Shovel Hodge

“The tallest thing on spikes in this neck of the woods.”1

Clarence “Shovel” Hodge, who earned his nickname by working as a railroad fireman, stood 6-feet-4 – without spikes. In his major-league debut for the Chicago White Sox on September 6, 1920, the righty pitcher allowed no hits against Ty Cobb and the Detroit Tigers over the first seven innings. Hodge went all the way in a 10-inning, 5-4 win, witnessed by 20,000 fans. It kept the Sox one game behind the Cleveland Indians in the chase for the American League pennant. The flag eluded Chicago as the team (and the whole baseball world) was soon rocked by the unraveling Black Sox Scandal.

Hodge wound up pitching in 75 games for the Pale Hose in a big-league career that ended in 1922. He relieved in 55 of those games, which was unusual for the era. He finished the 1921 season with the highest ERA of any AL pitcher who threw over 100 innings, yet shockingly beat eventual Hall of Famer Pete Alexander in the annual postseason Chicago intracity series.

The following season, Hodge committed one of baseball’s biggest bonehead plays of the decade, mistakenly throwing a live ball out of play, allowing a run to score. Another faux pas came in one of his last major-league appearances, when he had his nose bloodied during a game while fighting his own catcher, Ray Schalk.

Hodge pitched in the minors for five more seasons before becoming an umpire, manager, league president, and even a city mayor.

***

Clarence Clement Hodge was born on July 6, 1893 in Mount Andrew, Alabama (about 70 miles southeast of Montgomery).2 Clarence was the 12th of 15 children born to John Milton Hodge, a farmer, and Missouri Elizabeth (Miller) Hodge. After the turn of the century, the family moved south to Newton, where Clarence attended the Newton Baptist Institute. As of the 1910 census, Clarence and brother Henry were listed as laborers on the family farm.

Clarence starred for Newton’s amateur team.3 He struck out 16 in a 2-1 loss to Dothan in July 1913.4 He then won a doubleheader for Clio (Alabama), having “the visitors at his mercy at all times.”5

At age 20, in the spring of 1914, Hodge married 15-year-old Ethel Alberta Haisten, from neighboring Pinckard. The couple welcomed a daughter, Verna, in February 1917. Son Isaac followed in early 1918, although the infant tragically died just seven months later.

Hodge commenced his professional career in 1914 in camp with the Albany (Georgia) Babies of the Class C South Atlantic League. After one unsuccessful exhibition game, he was quickly discarded. However, the “big raw-boned recruit” made the squad with the Americus Muckalees of the Class D Georgia State League.6 For unknown reasons, Hodge filed a claim with the National Board against Albany, which was quickly disallowed.7

For Americus, Hodge won both ends of a doubleheader in the Muckalees’ second and third games of the season against Valdosta.8 Released in late May, Hodge joined the GSL’s Brunswick Pilots. The “Muckalee castoff” pitched a complete game against his former Americus team in June. That report also called him “Stringbean” Hodge (he eventually filled out to 190 pounds).9 The next month, however, the National Board awarded Hodge back to Albany.10. He threw for an Arlington (Georgia) amateur squad in July,11 then in the Birmingham city league.

Hodge was invited to the 1915 camp of the Nashville Volunteers of the Class B Southern League. The local Nashville Tennessean quickly coined his nickname “Shovel” for working as a railroad fireman who “shoveled a large quantity of coal into the firebox of an engine.”12 Hodge impressed in camp and was considered “just about the most tireless recruit in camp. He never gets enough.”13 He also moonlighted for the W.O.W. (Woodmen of the World) squad in the Nashville city league, showing “all kinds of stuff” and having “no business in this league as he is too good.”14 He “had too much stuff to stay around the city league.”15

