When Johnny comes marching home again

Johnny Mize with the Cardinals

With 30-something Ripper Collins holding down first base, the St. Louis Cardinals 90 years ago today sell a 21-year-old prospect named Johnny Mize to Cincinnati for $55,000.

Four months later – on the eve of the 1935 season opener, to be exact – the Reds decide that Mize has a bad knee, cancel the trade and ship him back to the Cardinals.

Ripper Collins

Mize then spends another season in the minors before finally making his major league debut in 1936 with the Cardinals and soon replacing Collins at first base.

The Reds then spend the next 18 years playing the what-if game as Mize goes on to a Hall of Fame career, starting with the Cardinals and then continuing in New York, first with the Giants and then the Yankees.

Along the way, which for him includes a three-year detour with the Navy during World War II, Mize hits 359 home runs in 15 seasons with 10 All-Star Game selections and five straight World Series titles with the Yankees from 1949-53.