Frederick Francis Mitchell, born Frederick Francis Yapp (June 5, 1878 – October 13, 1970), was an American right-handed pitcher, catcher and manager in Major League Baseball. After pitching for the Boston Red Sox, Philadelphia Athletics, Philadelphia Phillies, and Brooklyn Superbas from 1901 to 1905, he returned to the major leagues as a catcher for the New York Highlanders in 1910. He was noted for relieving Hall of Famer Cy Young in the first-ever Red Sox game.
Mitchell was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 1917, he joined the Chicago Cubs as team president, and was later hired as manager. In his second year at the helm, he won the 1918 National League pennant, losing to the Red Sox in the 1918 World Series. However, in the middle of the 1919 season, he was relieved of his president duties and one year later, he was out of a job. The Boston Braves hired him as manager for the 1921 season, but his success in Chicago did not follow him to his hometown Braves, where he lost 100 games twice. After he was fired by the Braves, he returned to Harvard University where he had previously coached baseball in 1916.
Mitchell died in Newton, Massachusetts at age 92. He is buried in Brookside Cemetery in Stow, Massachusetts.
Famous quotes containing the words fred and/or mitchell:
“For me, it’s enough! They’ve been here long enough—maybe too long. It’s a funny thing, though. All these years Fred was too busy to have much time for the kids, now he’s the one who’s depressed because they’re leaving. He’s really having trouble letting go. He wants to gather them around and keep them right here in this house.”
—Anonymous Parent. As quoted in Women of a Certain Age, by Lillian B. Rubin, ch. 2 (1979)
“Freud is all nonsense; the secret of neurosis is to be found in the family battle of wills to see who can refuse longest to help with the dishes. The sink is the great symbol of the bloodiness of family life.”
—Julian Mitchell (20th century)