Set to be released in fall 2025, the documentary “Stalking the Big Cat of Georgia” tells the story of Johnny “Big Cat” Mize from the north Georgia mountains, one of major league baseball’s top sluggers during its golden age and a key contributor to five World Series wins by the New York Yankees (1949-1953). Not just a conventional sports bio, the film by Hal Jacobs introduces others connected to Mize in the community along with a counterpart from Atlanta who starred in the Negro Leagues, James “Red" Moore.
In our latest documentary, we go behind the scenes to see what North Georgia author Jerry Grillo discovered about Hall of Famer Johnny Mize while writing his 2024 biography (https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/nebraska/9781496235442/big-cat/).
One of the greatest hitters in baseball’s golden age (1920s-1950s), Mize was born and raised in tiny Demorest, Georgia, in the northeast Georgia mountains, where he returned to live in his later years.
Mize spent 15 seasons slugging for the Cardinals, New York Giants, and finally with the New York Yankees, who won a record five straight World Series (1949-1953) with Mize as their ace in the hole—the best pinch hitter in the American League.
After retiring from baseball, Mize then spent 28 years waiting for an invite from baseball’s Hall of Fame before he was finally inducted in 1981.Grillo's 20-year writing journey is a story in itself. He raised a family within 20 miles of Mize’s home and took a 20-year break from writing the book to help care for his son born with severe cerebral palsy. During that time, more resources became available online and Grillo learned something about Mize that few people knew.
Mize grew up in the racist Jim Crow South. But unlike his cousin, the famously intolerant Ty Cobb, he played in the off-season with and against some of the greatest Black athletes and Negro Leaguers of the day. He took the field alongside Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio, but when asked to name the greatest player he ever saw, Mize named the Cuban-born Martín Dihigo who he played with in the early 1930s.
During this same era, the Negro Leagues were enjoying its own golden age with the likes of Josh Gibson, Satchel Paige, Buck Leonard and many more. Atlantans celebrated their own all star first baseman who dazzled fans at Ponce de Leon ballpark: James “Red” Moore of the Atlanta Black Crackers who was born and raised in Bush Mountain, an all-Black community in southwest Atlanta.
Greg White, a former recreation center director in Decatur, Ga., helped Moore achieve his dream of being an ambassador for Negro League baseball before he died in 2016 at the age of 99.
We think there might be lessons to be learned from Mize and Moore, Grillo and White.
Of course our main goal is to just tell a good story.
