Whitey Platt was an outfielder in the 1940s for the Cubs,
White Sox, and Browns.
Mizell George Platt, Jr., was born August 21, 1920, in West
Palm Beach, Florida, to Mizell and Edna Platt. The 1920 census, taken several
months earlier, showed the couple living at 631 11th Street in
Miami; Edna was 19, Mizell was 25 and a trainman for a railroad, which is a
good industry to be in if you’re a trainman. In 1930 they were living at 218
Greenwood Drive in West Palm Beach, a home they owned that was worth $6000.
They also owned a radio. Mizell was a 36-year-old supervisor for the county
roads and a World War veteran. Nine-year-old Mizell Jr. now had two younger
sisters, seven-year-old Winifred and one-year-old Gwendolyn.
One spring when he was in his early teens Mizell served as a
batboy at the St. Louis Browns’ training camp in West Palm Beach. At age 16, in
early 1937, he was recognized for saving five people from drowning in a canal.
He played baseball, basketball and football and ran track at Palm Beach High
School; in the summer of 1938 he was part of an amateur baseball all-star team
that visited England. In his junior year annual his nickname was given as
“Hog-Caller,” and in his senior year it was “Mike.” He graduated a semester
early, in early 1939, and in March was signed to a professional baseball
contract after a tryout with Dan Howley of the International League’s Toronto
Maple Leafs, who were conducting spring training in Florida. He immediately
joined the team, and did well enough to get a brief mention in the Sporting News, but was sent to the
Cornwall Maple Leafs of the Class C Canadian-American League to begin the
regular season. He hit well in 25 games there but still was sent down a notch
to the Class D Batavia Clippers of the Pennsylvania-Ontario-New York (PONY)
League, where he hit .259 in 301 at-bats, with 18 doubles, two triples, and
nine homers, but only 12 walks, playing in the outfield.
In early 1940 Mizell was purchased by the Tulsa Oilers, a
Chicago Cubs affiliate in the Class A1 Texas League. At the time of the 1940
census, on April 11, he was living at the Hotel Adams in Tulsa; he was 19 years
old, single, and was credited with completing one year of college, though I
don’t know when he did that. He was listed as having worked 40 weeks during
1939 and earning $2700. The season went much like his 1939; he got off to a
good offensive start, this time hitting .305 in 17 games, then got sent down to
a lower classification. This time he went to the Moline Plow Boys of the Class
B Three-I League, where he hit .277 in 372 at-bats. He hit just two home runs
but increased his walks to 27 and cut down on his strikeouts.
1941 found him back with Tulsa; a March 25 story in the Wichita Daily Times is the first
reference I found to him as “Whitey.” He spent the year with the Oilers,
playing 154 games, all in the outfield, mostly in center, batting third, fifth,
and sixth. On June 5 the Sporting News
reported:
The outfield appears to be set now. Young Earl Moore in left field won his place by beating out Paul Carpenter, since sent to Macon of the Sally loop, and although he and Center Fielder Whitey Platt haven’t hit up to their capabilities, there is little to be desired in their fielding. Platt probably is the best center fielder Tulsa has had since Hal Patchett’s tenure here, batting excluded. But Johnson thinks Platt will hit his stride at the plate, and “there’ll be no stopping him then,” says Roy.
In July he was elected by the fans to be the starting
center fielder for the North in the league’s all-star game. Near the end of the
season the Associated Press reported:
TULSA, Okla., Aug. 16 (AP).—President Don Stewart of the Tulsa Oilers announced Saturday the sale of Mizell (Whitey) Platt, 20-year-old center fielder, to Los Angeles of the Pacific Coast League.
The sale was a straight cash transaction, Stewart said, but the amount involved was not disclosed.
Platt is considered one of the best outfielders in the Texas League. He is 6 feet 1 inch tall, weighs 190 pounds and has a powerful throwing arm. He has been hitting .290 and is No. 2 man on the Tulsa club in runs batted in.
Platt will finish the season with the Oilers, Stewart said, and report to Los Angeles at training camp next spring.
Los Angeles was also a Cubs affiliate. Whitey ended up
hitting .295 in 586 at-bats, with 31 doubles, eight triples and three homers,
77 RBI, and 35 walks, and had 20 assists from the outfield. After the season,
on October 12, he married Mary Doris Tedder, whom he’d gone to high school
with, in Palm Beach County. During that off-season he filled out a draft
registration card, which gave his employer as Clarence Rowland, Wrigley Field,
Los Angeles, California, and the “person who will always know your address” as
John Cain Tedder, with the same address as Whitey, 134 Greymon Drive, West Palm
Beach—apparently Whitey and Mary Doris were living with her parents.
