Carl Sitton

Charles Vedder Sitton (September 22, 1881 – September 11, 1931), also known as Carl, C. V. and Vet Sitton, was an American baseball player and coach.

He attended Clemson College, where he played baseball and football for coach John Heisman. On the baseball team, Sitton was a pitcher, going 6–0 as a senior captain. On the football team, he was an end notable for end runs. He later coached baseball for Clemson.

In his second season in the minor leagues, Sitton led two teams to a regional pennant. In 1908, he pitched for the Jacksonville Jays, and won the South Atlantic League (SALLY), and then for the Nashville Vols, and won the Southern Association.

He was then the first Clemson athlete to play major-league baseball in with the Cleveland Naps before returning to the minors. He used the now-illegal spitball.

Early life Sitton was born to Henry Philip and Amy Wilkinson Sitton in Pendleton, South Carolina on September 22, 1881, the second of five children. He played football and baseball for coach John Heisman's Clemson Tigers.

Football Sitton (bottom row all the way to the right) with the 1903 Clemson Tigers football teamAccording to one source, "Vetter Sitton and Hope Sadler were the finest ends that Clemson ever had perhaps". Sitton played on the left and Sadler on the right on Clemson's football teams. Both were All-Southern football players in 1902 and 1903. In 1915, John Heisman selected the 30 best Southern football players, and mentioned Sitton 23rd.

1902 saw a 44–5 beatdown of Georgia Tech in which Sitton scored first on an 80-yard end run. The day before the game, Clemson sent in scrubs to Atlanta, checked into a hotel, and partied until dawn. The varsity sat well rested in Lula, Georgia as those who bet on Tech were fooled.

In 1903, Sitton was reportedly injured before the Georgia Tech contest. Tech rooters thought perhaps it was another ruse from Heisman. It was no ruse, but Sitton's substitute Gil Ellison played well enough for a 73–0 rout. The 24–0 win over Davidson saw one writer note "Clemson playing against eleven wooden men, would attract attention;"

The 1903 Tigers went on to play in the South's first conference championship game, tying Cumberland 11–11. The tying score came after Cumberland muffed a punt. Cumberland expected a trick play when Fritz Furtick simply ran up the middle for a touchdown. One account of the play reads "Heisman saw his chance to exploit a weakness in the Cumberland defense: run the ball where the ubiquitous Red Smith wasn't. So the next time Sitton started out on one of his slashing end runs, at the last second he tossed the ball back to the fullback who charges straight over center (where Smith would have been except that he was zeroing in on the elusive Sitton) and went all the way for the tying touchdown."

Baseball He was also a starting pitcher for the baseball team, According to one account, "Sitton is considered one of the best college twirlers in the south ... He is a heady pitcher, and knows just what to do in every emergency." He posted an 18–4 career record, including records of 5-2, 7-2, and 6-0 in his three years on the varsity. He was captain of the 1903 team.

Pro baseball The 1908 Nashville Vols. Sitton is back row, fifth from left. After college Sitton played baseball in a number of cities, batting and throwing right-handed. He had his pitching debut with the Jacksonville Jays, leading the team to the South Atlantic League (SALLY) championship in his second season in 1908.

Nashville Vols Sitton was then a starting pitcher for the Southern Association champion 1908 Nashville Vols.

A crowd of 11,000 saw Sitton use his spitball to outpitch Ted Breitenstein for a complete-game, nine-strikeout, three-hit, 1–0 shutout, giving Nashville its third Southern Association pennant by .002 percentage points.

Grantland Rice called it "the greatest game ever played in Dixie". According to one account, "By one run, by one point, Nashville has won the Southern League pennant, nosing New Orleans out literally by an eyelash. Saturday's game, which was the deciding one, between Nashville and New Orleans was the greatest exhibition of the national game ever seen in the south and the finish in the league race probably sets a record in baseball history".

Nashville Banner sportswriters Fred Russell and George Leonard created all-time team lists of the top Nashville players from 1901 to 1919 and from 1920 to 1963. Sitton was named a pitcher on the former team.

Cleveland Naps

Nap Lajoie's Cleveland Naps soon lured Sitton from the Nashville club, making him the first Clemson player to play in the major leagues. Sitton was optimistic when he arrived at spring training to replace the ailing Glenn Liebhardt. Sitton made his major-league debut on April 24, 1909 against Rube Waddell and the St. Louis Browns, winning the game. He also won his second game, against Walter Johnson and the Washington Senators.

Return to minors Sitton then returned to the minors, playing with the Montreal Royals, Atlanta Crackers, Troy Trojans, and Binghamton Bingoes.

Clemson as coach He was head baseball coach of the Clemson Tigers in 1915 and 1916. Before his hiring, Sitton was known as a frequenter of Clemson games. Sitton posted a 26–18–1 career coaching record.

Traveling salesman After 1916, Sitton's career as baseball player and coach apparently ended. He surfaced again in the 1920s as an employee of the California-based Hercules Powder Company, a former munitions firm which manufactured fertilizer.

Death On the morning of September 11, 1931, at age 49, Sitton borrowed a car from a Valdosta native and drove to the Lowndes County Fairgrounds. No motive was directly stated; his suicide was likely because he lost his job.