Nashville soon farmed out Hodge to the new Dothan (Alabama) Millionaires, back in the GSL.16 Two of Hodge’s teammates were Ben Paschal and 16-year-old Bill Terry, each making their professional debuts. Clarence’s brother Charles, an infielder, also played in the league, for Americus. That franchise moved to Gainesville, Florida in mid-May. Charles collected two hits off his brother in Gainesville’s 5-1 win in late June.17 Clarence was 5-6 in 16 games over the first half of the season.18 He pitched a full 16 innings on July 5 but fell to Waycross, 4-3, giving up only seven hits.19 The league disbanded in mid-July;20 Hodge finished second in the circuit with 115 strikeouts spanning 23 games.21 He soon joined a local Dothan amateur team.22

Hodge began 1916 with the Montgomery Rebels of the Class C South Atlantic League. He was suspended by the Rebels in late May for his penchant for “quitting” when runners got on base, showing no “guts.”23 Ten days later, he was reinstated.24 Hodge moved to the Charleston (South Carolina) Sea Gulls within the Sally League in late July, and ended the season with a combined 12-20 mark. He worked as an English schoolteacher at home during the offseason.

Back in the Sally League for 1917, Hodge moved to the Jacksonville (Florida) Foxes. He started Jacksonville’s last game, a 5-3 defeat in a mere 59 minutes to Charleston, which had claimed the first half crown and tied Columbia in the second half.25 Jacksonville and Augusta disbanded as the league received National Board approval to truncate their regular season. Thus, Hodge was assigned to Charleston for the postseason.26 He won their only two games in their six-game playoff series loss to Columbia.

Next, Hodge signed with the Little Rock Travelers of the Class A Southern League.27 However, he was quickly released, being “hardly up to Class A requirement.”28 He latched on with the Waco Navigators of the Class B Texas League at the tail end of the season.

Hodge had become a corporal in the National Guard back in early 1916, and thus missed the 1918 baseball season because of obligations amid World War I. He returned to Waco in April 1919 but was released in late June.29 He proceeded to sign with Nashville,30 where, according to lore, the lefty-hitting Hodge hit the longest homer in Nashville history against Birmingham.31 On July 12, entering the game as a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the 20th inning, Hodge lined into a double play, as Nashville fell to Chattanooga, 6-5.32 He pitched both ends of a Labor Day doubleheader for the cellar-dwelling Volunteers, earning a split against Chattanooga.33 He wintered in Nashville that off-season.

Hodge was the opening day starter for Nashville in 1920 and kicked off the year with a 7-1 record.34 He eventually fell under .500 to a 17-18 mark for a poor team that won only 65 games. A report asserted that “Hodge has pitched magnificent baseball this season with a losing club and a few bad games have marred his record.”35

Hodge was purchased from Nashville in mid-August by the White Sox, who were searching for pitching reinforcements in their AL pennant race with the Indians and New York Yankees. Chicago also added catcher Bubber Jonnard.

The rookie pitcher’s debut against Detroit on September 6 was remarkable. For “seven rounds Hodge retired the visitors without anything that listened like a base hit.”36 The Chicago Tribune wrote, “Hodge, newest recruit on the [Kid] Gleason slab staff, had to toil ten innings before his efforts were crowned by a winning score of 5 to 4 in the afternoon. He pitched a marvelous game for a beginner.”37 That report whimsically called Hodge “Shorty.”

Detroit scored four unearned runs in the eighth, owing to an error by shortstop Swede Risberg. Yet Hodge allowed only two hits (although he did issue seven walks). This victory kept the White Sox tied with the Yankees, one game behind Cleveland.

