Mayfield Clothiers
The Mayfield Clothiers played in the Kitty League (Kentucky-Illinois-Tennessee) during three stretches of the early and mid 20th century. The first was 1922-24, the second 1936-41, and after a four-season hiatus while the league shut down for World War II, the final edition of the Clothiers took the field from 1946 to 1955.
Some sources indicate the 1920s Mayfield team may have been called the Pantsmakers rather than the Clothiers, but both names point to a healthy textile and clothes-making industry in the town.
Mayfield won the Kitty League title five times. The first two came in 1922 and 1923, the next two in 1937 and 1941 as a St. Louis Browns affiliate, and the last in 1950 as a Pittsburgh Pirates affiliate.
Notable alumni who made the majors include Bob Skinner, a two-time All-Star left fielder with the Pittsburgh Pirates who hit .277 and collected 1,198 hits over a 12-year career with the Pirates, Reds, and Cardinals. He was a two-time World Series winner, first in 1960 with the Pirates and then in 1964 with the Cardinals, and won one more ring in 1979 as a Pirates coach.
A player who looked to have a promising career ahead of him was Elmer Wright. Wright pitched for the Clothiers in 1937, compiling a 7-7 record with a 3.65 ERA and recording the win in that year's Kitty League All-Star Game. Wright was a member of the Virginia National Guard unit in his hometown of Bedford, Virginia. The unit was called up for World War II and became Company A, 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division. Wright was a staff sergeant when he stormed the beaches of Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944, and was killed in a hail of gunfire as soon as he hit the beach. Company A, which became known as the Bedford Boys, lost 19 of 34 members on the beaches that day; four more would die in Normandy, and only ten made it back to Bedford. The sacrifice of the community was such that the National D-Day Memorial is located in Bedford today.
Finally, it should be noted that the Mayfield team was the first to integrate the Kitty League. On June 26, 1952, Mickey Stubblefield, a pitcher and Mayfield native, became the first African-American to play in a Kitty League game. Stubblefield had traveled with the Kansas City Monarchs in 1948-49 and was said to have learned his curveball from Satchel Paige. He started and won that June 26 game and went on to post a 7-6 record with a 3.71 ERA. The next year he moved north to the Duluth Dukes in Minnesota, where he had a 2-0 record when his arm finally gave out. His time as a player for his hometown team was brief, but significant, and both Mayfield and the Stubblefield family can be duly proud of what he accomplished.
