Mickelson was born in
Ottawa, Illinois, on September 9, 1926, and attended
Washington University in St. Louis and
Oklahoma State University. He played college baseball for the
Washington University Bears and the
Oklahoma State Cowboys. He signed with the Cardinals in 1947 and was given his first big-league audition at the end of the 1950 minor league season, during which he
batted a composite .413 in two Class B leagues. Mickelson collected only one
hit and two
bases on balls in 12
plate appearances over five games, however, and returned to the minor leagues for almost three full seasons. Acquired by the Browns' organization, Mickelson was called up in September 1953 after a season spent in the
Double-A Texas League. The Browns were at the end of their 52-year stay in
St. Louis; owner
Bill Veeck was about to sell the team to an ownership group from
Baltimore and the team would be reborn as the
Orioles the next season. In the third
inning of the Browns' final game on Sunday, September 27, at
Busch Stadium, facing the
Chicago White Sox,
Johnny Groth doubled off
Billy Pierce with two
out. Mickelson then drove home Groth with an opposite-field
single to give the Browns a 1–0 lead. But Chicago came back to tie the game in the eighth, sent the contest to
extra innings, and won it 2–1 with a run in the top of the 11th. The
RBI single was Mickelson's last big-league hit; he went hitless for the rest of that game, His death left
Billy Hunter as the last living St. Louis Brown, who himself would die only four days later. ==References==