Whitey never played for the Angels—by opening day 1942 he
was back with Tulsa. He played right field and batted sixth, and was hitting a
weak .257 (one homer, nine walks) in 46 games when he was sent down, in June,
back to the Three-I League. This time it was to the Madison Blues, who had
replaced Moline as the Cubs’ affiliate in the league; he was installed as the
center fielder and number three hitter. On June 11 the Daily Illinois State Journal reported:
If Decatur’s Commies never see Mizell Platt, new Madison outfielder, it will be too soon. All he did in the five games between the two clubs was to go to bat 21 times, collect 13 hits for a total of 23 bases and a .604 batting average.
On June 28 the Evansville
Press reported:
The Three-I league has a new batting leader this week. Outfielder Mizell Platt of Madison, reaching the required number of at-bats for the first time this season, was declared the pace setter over “Rabbit” Smith, Springfield outfielder.
At that point Whitey was hitting .429 on 36 for 84 in 21
games, and his team had played 48, so the threshold for qualifying for the
league leadership was much lower than today’s 3.1 plate appearances per
scheduled game. On July 4 he hit for the cycle, and the next day the Chicago Sun reported:
The individual sensation of the circuit continues to be Mizell (“Whitey”) Platt, Madison outfielder who in three weeks has achieved the top spot in batting averages with .429. Ticketed for service with the Chicago Cubs when the Three Eye season ends, Platt hit safely in his first 19 games, missed the 20th with Waterloo, and then came through in the next four.
In the stats published on July 12 Whitey was still hitting
.403, but the July 19 Evansville Press
ran the following item:
Platt Takes Nose Dive in Batting
Mizell Platt, Madison outfielder, is falling fast in the Three I league batting race. A .400 hitter a week ago, he down [sic] to .371 this week, according to figures released today by the Howe News Bureau of Chicago, and showing no signs of shaking the slump that has plagued him the last three weeks to the extent of shaving 57 points off his average.
Whitey was left out of the league’s all-star game, which
raised some eyebrows. In the stats published on August 2, by which point he had
played in 55 of the team’s 81 games, he was hitting .379 after being at .369 a
week previously. On August 7, the following item ran in the Detroit Times, in the “In Mayfair With
the Chaperon” column, formatted just as it appears here:
Mary Louise Smith Plans Wisconsin Visit
Mary Louise Smith…will be leaving her home in Lincoln road…
Monday…
Bound for Madison, Wis….
And a visit with Mr. and Mrs. Mizell Platt…
Mrs. Platt…as Doris Tedder…
Was Mary Lou’s roommate…during those Sullins College days…
Miss S…
Will be gone about a week…
In the stats published August 23, Whitey had raised his
average from .375 to .385 by going 16-for-34 for the week. On August 25 he was
a unanimous choice for the league all-star team, and on the 27th it
was announced that he would be reporting to Chicago as soon as the Three-I
playoffs were over. In the stats published August 30 he was hitting .398, and
he ended the season at .395, with 33 doubles, six triples and eight homers in
365 at-bats in 92 games, with a .584 slugging percentage.
Whitey was actually owned by the Los Angeles Angels, even
though they were a Cubs affiliate, so on September 14 they traded his contract
to the Cubs in return for that of Frank Jelincich, one of Whitey’s Madison
teammates. He reported to the team in Philadelphia on the 16th, and
started the second game of a doubleheader that day, playing left field and
batting fourth. He began his major league career by grounding into a double
play in the top of the first, and went 0-for-4 for the game with no chances in
the field. The next day he also played left and batted fourth, and he got his
first major league hit in the top of the third, a bases-loaded single that
drove in two runs, with a third run scoring while he got into a rundown between
first and second.
That game was followed by two travel days, then a
doubleheader at home on the 20th against the Cardinals that Whitey
didn’t play in. Then, after another off day, he started both games of another
doubleheader, at home against the Reds. He played center in both, batting sixth
in the first game and second in the second game. He went 0-for-7 with two
strikeouts and a GIDP, but the Chicago
Daily News said:
Other recruits to get their first Wrigley Field test were Catcher Paul Gillespie from Tulsa, Marvin Felderman from Toronto and Mizell “Whitey” Platt, center-fielder from Madison of the Three Eye League. Platt was particularly impressive on defense with four fine running catches, one a somersaulting number that brought down the house.
