Harland Clift was a really good player who had the misfortune of playing for a really bad team; the St. Louis Browns. One writer compared Clift's years of futility at 3rd base with the Browns to "teaching Astronomy at the Colorado Institute of Mining." As soon as I read that I realized he was my kind of ballplayer. Bill James called him the prototype for modern third basemen. Before Clift, most of them were singles hitters whose defensive skills kept them in the lineup. Clift changed that perception when he hit 29 HRs in 1937 and 34 in 1938 along with 118 RBIs in both seasons. His HR record for third basemen would stand until Al Rosen hit 37 in 1950. And though he wasn't a great glove man, he had a good arm and enough range to field his position. After laboring with the Browns from 1934-43, he was traded (where else?) to the Senators the year before the Brownies won their only pennant. Rest easy, Harland, you deserve it.
The glove is a C&S model that was in Fred Lowman's collection. The first time I saw it was on the cover of one of Joe's Catalog Source Books (if I remember right), and my reaction was "I gotta find one like that!" Naturally, when I saw that Brett was selling it for his Dad, I'd recently decided not to buy any more gloves because I was getting closer to retirement age. Eventually I came to my senses and was happy to see that Brett still had it. Joe's Book shows it listed in C&S' 1934 catalog and that they were a sporting goods outlet located in Amarillo, San Antonio, and Dallas. Their gloves were made by Rawlings, Wilson, and Nocona. I'm really glad to have this one!
Harland Clift with his nifty 3-finger.
Anyone else have a favorite somewhat obscure player? Rob? Might be a good time to explain that Elmer Riddle fixation.
