Nebraska Minor League Baseball
Clarence Mitchell

Clarence Mitchell was a nineteen year old pitcher for Red Cloud in 1910. Originally from Franklin Nebraska he played in the Nebraska State League in 1910 where he led the Red Cloud pitching staff. He played town ball for Alliance in 1909.

He made his debut in the major leagues in 1911 with the Detroit Tigers. He only pitched in five games for Detroit in 1911. He played for Denver in 1914 and 1915 in the Western League.

He returned to the majors in 1916 at twenty five years of age. He pitched for Cincinatti and managed an 11-10 record. After pitching for Cincinatti in 1917, he was traded to Brooklyn. He was 0-1 in 1918, 7-5 in 1919, 5-2 in 1920 and 11-9 in 1921 and 3-5 in 1922.. Clarence hit into an unassisted triple play during the 1920 World Series. He hit a line drive to Bill Wambsganss at second base. Bill stepped on the bag to retire Pete Kilduff and tagged Otto Miller coming from first base.

In 1920 the spitball was outlawed. Clarence was one of eight pitchers in the National League who were allowed to continue to pitch the spitball. Clarence indicated that he used "slippery elm" to make a spitball. Slippery Elm was used as a remedy for an upset stomach. The spitball pitchers would coat one side of the ball with this greasy concoction.

In 1923 he went to Philadelphia where he played through the 1927 season. He went to, St. Louis in 1928 and the Giants in 1930. In all he played for six different teams over 21 years.

He played for Omaha in 1936 after being dropped by the San Francisco Missions. On May 22nd he pitched in his 1,289th game of his career. He beat Davenport and pitched a 3 hitter. On May 27th he beat young Walter Johnson, son of Big Train 4-2. The 45 year old pitcher crossed the 1,300 game milestone on July 12th. He beat Des Moines 10-2 and hit a home run during the game. In July the pitcher/coach was named co-manager, replacing Hank Severeid who went upstairs to general manager. In all, he pitched in 16 games and had a 7-4 record.

Lifetime he had a 125-139 record in the major leagues with a 4.12 ERA.

In 1947, he was a guest of honor as Lincoln celebrated its return to the Western League with a banquet before their first home game.

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