BASEBALL DIGEST
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SPECIAL EDITION ★ ★ ★
A Special Publication of Arnall Golden Gregory LLP
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By Abe J. Schear
August 2003
Anyone who might question Senator Zell
Miller’s love of baseball need only check
his Senate website. He is, as you will find,
a great friend of Hank Aaron as he was of
the late greats Mickey Mantle and Ted
Williams.
Senator Miller grew up in Georgia with
baseball on his mind. He has been involved
in the government of the State of Georgia
since before the Braves came to Atlanta.
He has had passion for the game as a player,
as a manager and as a fan. He still eagarly
spectates and talks baseball with fans of all
backgrounds.
Senator Miller remains a big booster of
baseball players from Georgia and has
traveled to the Hall of Fame to participate
when Georgians are honored. He loves
baseball almost as much as he loves
Georgia.
I’m certain that you will enjoy the
stories which Senator Miller shares, his
boyish enthusiasm for a game he has
enjoyed throughout his life.
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Abe J. Schear is an attorney with Arnall
Golden Gregory LLP. He is the chairman
of the Leasing Practice and a member of the
Development and Transactions Practice
Group. Contact Abe at 404.873.8752 or
e-mail [email protected].
Zell Miller
A Washington Senator
Abe: I know you are a big baseball fan.
Senator Miller: Well, I’m honored to be
interviewed. It might help if I were to just
take 30 seconds and give you a thumbnail
sketch of “me and baseball.” First of all,
my father died when I was 17 days old, so I
never knew my father, but I had an uncle
who lived next door and who was sort of a
legendary athlete up in these mountains. He
played professional ball. He played in the
old Georgia-Florida league with
Tallahassee and he played with Portsmouth,
VA. After World War II and during that
period and the early 50’s, all of these towns
up here had what we’d call town teams. We
all would play on Saturdays and Sundays
and sometimes the town team would be
composed of guys coming back from World
War II, and there would be some who had
played professional ball and not even be in
their twilight years – 40 or 45 years old.
There were a lot of us, not a lot, but there
were some of us who were in our teens. I
remember David Bristol was 15 and he was
playing for Andrews, NC, and I was 15 and
I was playing for Young Harris. Then I
coached at Young Harris College some, but
I played a lot, played some what we used to
call textile mill baseball, and I followed it
ever since I was 10 years old. I followed it
more the first 40 years than I did the last
20. I’ve been following it for 60 years.
In 1942, my mother moved us to Atlanta.
She worked at the old Bell Bomber plant,
and I would go out and watch the Crackers,
oh many, many times. This was in ’42, ’43,
’44, back then during the days of Lindsay
Deal and Louis Carpenter and Al Leitz was
the player/manager and then Ty Collard
came along, Ted Cieslak and all those guys
and Eddie Mathews, of course, and
Country Brown. Later, I was fortunate
enough to get to know Mickey Mantle and
became very close friends with Mickey
when he lived over at Lake Oconee and did
a lot of things with him including going to
Commerce, Oklahoma, going to the Old
Timer’s game at Yankee Stadium and
walking out on the field with him. I also
got to know Hank Aaron extremely well.
Hank and Mickey raised money for a
baseball field up here that they named in
my honor at Young Harris College and also
raised money for me in politics.
I went with Mickey down to the opening
of the Ted Williams Hall of Fame, and I got
to meet Ted Williams and spent some time
with him. I was with Mickey whenever he
“I was a middle
infielder...
a good field, no
hit shortstop.”
went to the Betty Ford Clinic. I met him
when he came back and got him off the
plane so he wouldn’t have to come through
the airport. I was at his funeral and I did a
eulogy for him over in Greensboro where
they had a special ceremony for him.
Anyway, I got to know Ted Williams. I
wrote a book when I first met Ted Williams.
A r n a l l G o l d e n G r e g o r y L L P | August 2003
I’m rambling, but then you pick out where
you want to go with this thing. When I first
met Ted Williams, Mickey introduced him
to me and Williams growled. He said, “Are
you a Democrat or a Republican?” And I
said, “I’m a Democrat,” and he almost
turned on his heel and growled, “I’m a
Republican.” And then very quickly I said,
“Well, I’m a Marine,” and he turned back
around and he said, “Well, you’re all right
then.” Later after Mickey had died, I wrote
a little book about what I learned in the
with it, but I didn’t see many major league
games.
Who were your favorite players when
you were growing up?
