As player, coach and manager, Fred F. Mitchell spent almost 40 years in major league baseball. But some of his fondest recollections go back to 1916, when he coached the varsity team at Harvard. It's understandable: the school has not seen its equal since. For that Crimson team of 1916 marched up and down the Atlantic seaboard leaving wreckage in its wake. It trounced Princeton, Dartmouth, Penn and Virginia. It beat Yale twice. It shut out the Boston Red Sox 1-0—and the Red Sox won the World Series. All told, Harvard won 22 games, tied one and lost three. "We had plenty," said Coach Mitchell. "We had hitters, speed and pitching."
But to the members of the squad the most valuable asset was Fred F. Mitchell. The other day, on the occasion of his 80th birthday, all living players (19 of an original squad of 21) reassembled in Cambridge to do him honor. They gave him a television set, a silver cigaret case and a round of warm handshakes. Then they gathered behind their coach and had their picture taken. This was the lineup: Front row: Coach Mitchell and Captain Henry L. Nash, 1b, of Greenwood, R.I. Second row: Harold Wiswall, 2b, Wellesley, Mass. real estate broker; Wilmot Whitney, of, Weston, Mass. businessman; and Cyril Wyche, rf, Dallas real estate broker. Third row: Clarence S. Reed, ss, Taunton, Mass. golf course operator; Frank P. Coolidge, cf, Little Compton, R.I.; James Knowles, If, retired St. Louis executive; and Henry S. Bothfeld, ss, Wellesley Hills, Mass. manufacturer. Fourth row: Dick Harte, c, Brookline, Mass. manufacturer; Carl Harrison, p, Cincinnati; Frank Fripp, of, New York executive; George A. Percy, of, New York stockbroker; and Jarvis T. Beal, 3b, retired Exeter, N.H. teacher. Fifth row: George A. Parsons, mgr., Marlboro, Mass.; Edward W. Mahan, p (better known as a star halfback), Needham Heights, Mass.; Walter Garritt, p, Newton, Mass.; Parker Ellis, of, Newton, Mass. broker; Merrill P. Delano, p, Boston clothier; and Lawrence Higgins, mgr., Mexico City automobile distributor.
PHOTO
JAMES F. COYNE
