John Melvin "Bubba" Phillips (February 24, 1928 – June 22, 1993) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) third baseman from Macon, Mississippi. He played for ten seasons on the Detroit Tigers, Chicago White Sox, and Cleveland Indians, from 1955 through 1964. Phillips was inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in 1972. Early life, football and baseball Phillips was born in West Point, Mississippi. He graduated from Macon High School where he was a football standout and softball player in 1946. He was awarded a football scholarship to the University of Southern Mississippi (then Mississippi Southern College) and was a multi-sport athlete. He excelled in baseball and football and began being watched by major league-scouts in 1946. He received "Little All-America" football honors as captain (running back) of the football team his senior year in 1950. While in college he chose a professional baseball career over a football career turning down the San Francisco 49ers of the All-America Football Conference for a contract with the Detroit Tigers organization in 1948. Minor league and military service Phillips was signed and sent to the Stroudsburg Poconos (Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania) of the North Atlantic League where he hit .302 in 11 games played in 1948. In 1949, he moved up to Thomasville (Thomasville, Georgia) Tigers' farm club in the Class D Georgia-Florida league where he hit .329 in 138 games. For the Class A Flint Arrows in 1950 he hit .290. In 1951 Phillips hit .314 combined for Toledo and Williamsport. In 1952, he hit .291 with the Tigers' International League farm team at Buffalo, New York. Phillipa was then drafted into military service for two years and spent 1953 and 1954 with the United States Army. Major League Baseball Detroit Tigers (1955) Phillips made his major league debut on April 12, 1955, with the Detroit Tigers at the age of 27 and wearing number 11. Though he spent most of the year as a bench player, in 184 at-bats he hit .234. He started in left field on Opening Day and went 0-for-3 against the Kansas City Athletics. He hit three home runs, had 23 RBIs, in 95 games played. After the 1955 season, he was traded from the Tigers to the Chicago White Sox for Virgil Trucks. Chicago White Sox (1956-1959) In , Phillips spent his first season on the White Sox team like Detroit, mostly a bench player. He