Well, I went to see the Pride of the
Yankees when I was just a kid at the old
Rialto Theater. I ended up seeing it 14 times
and, you know, that’s the story of Lou
Gehrig, so I became a Yankee fan very early
on, which was kind of strange coming from
the South and especially coming from up
here, but I always followed the Yankees. I
“I became a Yankee fan very early on, which
is kind of strange coming from the South...”
Marine Corps. I called up Williams and
asked him would he do a little blurb on the
cover for me. He said, “I will if you come
down here and get it.” So I went down and
spent an afternoon with him and talked more
baseball and he gave me a blurb for my
book. So from the little town teams and
the early Crackers and all after that, that’s
sort of my baseball interest in 30 seconds.
It said in your resume that you played
for the Young Harris team in the North
Georgia League.
They call it the Tri-State League. It was
teams made up from North Carolina,
Georgia and Tennessee. You see, I’m right
up here in this corner of Georgia.
What position did you play?
I was a middle infielder. Usually shortstop. A good field, no hit shortstop.
How many games did y’all play in the
summer?
We would play, I don’t know, we would
play twice a week on Saturday afternoons
and Sunday afternoons. Later, we began to
play a little night baseball, but not in those
early days, and we’d start in May and go
through September.
Did you play sandlot ball or little
league ball when you were a little boy?
Yes I did. I played some in Atlanta with
the Techwood Red Caps.
And then when you followed the
Crackers, did you listen to the games on
the radio? Did you listen to the major
league games?
I didn’t listen to the major league games
much back then. I always read the paper.
I’ve been reading the sports pages, turning
to them first for 60 years, and so I kept up
remember I went to Ponce de Leon
whenever they would come through on their
way back north.
And the magnolia tree was in center
field?
No doubt about it. This was before the
50’s with Whitlow Wyatt and Dixie Walker
and all those great Crackers. This was back
– Roy Hartsfield played shortstop. He was
17 years old and he was still going to West
Fulton High School, but he played
shortstop for the Crackers for a while.
Later, he went to the majors. You had
Lindsay Deal in right field, you had
Marshall Mauldin in center field, you had
a Cuban by the name of Oscar Garmendia
who played left field a lot, Lloyd Gearhardt
came along about then it seems like. Harry
Hughes was there, Bob Reid was a left
handed first baseman. Al Leitz was the
catcher. Bobby Dews caught a little. ’42,
’43, ’44, sometimes all this Cracker history
runs together in my mind.
The Crackers were very important to
Atlanta in the ‘40’s and ‘50’s.
They were extremely important.
I think that in some ways they were
very much the Yankees of the South, and
they were steeped in legend and history.
I saw Pete Gray. Do you remember Pete
Gray?
Yes.
I saw Pete Gray play for the Memphis
Chicks against the Crackers along about that
time. He was this one-armed outfielder.
Later he played a little bit for the St. Louis
Browns.
He certainly did.
He was the center fielder for the
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Memphis Chicks. He played with one arm.
He’d lost his left arm in some kind of accident when he was young, and he was a onearmed outfielder and he would usually hit
in the Southern League – he was a .300
hitter in the Southern League.
And then you coached at Young Harris?
Yes, I coached 3 years at Young Harris.
Winning seasons all 3 years. And I’ll tell
you a story about that. I tell folks that I
once beat Bobby Bowden. I can’t
remember exactly what year, it must have
been ’59, ’60, ’61 somewhere along in
there. I took the team to play South
Georgia, a two-year college down in
Douglas. At that time, Bobby Bowden was
coaching football there and he coached
baseball too. So we played a double header
when we went down there and we split. So
I tell folks I beat Bobby Bowden once.
In 1960, when you were first elected
to the Georgia Senate and then the
Braves tried to come to Atlanta, how
important was it for Atlanta to get a team
and how instrumental was the Georgia
legislature in getting the team?
Well, I think everybody realized that to
have a big league baseball team in your
state, in your city, gave you a certain
prestige. It made you big league. I mean
being in the big leagues was the best you
could be in, and if you had a big league
team, you were in the majors.
And, I suspect that it just exceeded
everybody’s wildest imagination.
Oh yes, it did.
Was the state instrumental in getting
the initial stadium built?
No, not like we were with the Dome that
came along later. We were very instrumental
in getting the Georgia Dome built for
football, but not that much in baseball. That
was more of a city thing with Ivan Allen
and those folks taking the lead.
When I was looking at the chronology
and focused on the years you were
Governor, I realized that was really when
the Braves’ rebirth sort of came along,
so I guess maybe you should get credit
instead of Bobby Cox for the Braves
doing well?