That left just two more games to the Cubs’ season, and
Whitey didn’t play in them, so he wound up hitting 1-for-16.
Whitey went to spring training with the Cubs in 1943 amidst
speculation that he would be drafted soon. From the Chicago Sun of March 27th:
Like most professional athletes and other folks of the entertainment business, the average baseball player regards himself as heaven’s own chosen gift with no further obligation to mankind than to adorn an inferior world. Especially is this true of the specie in its youthful rookie state.
However, there are notable exceptions and one of the most refreshing of these is Mizell “Whitey” Platt, young outfielder of the Chicago Cubs.
Whitey first drew attention last fall when he turned in some brilliant fielding in a few game for the Cubs. He was spotlighted again yesterday when he hit the ball with resounding vigor in the team’s first batting practice. And today, during a lull in regular practice because of rain, he was singled out still further when Manager Jimmie Wilson selected him to represent the Cubs in the 60-yard dash for baseball players in the Purdue Relays tomorrow.
Nevertheless, none of these things is nearly as interesting as the background of Platt’s decision to come to spring camp this year.
Whitey, a powerfully built 6-foot-2 inch Floridan, is married but childless. Therefore, he already has been notified he will be called for draft examination by his board in West Palm Beach April 22. But that very likely wouldn’t have happened if he had not resumed his baseball playing this spring.
Platt was working on government construction in Florida all winter. First he operated a bulldozer on the Florida Keys, then he became superintendent of a company which painted all the buildings at the new Waac camp at Daytona Beach.
“I could have continued down there on a job that would have deferred me for quite some time,” said Platt. “However, the Cubs have treated me so well since I entered their minor league chain several years ago I thought I owed it to them to play ball as long as I could for them and just take my chance in the draft like everyone else.”
This 22-year-old rookie would rather not have had that story revealed, but his attitude is so admirable it seems justifiable to override his wishes…
On March 30 the Sun
reported that Whitey would be the starting centerfielder, but on April 5 the Daily Times quoted Wilson as saying “I
kinda counted on Platt for center field before we came down here, but he needs
more experience.” From the April 13th Daily News:
When “Whitey” Platt, the Cubs’ recruit outfielder, had his locker frisked during the Purdue relays and lost a $50 bill, it didn’t surprise his friends in Madison, Wis., one bit. Platt’s eccentricity is $50 bills. He always likes to have one in his pocket although it’s becoming an expensive habit. Twice last summer, when he was playing for Madison in the Three-Eye League, Platt was the victim of pickpockets, who also had a preference for those half C notes. After losing $150, maybe Platt will be satisfied to carry a sawbuck instead of the $50.
Whitey’s April 22 date with the draft board came and went
without mention in the newspapers, and he opened the season with Chicago,
though on the bench. At the end of May he was 3-for-18, and on June 4 he was
optioned to the Nashville Volunteers of the Class A1 Southern Association. On
June 6 he tied a league record with four extra-base hits in a game—a double,
two triples, and a home run. On June 17 the Sporting
News reported that he was classified 1-A and was anticipated to be inducted
in July, if not sooner. But he continued to play, in left field, batting third,
to the end of the Southern Association season and in the playoffs, as Nashville
won the league championship. In 383 at-bats in 92 games he hit .358 with a .527
slugging percentage, with 33 doubles, ten triples and four homers.
Whitey then rejoined the Cubs, starting four games in St.
Louis in centerfield in two days on September 18 and 19, batting second on the
18th and seventh on the 19th, then two more games on the
22nd, playing center and batting seventh.
In the team’s final 14
games he made just two appearances, both off the bench, and his final NL stats
for the season were .171/.190/.244 in 41 at-bats in 20 games. On November 11 he
was inducted into the Navy.
Whitey spent 1944 at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center
on Lake Michigan, north of Chicago. He played on the center’s baseball team,
managed by Lt. Commander Mickey Cochrane, which went 48-2 with one of the
losses being to the Brooklyn Dodgers. He led the team, which was composed of
major league players, with a .428 batting average, while all the other regulars
hit between .376 and .342.
Whitey was in Florida by March 1945, when he was named the
coach of the Naval Amphibious Training Base baseball team at Fort Pierce. The
following appeared in the Miami Daily
News of March 27:
Ft. Pierce Nine to Meet ‘Cats’
Game to Honor Mizell Platt
WEST PALM BEACH, March 27—Mizell Platt Day will be observed in West Palm Beach tomorrow when the Fort Pierce naval amphibious training base baseball team comes here to play the Palm Beach Wildcats, current leaders in the Gulfstream conference.