Hodge lost his only other start, against Washington on September 14, and made two relief appearances down the stretch. He would later state that the White Sox were still not on the up-and-up during the 1920 pennant race, specifically identifying Risberg, Chick Gandil, and Eddie Cicotte, while accusing Joe Jackson, Buck Weaver, and Happy Felsch only of “spinelessness.”38

For 1921, it was hoped that Hodge could pick up some of the starting pitching slack from the expelled Cicotte and Claude “Lefty” Williams.39 Instead, he made just 10 starts in 36 appearances. During the year, he was the last man in the bullpen, warming up on many a day for naught. His 6-8 won-lost record wasn’t awful, but Hodge posted the highest ERA (6.56 of any pitcher logging over 100 innings.40 By one account, there was “never … a player in the history of baseball in Chicago criticized as unmercifully as Hodge was” in 1921.41

He generally had a poor year until September, but he did have some moments of glory. On July 9, Hodge pitched nine relief innings, allowing but one run, in the seventh-place White Sox’s eventual 16-inning win over Babe Ruth and the second-place Yankees.42 He did allow Ruth’s 42nd home run on August 10. On August 18, he saved Red Faber’s 23rd victory, over the same Yankees. The very next day, Hodge beat New York, 13-9, with a complete game, knocking the Bronx Bombers from first place.43

Hodge also swung the bat well, hitting .327 (17-52) with three doubles and a triple. It’s somewhat surprising that he wasn’t used as a pinch-hitter.

Hodge did pitch well in the nine-game intracity series against the Cubs, even beating Grover Cleveland (Pete) Alexander, 3-2, on October 9 in front of over 28,000 fans. Hodge “outpitched his veteran rival,” allowing only six hits. It was his second win of the series as the Sox won four straight games.44

In November, Hodge was hospitalized with appendicitis, which he claimed had been chronic during the season, affecting his performance. Hodge stated, “It has been constant misery to pitch and run bases in some games. I can pitch with the best of them, and an operation will help me to do that.”45

During the White Sox training camp of 1922 in Marlin Springs, Texas, Hodge, at 6-feet-4, was the tallest pitcher in the American League – and teammate José Acosta, at 5-feet-6, was the shortest.46 Hodge broke camp as one of manager Gleason’s starting pitchers.

On May 1, 1922, Hodge pulled a “boner” on the mound. After recording two strikes on Tigers batter Topper Rigney, Hodge wanted another ball – but threw the one he had out of play, thinking that time was called. The runners on first (Bob Jones) and second (Harry Heilmann) were allowed to advance two bases, so Heilmann scored. A double play got Hodge out of the inning without further damage, and he got the win as the White Sox held on, 6-5.47 Years later, Hodge claimed that he had thrown the ball to the dugout after catcher Ray Schalk had told him to throw the ball out because it was no good, claiming, “Schalk was the one to blame, not me, but he never said a word.”48

In August 16, against the Boston Red Sox, Hodge had another on-field run-in – this time physical – with Schalk, who gave away nine inches in height and roughly 50 pounds.49 Apparently, Hodge’s “complicated wind-up” resulted in a double steal, and Schalk “became peeved when the pitcher tied himself into a knot and he chided the pitcher.”50 While bickering in the dugout after the half-inning, Schalk “popped Shovel Hodge on the nose and caused it to bleed.”51 Manager Gleason broke up the players, and umpire Billy Evans ejected both players.52

Three days later, in one of Hodge’s last major-league games, he fell to the Yankees. The New York Herald reported that “first we got a sight of the eminent Shovel Hodge, who shoveled a run into the core in the first and was about to duplicate that feat in the second when Gleason shoveled him into the clubhouse.”53 The White Sox lost the last 15 games in which Hodge pitched, although he did post a more respectable 4.14 ERA in his 35 appearances (eight starts) in 1922.

In early September, Hodge and Harry Courtney were shipped to the San Francisco Seals of the Class AA Pacific Coast League, to complete an earlier deal involving Willie Kamm. Hodge appeared in nine games for the Seals, who claimed the PCL pennant.

Back home in Alabama in the offseason, Hodge coached the Newton College baseball team.54 Newton went undefeated while Hodge led the squad.55 By late February the “mammoth pitcher” had rejoined the Seals out west.56 He won 18 games as the Seals repeated as PCL champs in 1923.

