JOHN MORGAN MIMS, a senior right fielder for Warren Central, poses with the game program from the 1977 high school all-star baseball game in which his father, Johnny Mims, played. The MHSAA Class 4A/5A All-Star Game will be June 8 at Smith-Wills Stadium.(The Vicksburg Post/MELANIE DUNCAN)

[05/13/02]Like his father, John Morgan Mims has been selected to play in the state all-star game.

But when it comes to his college selection, Mims isn’t sure if he’ll become a Rebel or if he’ll just rebel.

“Everyone just seems to think that I want to go to Ole Miss,” said the Warren Central right fielder, whose father and grandfather were Rebel athletes. “I don’t feel like I have to go there.”

Mims is the only unsigned Viking picked for the Class 4A/5A All-Star Game, which will be played June 8 at 1 p.m. at Smith-Wills Stadium in Jackson. That’s the same place it was played 25 years ago when Johnny Mims played in the third Crossroads Diamond Club All-Star Game.

Ole Miss-bound Brian Pettway and Meridian Community College signee Joey Lieberman will also suit up for the North. Vicksburg High’s J.J. Brown, who has signed to play football at Hinds Community College but will likely be drafted in baseball, will also play in the game. Starkville’s Danny Carlisle and Canton’s Melvin Gillum will coach the North.

At 6-foot-2 and 185 pounds, John Morgan Mims has a sweet left-handed swing with surprising power (he bench-presses 275 pounds) and a rocket launcher of a right arm. Package those qualities with above-average speed, knowledge and instincts, and it would seem that he would be a recruiter’s dream.

Instead, he’s a sleeper.

But the Division I-A schools haven’t exactly been wearing out their welcome.

WC coach Randy Broome attributes that to Mims’ subpar performance last year, the all-important junior season, which is when recruiters decide which prospects they will pursue.

“He went through a real tough time,” Broome said.

While the rest of the Vikings were enjoying their state championship run, Mims’ mind was everywhere but the baseball field. He left practice and went to Baptist Hospital in Jackson almost every day to visit his grandfather, Crawford Mims, who died in April after more than a month in the hospital.

“He had a special relationship with his grandfather,” Johnny Mims said. “Sometimes after he’d come home, I’d go to his room and he would be on his bed crying.”

John Morgan Mims is the first to say that he didn’t play up to his potential last year. He doesn’t want to make excuses, but, when pressed, he admits that his grandfather’s illness weighed on his mind.

“It was hard,” he said, “real hard.”

In the offseason, he worked harder than ever, picking up tips from Roosevelt Brown of the Chicago Cubs in workouts with him and his brother, Mississippi State left fielder Michael Brown, over the Christmas holidays. The Browns played at Vicksburg High.

“He gave me some drills they do in the majors,” Mims said. “He helped me a lot.”

The work paid off. Mims finished the year hitting .330 (4th) with seven home runs (2nd) and 26 RBIs (4th).

“He listens and he’s a student of the game,” Broome said. “This year, he’s doing a good job of relaxing at the plate and just hitting, letting his hands do the work.”

He’s heard the inevitable comparisons to his father, who starred at VHS.

“Everybody told me how good he was … that he had a good arm and he could hit good,” the younger Mims said.

But there was one stat he didn’t believe that his father struck out just three times in four years starting for the Gators.

“He had to show me,” John Morgan Mims said with a smile.

His father did just that, pulling out a scrapbook with an article from a Jackson newspaper about his selection for the 1977 all-star game.

“They made a big deal out of it,” Johnny Mims recalled. “They said something like, you can bet Mims won’t strike out.’ ”

So, what happened in his first at-bat on the big stage at Smith-Wills?

“I got rung up,” he said with a laugh. “I was so embarrassed.”

He struck out again before getting a hit in his next at-bat. But it’s not the game he remembers as much as the people. Five future Rebels were on the roster, including his future roommate, Russ Davis.

“That’s where I met him,” Johnny Mims said.

John Morgan Mims may meet future teammates at the game, too. Then again, he may have met them several weeks ago, when he visited Okaloosa-Walton Community College in Florida.

He said Pettway is recruiting him to Ole Miss, and ex-WC star Kevin Coker is trying to lure him to Southern Miss, where he is a freshman.

“I’ve always wanted to go somewhere where I knew some people,” he said.

Mims also has ties to USM uncles Peter and Paul Mims played football there. Another uncle, Bubba Mims, also played football at Ole Miss.

“We’ve stayed out of it,” Johnny Mims said. “We want to let him make his own road.”

Broome said Delta State has also shown interest in his all-star.

“He’ll play at the next level somewhere,” he said.

Pettway signed over the summer so he could concentrate on playing, and he delivered. Pettway hit .500 this season, with 16 home runs and 31 RBIs. He had 52 hits and a 1.077 slugging percentage.

“He’s one of the better hitters I’ve ever been around,” Broome said. “If there’s a big situation, I want Brian Pettway up there.”

Lieberman has struggled with a bad shoulder, which forced him to move from shortstop to second, but it didn’t stop him from being considered one of the top players in the state.

It’s the fourth straight year WC has been represented on the team.

“There are always good players left off,” Broome said, “But when half of your seniors make it, that’s good stuff.”