“Whitey” Platt, who starred in Junior Legion and high school ball here prior to 1939 when he made his debut in professional ball with the Toronto Maple Leafs [not quite true], will be honored at the game by American Legion Post 13, and the Elks club will dine the navy team after the game, according to George McCampbell, coach of the prepsters.
Platt will bring a strong team here to face the Wildcats, the game being booked to get the former minor and major league star on a local diamond once more…
While with Nashville in 1943 he set a record by driving in 13 runs in a double-header…
In April Whitey lost the coaching job when he was sent to
Honolulu—where there were enough baseball players that they didn’t just have a
team, they had an entire league. He played for Aiea Barracks, and when the
season ended in November he had the league lead in homers with 16 and was
second in RBI with 66.
By this time the war was over, and Whitey received his
discharge in early January 1946. He went to spring training with the Cubs, and
got a Sporting News mention on March
7:
SERVICE FILLED ‘EM OUT
Most of the returning servicemen are coming back heavier and taller than when they left their diamond job, and the increased weight, in many instances, is not due to excess fat. Whitey Platt of the Cubs is an example. He weighed only 185 pounds when he was with the club before and tipped the scales at 211 on his return…
Whitey had hoped to win a spot in the Cubs outfield, but he
was plagued by leg troubles and, though he made the roster, was not taken on
the trip to Cincinnati for the opening series. On the day the team returned to
Chicago for the home opener, April 20, he was placed on waivers and claimed by
the crosstown White Sox for the $7500 waiver price. On April 23 the Chicago Sun reported that he “took a
short bow at Comiskey Park yesterday and then hustled off for an X-ray. The
ex-Cub outfielder is due to suit up today, sore muscles permitting.”
He
actually didn’t get into a game until the 27th, when he made his
first of three pinch-hit appearances in two days. In early May manager Jimmie
Dykes announced his intention to start Whitey against left-handed pitchers, but
between mid-May and early July he started most games, due to injuries to the other
outfielders. On May 21 the Chicago Daily
News ran the following:
AFTER SEEING ‘EM ALL, SOX’S PLATT PREFERS A.L.
BY JACK RYAN
When Mizell “Whitey” Platt takes time off from his outfield duties with the White Sox to brag about the American League, everybody from Will Harridge, in the president’s office down to the groundkeeper at Shibe Park should take a bow.
“Whitey,” you’ll be impressed to learn, speaks from an international point of view.
Indeed, “Whitey” is the No. 1 rolling stone of baseball.
He’s dabbled in baseball with England’s tea-drinking set—that was back in 1938 when he played the British Isles with the All-America Amateur team.
“Whitey’s” tried baseball with pineapple juice in Hawaii and has taken his cuts in Cuba to the tune of “La Fiesta.”
While he never succumbed to the lures of Senor Pasquel, he has a few games to his credit at El Paso, Tex., just a hop and a jump from the border. Then there was his hitch as a ball player, Canadian style, at Cornwall, Ont., plus a considerable period during which he drew paychecks from the Cubs.
So at 25 “Whitey” has been around and quite convinced now that the American League is the place to have a career.
“You can say that I like it lots better than in the National,” confides the present holder of the center-field spot on Manager Jim Dykes’ trouble-beset squad.
“Whitey” prefers American League parks to those he saw as a Cub. That’s not so much a reflection on the nice job of housekeeping Phil Wrigley does on the North Side as it is a mild sneer at Stoneham’s place in New York and Brave’s [sic] field down in Boston.
Besides that he likes the emphasis on power, the run-getting urge of the American League.
“I don’t know just how to explain it,” says “Whitey,” “but it seems to me that defense and the bunt and one-run are all-important in the National. Over here you hit away.”
Of course, if Platt can come up with power punches he can take the Sox center field job away from Thurman Tucker…
The next day the Washington
Evening Star reported:
Longest Nat blow of the year was a Jeff Heath poke at Chicago, but it merely was a 440-foot putout. Whitey Platt took it off the center-field wall for the longest putout in Comiskey Park history.
Whitey missed a week in late May/early June with an ankle
injury (by which point Dykes had been replaced by Ted Lyons), then after his
return a 9-for-11 streak raised his batting average from .228 to .300. An AP
story on him went out on June 17, appearing in the June 18 Rockford Morning
Star under the headline “CUB CASTOFF IS SOX BALL OF FIRE:”
Mizell (Whitey) Platt, the Chicago White Sox’ flailing Floridian, who almost single-handedly unraveled the snappy Boston Red Sox last weekend, may prove the prize bargain of the major league season.