In May 1924, Hodge was sold to the New Orleans Pelicans of the Class A Southern Association. He posted marks of 13-11, 4.36.

While wintering in Birmingham in early 1925 to attend to his ill wife, Hodge helped coach Howard College’s team until he had to report to New Orleans.57 Sad to relate, wife Ethel died on March 11, 1925 in Birmingham. Hodge remarried in July, to Ora Virginia Schaeffer, a Louisiana native who’d lost her spouse the same month in which Hodge’s first wife had died. Ora had a daughter, Ora Marie, born in 1916. The new couple welcomed daughter Lou in 1927.

In June 1926, Hodge asked to be placed on the voluntary retired list “for business reasons.”58 Curiously, less than a week later, he was sold by New Orleans to the Wichita Falls Spudders of the Class A Texas League.59 There he posted a 6-12 record.

During spring training of 1927 with Wichita Falls, Hodge and teammate George Payne twice combined to beat their old White Sox squad, which was led by a new manager: Hodge’s old batterymate Ray Schalk.60 The Lincoln Links of the Western League purchased Hodge from Wichita Falls in late April.61 By June, Hodge had joined the Tulsa Oilers, who released him less than a month later. He next joined the Montgomery Lions of the Southeastern League, and enjoyed a renaissance, winning nine in a row as of mid-September.62 Hodge then retreated to the “cozy little cottage” on his farm near Newton in Coffee County, Alabama.63

After two games in April 1928, Montgomery released Hodge to the Columbus (Georgia) Foxes, also in the Southeastern League. He won his debut for Columbus over Selma on April 25.64 Even so, he was released after four games. Returning home to Newton, he pitched for the local team in the Dixie Amateur League.65

Hodge started being labeled “Mutt” by 1928, possibly to avoid confusion with three other minor-league pitchers in the region, Fletcher Hodge, Milton Hodge, and Byrd Hodges, all who were at times also referred to in newspapers as “Shovel.”

In the winter of 1934, Hodge lobbied the Nashville Volunteers to hold their training camp in nearby Dothan, during which he also served as a pitching coach. That summer, he managed a local Ozark amateur team.

In 1936, Hodge was appointed as player-manager for the fan-owned Enterprise (Alabama) Browns of the new Class D Alabama-Florida League. He resigned in late June, however, because he was “in the mercantile business and will resume his duties in that capacity.”66

Later that year, Hodge commenced his minor-league umpiring career in the Georgia-Florida League, earning the playoffs assignment for that loop. He umpired at times in the South Atlantic League, the Southern Association, Florida State League, South Atlantic League, Alabama State League, Appalachian League, and the Alabama-Florida League over the next five years.67

In 1943, former owner and author/historian Stanley Horn curiously named Hodge as his #1 pitcher in Nashville Volunteer history, even though he didn’t have a winning record in his two seasons there. Hammond said that Hodge “could beat almost any club on a given day despite the fact that he had a pitifully weak team behind him.”68

By 1944, Hodge had become as a director at a nearby Kill Kare Kamp, and umpired games for the Southeastern Air Forces league.69 He served as Newton High School’s baseball coach in 1947.70

Hodge also became engaged in local politics. He contested a local Newton municipal election regarding a one-cent-per-gallon gas tax levied by the city, alleging that illegal votes were cast.71 He was a farm supervisor for the veterans’ program beginning in 1946, focusing on the Wiregrass area of Alabama, a fertile peanut-growing region.72

Back in baseball, Hodge was appointed umpire-in-chief (UIC) of the Alabama State League in 1947.73 He held that position for three years.74 Returning to the dugout, he managed the Dothan Browns of the Alabama State League in 1950, winning the circuit’s title.75 He again served as UIC, now for the Alabama-Florida League, in 1951.