I don’t think I should (laughing). I think
he’s one of the best managers that baseball
has ever seen.
He’s a phenomenal manager.
He really is. I used to go to spring
training every year. I haven’t been to spring
BASEBALL DIGEST by Abe J. Schear
training in a few years, but during the late
‘80’s and ‘90’s, I would always go to spring
training.
Tell me, if you would, about the foul
ball you caught at the World Series.
How do you know that? They had us
sitting down there in the Ted Turner box
and Deion Sanders hit a ball that really
caromed off the net and then obliquely came
into the box, and I caught it. Jimmy Carter
was sitting two seats over, and he reached
over and took the ball out of the hand. I
didn’t know what he was doing, he took it
out of my hand and he wrote on it “Foul
ball caught by Zell Miller” and put the date
on it. So, then I guess if I ever told
anybody the story, it could be verified by
the former President of the United States.
Deion had hit the ball and so later I got
Deion to sign it as well.
That’s a great story. In your Senate
website, you talk about your favorite
players. I know Johnny Mize was one of
your favorite players.
Yes, I went to Cooperstown with Johnny
and his wife when he was inducted into the
Hall of Fame. He had played in that same
kind of baseball that I was telling you about
my uncle, very much the same age, and I
got to know him and love him and always
thought he deserved to be in the Hall of
Fame. Casey Stengel said he was a slugger
who hit like a lead-off man because he
struck out so few times. I went with him to
Cooperstown and saw that happen. I went
with Phil Neikro to Cooperstown as well
when he was inducted.
Didn’t you one time go to the Hall of
Fame with Hank Aaron?
Gosh, yeah. I went with Hank Aaron.
Hank invited me to go. What a prince of a
man. He is on the Young Harris College
Board of Trustees, and I got to know him a
good while ago. I was a good friend of Pat
Jarvis, and Jarvis introduced me to Hank
Aaron first, and we became good friends,
and as I say, he helped raise money for me
politically and also for the stadium up here
at Young Harris College. He invited me to
go when they had what they called the Black
Legends of Baseball. All the old greats from
the Negro Leagues, Buck O’Neal, Double
Duty Radcliffe, and all those guys, and I
went up there and spent two days with them
and with Hank and I tell the story about
going to the Hall of Fame and going through
it with Hank and watching the response
from tourists who were there visiting, when
all of a sudden they realized that Hank Aaron
was in their midst and was walking among
them. And I later wrote or said that then I
knew what being with a celebrity really was.
Walking through the Hall of Fame with Hank
Aaron.
Do the Senators follow baseball? Is
baseball important in the Senate?
Oh yeah. Yes. There’s quite a few big
fans up there. More so than I ever realized.
Sort of odd-ball little bets?
Yes. I have on my wall up there a bunch
of baseball stuff. I’ve got this New York
Yankee jacket, a warm up jacket that Mickey
gave me for a Christmas present in 1992.
It’s prominently displayed on my office wall
and when somebody first comes in there,
they’ll say what are you doing with a New
York Yankees jacket on your wall? Then
I’ll show them some of those pictures of me
and Mickey doing things and a couple of
autographs that I’ve gotten from – I mean, a
lot of autographs that I’ve gotten from
baseball players. I got all of Mickey’s
trading cards. I’ve got where Mickey
introduced me one time and I went up and
he had written down these notes as he
introduced me, and he left it there and, of
course, I just kept it. It’s a wonderful,
beautiful thing where he talks about our
friendship and then he says that Zell reminds
me a lot of Yogi, not as dumb as he seems.
fan, and I’m wondering whether or not
when he’s meeting and having smaller
conversations with various folks if he
uses baseball as a common denominator
with which to strike up a more casual
conversation.
Well, I would imagine he does. He
certainly does with me because he knows
what a fan I am. He couldn’t understand
why I was a Yankee fan, and I had to go
back and tell him the story about how I just
began to love the Yankees because of Lou
Gehrig and then, of course, when Mickey
came along never dreaming that I’d get to
meet him but I became a huge fan. I
always thought the ’61 Yankees was the best
baseball team that has ever been put
together, but other folks have other opinions.
I grew up rooting for the Reds and I
well remember in 1961 talking about the
Yankee team. I went to the 4th game of
the World Series in Cincinnati and the
Yankees just annihilated the Reds, of
course.
I went to Mickey’s fantasy camp a couple
of times, and he would have some of these
old teammates of his and you know that’s
where these guys pay money and they come
there and they get to fantasize playing with
the big leaguers. Anyway, I got to know
Country Slaughter, Catfish Hunter, Ron
Guidry, John Blanchard, Bobby Mercer. He
had a bunch of them down here and of
“I tell folks I beat Bobby
Bowden once.”