Platt, blasting nine hits in 12 trips [actually he was 9-for-16] and driving across 10 runs as the Pale Hose took three out of four from the league-leading Red Sox, came off the Chicago Cubs’ waiver list in mid-April.
The Bruins, who failed to see any improvement in Platt’s ailing legs during spring training after the 195-pound outfielder from West Palm Beach, Fla., returned from the navy, probably had tongue in cheek when they grabbed the $7,500 waiver check for Whitey.
The Sox also wondered if they were short-changed when the day Platt joined the club, he went to a doctor for treatment of a troublesome hip and knee.
But after limping along unimpressively, the 25-year-old Platt, who stands 6 feet, 2 inches, suddenly caught fire last week at Philadelphia. He banged three-for-three, driving across the deciding tally in a 1-0 victory over the Athletics.
Then the White Sox came home and tackled the proud Bostonians who had been shoving western clubs all over their home lots. In Friday’s opener, Platt rapped three singles and a three-run homer as the Sox won, 9-5.
From the June 30 Chicago
Daily Times:
Platt, a Cub refugee, shines with White Sox
By John C. Hoffman
The case of Mizell (Whitey) Platt of the White Sox and late of the Cubs is interesting. Whitey is happy to be with the White Sox playing left field, but he has no love for the Cubs. And as long as Mr. Platt has no love for the Cubs, he will play good baseball for the White Sox.
When this piece was written, Mr. Platt was hitting .298 and doing a creditable job in left field. In one game, alone, he drove in six runs against the awesome Boston Red Sox. Platt has power at the plate and is a dangerous hitter any time he comes up with a bat.
The Cubs owned the big blond kid for years, but perhaps he didn’t fit into their scheme of things. At any rate, they asked for waivers on him and the White Sox claimed him. The White Sox have been getting most of their players these days by the waiver route.
Platt joined the Sox earlier in the season with what was reported to be a pair of bum legs. But so far as anybody can detect there has been nothing wrong with his legs. He runs much like a scared rabbit.
Platt definitely figures in Manager Ted Lyons’ plans for the future. Lyons likes Whitey’s aggressiveness. There may come a day when Ted will seek something in exchange for Platt, but not just yet…
Whether Lyons’ opinion of Whitey changed as his bat cooled or
it was just a matter of the injured players returning, after July 3 Whitey was
mostly a bench player, getting just ten starts the rest of the season. He ended
up hitting .251/.307/.360 with eight doubles, five triples and three home runs
in 247 at-bats in 84 games, and was thrown out in seven of eight steal
attempts. On December 5 he was sold to the Toledo Mud Hens, the Browns’
affiliate in the AAA American Association.
On February 27, 1947, the Chicago Sun passed along the following story, variations on which made their way
back into print for years afterward (all ellipses part of the original
article):
Bob Scheffing related this one about Mizell “Whitey” Platt, former Cubs rookie who now belongs to Toledo…Platt was in the Navy at the time and had a group of his sailor buddies punch drunk with the gargantuan tales he was telling about his hitting…
In the audience happened to be Stan Musial, Cardinal batting champion…Finally when Platt ran out of gas he turned to Musial and chirped: “How do you hit ‘em Stan?” Musial happened to be playing cards with one of the other fellows and he never even looked up or cracked a smile as he replied:
“Well, I’ll tell you. When I’m in St. Louis I hit the bottom half of the ball to lift it against that short right field fence and when I’m on the road I hit the top half to knock those sharp hoppers through the infield.”
“Platt had nothing more to say after that,” said Scheffing.
Whitey spent all of 1947 with Toledo, playing left field. He
hit .305/.351/.482, with 30 doubles, eight triples, 16 home runs, and 98 RBI in
531 at-bats in 141 games. At the end of the season he was sold to the Browns,
to report next spring.
Going into spring training 1948 Whitey was expected to
emerge as a starter but he had a lot of competitors; he also had a great
spring. From the April 2 Chicago
Sun-Times (newly merged):
Whitey Stars, Cubs are blue
By Edgar Munzel
Del Rio, Tex.—Charlie Grimm and the Cubs had reason to wonder, as they rolled into this Texas town with the Browns for a continuation of their road show, whether they hadn’t missed the boat on Mizell “Whitey” Platt.
