“The greatest player I ever saw was a black man. He’s in the Hall of Fame, although not a lot of people have heard of him. His name is Martin Dihigo. I played with him in Santo Domingo in winter ball in 1943. He was the manager. He was the only guy I ever saw who could play all nine positions, run and was a switch-hitter. I thought I was havin’ a pretty good year myself down there and they were walkin’ him to ge to me.”
There were several negro league players such as Martin Dihingo and Josh Gibson, whom like Johnny Mize mentioned, not a lot o people knew about. This quote not only recognizes Johnny’s appreciation, but how impressed he was; after all, Mize was one of the greatest sluggers of his time; surely there were not a lot of pitchers who wanted to face him.