The next year, Hodge became president of the Alabama-Florida League.76 He served in that position for three years as well. He was given credit in 1953 for running a fine league; he strictly enforced prohibitions against stalling and swearing.77 It was considered a “tribute to his patience and determination that the loop” stayed intact for 1954.78 Nonetheless, he was fired before the 1955 season, as the league precariously hung on.79 He became the general manager for the Fort Walton Beach (Florida) Jets in the AFL for 1955, then became field boss in July when the manager contracted pneumonia.80 Hodge became the owner of the franchise by 1960 as well as a league vice-president.81

Hodge ran for mayor of Newton in the fall of 1960, on a platform of a keeping up a sanitary sewer system, establishing a recreation program, and the declaration that “Newton won’t be a speed trap after I am elected.”82 He beat the incumbent, and served a little over two years, whereafter he resigned in 1963 to become Licensing Examiner for Dale and Geneva Counties.83 In 1966, he ran for a state representative seat. He then became Dale County license inspector.

In 1962, while still serving as mayor, Hodge became the secretary-treasurer of the Ozark (Alabama) Dodgers, a Los Angeles Angels farm club, in the AFL, one of the last segregated leagues in organized baseball. Hodge relocated to the franchise to Andalusia, Alabama in July 1962 because of poor attendance.84

Clarence Clement Hodge died of pneumonia on December 31, 1967 in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. He was buried at the Newton (Alabama) City Cemetery. Survivors included his wife Ora; daughters Verna and Bettye and stepdaughter Ora; one sister; six grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.85

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Rory Costello and Jake Bell and fact-checked by Terry Bohn.

Sources

In addition to the sources shown in the Notes, the author used Baseball-Reference.com, StatsCrew.com, and MyHeritage.com.

Notes

1 “Hodge on Slab Against Bears in Dell Today,” Nashville Banner, July 27, 1919: 9.

2 Baseball-Reference.com also listed his birthplace as nearby Clayton, Alabama, and the year as 1894.

3 “Newton Beats Headland,” Montgomery Advertiser, July 6, 1913: 12.

4 “Close Game at Newton,” Montgomery Advertiser, July 14, 1913: 7.

5 “Clayton Loses Two,” Montgomery Advertiser, August 21, 1913: 9.

6 “Muckalees Get Two Workouts Wednesday,” Americus (Georgia) Times-Recorder, April 9, 1914: 5.

7 “Baseball Board Gives Decisions,” Nashville Banner, April 18, 1914: 6.

8 “Hodge Wins Both Games,” Macon Telegraph, April 19, 1914: 7.

9 “Beats Former Mates,” Macon (Georgia) Telegraph, June 11, 1914: 9.

10 “Player Hodge Awarded to Albany Ball Club,” Macon (Georgia) News, July 3, 1914: 5.

11 “Arlington Wins Opening Game,” Americus (Georgia) Times-Recorder, July 14, 1914: 5.

12 “’Shovel’ Hodge, Vols Pitcher, Reports for Work,” (Nashvillle) Tennessean, March 6, 1915: 10.

13 Blinkey Horn, “Tallest Pitcher in Whole World Joins Vols Camp,” Tennessean, March 12, 1915: 10.

14 “Banners Win over Andrews,” Nashville (Tennessee) Banner, May 10, 1915: 8.

15 “Shovel Hodge, Vol Cast-Off, Pitches Three-Hit Affair,” (Nashville) Tennessean, May 9, 1915: 24.

16 “Dothan Makes Her Bow into Organized Baseball Monday,” Birmingham (Alabama) News, April 26, 1915: 8. The Georgia State League changed its name to the Florida-Alabama-Georgia League in June 1915.

17 “Baker Never in Danger,” Macon Telegraph, June 26, 1915: 6.

18 Dick Jemison, “McFarlan of Brunswick Led the Flag Twirlers,” Atlanta Constitution, June 27, 1915: 5.

19 “Dothan Loses Two Games to ‘Moguls,’” Dothan (Alabama) Eagle, July 6, 1915: 3.

20 “Professional Baseball Introduced to Dothan in 1915,” Dothan Eagle, October 27, 1953: E20.