The husky tow-headed outfielder is pounding the ball at a murderous pace this spring for the Browns. In the 19 contests in which the Browns have engaged major league teams, Platt has hit .418 and driven in 18 runs to lead his team in both departments.
The White Sox must be having some misgivings, too, for they also had Platt for a time and gave up on him. In fact, they got him from the Cubs via waivers in the spring of 1946.
Both Cubs and White Sox handed out pink slips to Whitey “because he can’t hit a curve ball with a six-inch plank.” And there was plenty of evidence to support the theory.
The Cubs haven’t stopped him yet. In the five games they’ve played with the Browns Whitey has collected eight hits in 19 times up. And that includes two blows Thursday when the Cubs defeated the Browns, 5 to 0, in Juarez before an enthusiastic Mexican crowd of 5,000.
Platt, who came up originally with the Cubs in 1942, believes he was to blame himself for his failure with the Cubs, though he fired criticism at the White Sox over his release there.
“When I returned from the service to rejoin the Cubs in the spring of 1946 I was badly out of shape,” said Platt. “I weighed 225 pounds and my normal weight is around 193. But while I was with the White Sox I was the only guy hitting .300 for them after the first month of the season. But I was the one released.”
Whitey began the season as the regular left fielder. The June
2 Sporting News mentioned that he was
leading the league in triples and was among the leaders in doubles, and said
“The tutoring of Frank Snyder at Toledo last year is credited for the increased
batting power of Platt, who looked like a good prospect with the White Sox, but
never fulfilled expectations.”
On July 20 he broke his right thumb attempting a
diving catch at Boston. On August 28 the Sporting
News reported:
[Browns’ manager Zack] Taylor was particularly impressed with the spirit displayed by Outfielder Whitey Platt, who, despite a fractured thumb on his right hand, insisted that he be allowed to play.
“You can’t keep the boy out of the lineup,” the Brownie manager chuckled. “That’s how he reinjured his thumb, August 5, when he talked me into letting him play before the injury was thoroughly healed. Since then, we’ve guarded against any further injury—and Platt insists that his thumb is completely well—so we’ll use him as he leads our club in runs batted in with 60.”
After his return Whitey was still the usual left fielder,
but was out of the lineup a bit more than he had been previously. He did
continue to lead the team in RBI, finishing with 82, and hit .270/.331/.410
with 22 doubles, ten triples, and seven homers in 454 at-bats in 123 games.
Going into spring training 1949 it was reported that Whitey
would be battling for the center field job. On March 8 the Chicago Sun-Times reported from the Cubs’ camp:
Whitey Platt, former Cub outfielder and now with the Browns, took Traveling Secretary Bob Lewis in an “Accumulation Rummy” game on the trip out here…Then chuckled: “I never did get enough of that Cub dough when I was with you.”
Whitey spent the majority of 1949 coming off the bench. He
played in 102 games, but in 42 of them he pinch-hit; most of the 58 games he
started were in July and August, and were mostly in left field. He hit
.258/.325/.344 with eight doubles, two triples and three home runs in 244
at-bats. The Browns lost 101 games, and after the season they announced that
they were going for youth and all their players 28 years of age and older,
which included Whitey, were on the trading block. On November 18 Whitey was
sold to the Indianapolis Indians, the Pittsburgh Pirates’ affiliate in the
Class AAA American Association.
During the winter Whitey worked out in West Palm Beach with
Browns’ pitcher Cliff Fannin, now an ex-teammate. He spent the entire 1950
season with Indianapolis, playing left and right field, batting fifth and
sixth. He hit .275/.308/.416 with 21 doubles, one triple, and twelve homers in
418 at-bats.
In the spring of 1951 Whitey, not having signed his
Indianapolis contract, went to spring training with the Philadelphia Athletics
and worked out with them while trying to convince manager Jimmie Dykes to make
a deal for him. It didn’t work, and on March 15 he signed and reported to the
Indianapolis camp. He was hitting 4-for-19 in eleven games when, on May 23, he
was sold on a 30-day conditional basis to the unaffiliated Syracuse Chiefs of
the International League. The Chiefs immediately installed him as their cleanup
hitter, but they returned him early to the Indians on June 14 after he hit
.233/.291/.301 in 20 games. He only played part-time for Indianapolis,
finishing the season there with .247/.302/.367 in 150 at-bats in 57 games.