Should Washington have a baseball
team?
Yes, yes, yes they sure should.
By the way, I’ve become good friends with
Jim Bunning. He’s in the Senate and he’s
become one of my best friends and we talk
a lot of baseball as go back and forth from
our offices to go vote.
You know, when I grew up and Bunning
was pitching for Philadelphia and I’d
listen to the games on the radio, listen to
Waite Hoyt on the radio, and Bunning
was just so phenomenal. He’s such a great
pitcher.
Oh yes, he’s a great competitor.
President Bush is certainly a baseball
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course, especially, Hank Bauer and Moose
Skowron. Moose and Bauer and I became
very good friends, and we’ve stayed in
touch even since Mickey died.
Those guys had a lot of fun playing
baseball. It’s like a boy’s game, because
they were just big old boys.
That’s right. You know what’s the amazing
thing and why I hit it off so well with
Mantle? Mantle was just a country kid that
came from a small town. When I went to
Commerce, I told him he would argue
whether Commerce was bigger than Young
Harris. Even with all the publicity and
being the idol that he was in New York City,
he was still this kid from a small town.
I just have a couple more questions.
On your website it says one of your
favorite players is Pete Rose. Tell me
what you think about Pete Rose.
Well, Pete Rose is one of these persons
that had this great heart and this great
competitive spirit and may not have looked
as graceful as some of them playing the
game, but he got the job done. I love
hustlers. I’m talking about hustlers that
hustle in the game. I think you can’t take
away the fact that he got more hits than
know that you know that the Georgian
Cecil Travis hit .359 and batted second
in the American League that year and
clearly, I think, should be in the Hall of
Fame.
There’s no doubt.
Cecil Travis is still the lifetime
American League shortstop hitting
leader and I know you know that I feel
like he’s really gotten the raw end of the
stick and I also know you’re on the
Veterans Committee in the Senate. Cecil
“[President Bush] certainly
knows...what a fan I am.”
Travis gave up 4 years from ’42 to ’45 to
fight in World War II and arguably got
no credit toward the Hall of Fame for
that. He’s going to be 90 in August, and
he’s still really part of baseball’s legacy
to that great year. First of all, I’d like to
hear your opinion about Cecil Travis, but
second of all, I sure would love it if we
could figure out a way to recognize Cecil
Travis a little bit more than he is. He
has been absolutely slighted, particularly
in these times, it seems to me that
patriotism is more important.
That’s one of the great injustices that he
is not in the Hall of Fame because he was a
Hall of Fame player in every way and then
when you take into consideration, like you
A Washington
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Zell Miller
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anybody who’s ever played the game. I feel
terrible about the trouble that he got in. I
do think he deserves to be in the Hall of
Fame even if they don’t let him back in the
game, he ought to be in the Hall of Fame.
Griffin Bell told me that he thought
that he should be in as a player and
forever suspended as a manager. I
thought that was an interesting approach
and obviously showed a lot of thought.
I think it showed that you’re aware and
recognizing his ability and then on the other
hand you’re recognizing also that flaw.
In 1941 when Williams hit .406 and
DiMaggio hit 56 straight games, and I
know from your website that they say
you’re the baseball encyclopedia, so I
just said about him losing those 4 years, it’s
even more impressive. Maybe we can
introduce a resolution or something at least
in the Senate. I don’t know. That might be
something worth looking at.
I think if the United States Senate did
do something that recognized him, I
think it would mean something to him.
He is a great Georgian. He’s one of
Georgia’s greatest all time athletes. He
is who we really aspire to be, a guy who
played his baseball and went on and lived
his life. He’s never complained about the
injustice.
You gave me an idea. Let me work on
that. I may get back with you. I’ve got a
resolution in there now about Jackie
Robinson and I went down to Cairo and
went outside Cairo and hunted up where
Jackie Robinson had been born and had
lived. There’s nothing there except an old
chimney and kind of a foundation for a
small little house it looks like. But when I
was governor, we named that main stretch
of highway down there the Jackie Robinson
Highway. I’ve always thought had there not
been a Jackie Robinson, there never would
have been a Martin Luther King, Jr. He’s
the one who really paved the way for all of
that, but anyway, I’ve got a resolution up
there right now about Jackie Robinson.
This might be something I’d like to get into
and maybe if you’ll excuse me, I’ll get back
with you later at another time on it.
You’ve been extraordinarily generous,
and I’ve loved our conversation.