Brooklyn Dodgers]], he hit three home runs, one as a pinch-hitter, and was robbed of a fourth by Dodger right fielder [[Carl Furillo]], who made a leaping catch above the fence in the 11th inning to preserve a win for the Dodgers.

In October 1953, Mize announced his retirement. He said that he would rather retire while he was still popular with fans than to "hang around until they start to boo."<ref name=Retires>{{cite news|title=Mize retires from baseball|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1310&dat=19531007&id=hR1WAAAAIBAJ&pg=6046,1247041|access-date=January 31, 2014|newspaper=[[Eugene Register-Guard]]|date=October 7, 1953}}</ref> Mize holds the major league record for the most times hitting three homers in one game, a feat he performed six times. He also was one of a handful of players (including [[Babe Ruth]]) to do it in both leagues&nbsp;— five times in the National League and once in the American.  He was the first player to hit three home runs in a game twice in one season in 1938 and did it twice again in 1940.  He finished his career with 359 home runs.

Mize still holds Cardinals team records for most home runs in a season by a left-handed batter, most season RBI by a left hander, and most games with three or more home runs with 6.<ref name="Theme"/> He and [[Carl Yastrzemski]] are the only players to have three seasons of hitting 40 or more home runs, without a season of hitting between 30 and 39 home runs.

Mize was a strong [[pinch hitter]] in his MLB career, posting a .292 batting average (52-for-178) with 7 home runs and 56 RBI in 215 pinch-hitting appearances.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://baseball-reference.com/players/m/mizejo01-bat.shtml|title=Johnny Mize Situational Batting at Baseball Reference|website=Baseball-Reference.com|accessdate= May 4, 2024}}</ref>