On January 15, 1952, Whitey was sold to the American
Association’s Toledo Mud Hens, now a White Sox affiliate, for whom he had had
one of his best seasons, in 1947. On January 26 the following Associated Press
story appeared in many newspapers:
West Palm Beach, Fla., Jan. 25 (AP)—Two women professional golfers—Peggy Kirk of Findlay, Ohio, and Betty Jameson, of San Antonio, Texas—were injured Friday in an automobile accident thirty miles west of here.
They were taken to a hospital in Everglades, where their condition was reported as not serious.
Whitey Platt of West Palm Beach, a baseball player for Toledo of the American Association, who drove along the highway shortly after the accident, said the golfers’ car left the road and smashed into a tree.
Platt said tire marks indicated they skidded while passing another car on a wet pavement. If the car had missed the tree, it would have plunged into a roadside canal.
The following item appeared in the March 12 Sporting News:
Mizell (Whitey) Platt, former major league outfielder, who purchased his release from Toledo (American Association), has signed with Miami Beach (Florida International). A resident of West Palm Beach, Platt said he wanted to play near home.
The Florida International was a Class B league, so Whitey
was dropping down a couple of levels. He was an everyday outfielder for the
Flamingos, hitting .280/.347/.396, not bad at all in what was an extremely
pitching-friendly league, with 82 runs and 73 RBI in 533 at-bats. He hit 12
home runs, which was third in the league, and 26 doubles.
From the February 18, 1953, Sporting News:
PLATT GETS CHANCE AS MANAGER
Whitey Platt, former outfielder with the Cubs, White Sox and Browns, will make his managerial debut with the West Palm Beach (Florida International) Indians this season. He played with Miami Beach of the same league last year. Platt played with the West Palm Beach High School team and broke in with Batavia (Pony) in 1939 [no he didn’t].
Whitey got two mentions in the May 27 issue:
Manager Whitey Platt of West Palm Beach (Florida International) hit safely in his fifteenth consecutive game, May 17, when he singled in the sixth inning, driving home what proved to be the deciding run in the Indians’ 6 to 5 win over Miami.
And
WHITEY PLATT IN HILL FLING
After two of his regular pitches had failed to silence Miami bats, Manager-Outfielder Whitey Platt of West Palm Beach took the mound, May 15, and retired the last two batters in the ninth inning. The Sun Sox won the game, 15 to 4, on a 16-hit attack that included a double and three singles by Paul Armstrong, who drove in three runs.
On July 1, with the team in last place, Whitey was fired as
manager and given the option to remain as the right fielder or leave the team.
The Sarasota Herald Tribune reported
on July 3:
Platt Will Remain
ST. PETERSBURG, July 2 (AP)—Mizell (Whitey) Platt, fired Wednesday night as manager of the West Palm Beach Indians, said today he would remain with the FIL club as a player for the present and possibly for the rest of the season.
Platt said he wanted to help out the new manager, Charlie Harris, in any way possible and he thought he was needed because of injuries to key players.
“Charlie Harris gave me everything he had as a pitcher and I will give him everything I have as an outfielder,” Platt explained.
A story on the managerial change in the July 15 Sporting News included the fact that “Platt
denied reports that he had been involved in a fight with one of his players.”
He finished the season with the team and hit .301/.376/.462, though the league
as a whole was much higher-scoring than the previous season, for some reason.
He had 26 doubles, one triple, and 16 home runs, with 56 runs and 89 RBI, and
more walks than strikeouts for, as far as I can tell, the first time in his
professional career. And meanwhile, on August 4, Doris had given birth to
daughter Nancy, the Platts’ only child.
Spring 1954 found Whitey, now 33 years old, back with West
Palm Beach, now managed by relief pitcher Gil Torres. He got off to a hot
start, but after playing in 28 games he was done, and I couldn’t find any
information about that. He hit .312/.380/.505 with six doubles and five homers
in 109 at-bats, and was through with his professional career.
The next mention I found of Whitey was in August of 1956,
when he got a little notice for coaching the West Palm Beach American Legion
team to a 15-1 record and the state championship. On July 18, 1957, he played
left field and batted second in an old-timers’ game in Miami played before a Miami
Marlins’ International League game. He played for Zack Taylor’s team, which
also included Heinie Manush and Eddie Lopat, against Max Carey’s team, which
included Jimmie Foxx and Al Rosen.
In June 1964 Whitey and Doris got a divorce, in Palm Beach
County, and on August 14 he remarried in Indiana. From the Seymour Daily Tribune,
August 17, 1964:
Platt-McCord Nuptials Read
Beautiful in its simplicity was the wedding ceremony in which Miss Martha Louise McCord, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Benjamin McCord, of Indianapolis, formerly of this city, became the bride of Mizell George Platt, son of Mr. and Mrs. Mizell George Platt, of Delray Beach, Fla.
The wedding rites were read at 11:30 o’clock Friday morning in the McCord home by the Rev. Harold Hoffman.
Miss Ann Marshall, who was the bride’s only attendant, was gowned in lemon yellow chiffon. She carried a bouquet of yellow Shasta daisies and ivy, and wore a half-circlet of daisies in her hair.
Robert Knobloch served as Mr. Platt’s best man.
Both Miss Marshall and Mr. Knobloch are from Indianapolis.
The bride was charming in her sheath dress of white lace, with matching jacket. In her hair she wore a half-circlet of stephanotis, and she carried a white Bible topped with a white orchid, stephanotis and ivy…
The newlyweds left for Delray Beach, Fla., to make their home. Mr. Platt is a landscape gardener there.
Mrs. Platt is a graduate of Tudor Hall and of Briarcliff Manor Junior College, New York, and attended Indiana University, where she was a member of Pi Beta Phi sorority…
I wish I knew some background behind the divorce and
remarriage, but I don’t. Whitey next popped up in the Sporting News, on February 24, 1968:
Taylor Skippers Old-Timer Club to 8-1 Triumph
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.
The baseball season opened here February 11 as two teams of pros and former pros met in an old-timer game benefitting the March of Dimes. Major leaguers Larry Brown of the Indians, Fritz Peterson and Mike Ferraro of the Yankees and Ken Johnson of the Braves formed the nucleus of the major league team. Their opponents were a group of ex-minor league players from the area.
Zack Taylor, one-time manager of the St. Louis Browns, managed the major leaguers, while Babe Glunt, a former player with the West Palm Beach Indians, handled the minor-league outfit.
Taylor, just recently named Florida supervisor of baseball’s newly-formed Central Scouting Bureau, led his major leaguers to an 8-1 triumph before a crowd of about 1,200.
Dick Williams, Red Sox manager, was on hand, while the National League’s Bill Williams and John Kibler umpired the seven-inning game…
The major-leaguers’ outfield consisted of Whitey Platt, Johnny Groth and Max Macon. The infield included Steve Souchock and Al Kozar. Dick Brown opened behind the plate…
On February 1, 1969, the Sporting
News printed a variation of the Whitey/Musial wartime story:
Musial giggled his famous giggle as he explained that he almost always told the truth in baseball. An exception was when he told his secret of hitting to Whitey Platt, who had been a Cubs’ outfielder.
When Platt asked fellow serviceman Musial his batting secret, The Man said, “In places like Brooklyn, St. Louis and the Polo Grounds, where they had the short fences, I’d hit the bottom half of the ball with the bat so that the ball would go in the air. But in Pittsburgh and other large parks, of the time, I’d hit on top of the ball so as to get more line drives. Now, Whitey, don’t tell anyone my secret.”
This version makes it sound like Musial is speaking to
Whitey during his retirement, though the story was told as early as 1947, when
he was still in the first half of his career.
Whitey died of a heart attack on July 27, 1970, less than a
month short of his 50th birthday. From the Seymour Daily Tribune of July 28:
Mizell Platt Dies Monday
Mizell G. Platt, of Lake Worth, Fla., husband of Mrs. Martha McCord Platt, died Monday in Lake Worth.
Mrs. Platt is the daughter of Mrs. Robert McCord, of Indianapolis, the former Miss Dorothy Spangel, of Seymour.
Funeral services will be conducted at 11 a.m., Wednesday, from the Mizell-Fazle-Stern South Dale Chapel in West Palm Beach, Fla.
The Platts were frequent visitors in Seymour.
The Sporting News
version, from the August 15 issue:
Mizell (Whitey) Platt, an outfielder with the Cubs, White Sox and Browns in the 1940s, died of a heart attack in West Palm Beach, Fla., July 27. He was 49.
Platt started in the Cubs’ chain in 1939 when he signed with Toronto. He played briefly for the Bruins in 1942 and 1943 and then went into the navy.
After World War II, he was with the White Sox in 1946 and the Browns in 1948 and ’49. He hit .255 in 332 games in the majors.
A batboy for the Browns in spring training one season, Platt played for a number of minor-league clubs, including Batavia, Cornwall, Tulsa, Los Angeles, Madison, Nashville, Toledo, Indianapolis and Miami Beach. He was a player-manager for West Palm Beach in 1953.
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