21 Dick Jemison, “Hall of Dothan Leads the Flag League Twirlers,” Atlanta Constitution, July 25, 1915: 2.

22 “Amateur Team on Road Trip,” Dothan (Alabama) Eagle, July 19, 1915: 1.

23 “Hodge is Suspended Indefinitely; Ehrman is Released by Gulls,” Montgomery Advertiser, May 29, 1916: 7.

24 “’Senators’ Enter Important Series with ‘Tourists,’” Montgomery Advertiser, June 8, 1916: 11.

25 “Charleston Took Two from Jasons,” Columbia (South Carolina) Record, July 5, 1917: 9.

26 “South Atlantic is in Ball Graveyard,” Macon Telegraph, July 5, 1917: 9.

27 “New Orleans are Travelers’ Guests,” Arkansas Democrat (Little Rock), July 18, 1917: 10; “Pitcher Hodge Bought by Little Rock Club,” St. Louis Star and Times, August 13, 1917: 10.

28 “Little Rock Fires Barney to Hang onto Crazy Kirkham,” Omaha (Nebraska) Evening Bee, August 20, 1917: 2.

29 “Waco Releases 4 Hurlers Including Austin Boy,” Austin American, June 26, 1919: 8.

30 “Vols Secure Heaver Hodge from Waco,” (Nashville) Tennessean, June 29, 1919: 8.

31 “’Shovel’ Hodge Hit Longest Home Run in History of Nashville Ball Park,” Southern Star (Newton, Alabama), October 13, 1949: 3.

32 “20-Inning Game for Lookouts,” Journal and Tribune (Knoxville, Tennessee), July 13, 1919: 12.

33 “Vols Divide Labor Day Bill with Chattanooga,” Nashville Banner, September 2, 1919: 10.

34 “Southern Hitters Trailing Blades,” Birmingham News, May 23, 1920: 52.

35 “Nashville Sells Hodge and Jonnard,” Chattanooga Daily Times, August 9, 1920: 8.

36 I.E. Sanborn, “Rookie Helps Sox in Double Tiger Beating,” Chicago Tribune, September 7, 1920: 23.

37 Sanborn, “Rookie Helps.”

38 Tom Anderson, “From Up Close,” Knoxville Journal, June 1, 1939: 12.

39 “Patch on Worn White Sox,” Chicago Tribune, December 26, 1920: 19.

40 “Veteran Urban Faber Wins American Pitching Honors,” Daily Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock), December 25, 1921: 12. Shows his ERA as 6.54, but Baseball-Reference.com shows his ERA as 6.56.

41 “Digging In Is What Won Place for ‘Shovel’ Hodge,” Dayton (Ohio) Daily News, April 21, 1922: 25.

42 “White Sox Tie on 4-Run Rally in Ninth Inning,” New York Tribune, July 10, 1921: 14; “Boneheads! Yanks Trimmed in 16-Inning Game, 10 to 9,” Daily News (New York), July 10, 1921: 76; “Hodge Stars in Chicago Victory,” Pittsburg (Kansas) Sun, July 10, 1921: 8.

43 “Shovel Hodge Trims Yankees,” Nashville Banner, August 20, 1921: 10.

44 “Hodge Wins Over Alex the Great,” Nashville Banner, October 10, 1921: 7.

45 “’Shovel’ Hodge Better,” Chattanooga News, November 9, 1921: 10.

46 “White Sox Have Freak Hurlers,” Washington Times, February 26, 1922: 27.

47 “Shovel Hodge Pulls Latest and Best Boner of League,” Ironwood (Michigan) Daily Globe, May 26, 1922: 8.

48 “Shovel Hodge Explains,” Knoxville (Tennessee) Journal, March 28, 1934: 9.

49 Irving Vaughan, “Ray Schalk in Fist Fight with ‘Shovel’ Hodge,” Chicago Tribune, August 17, 1922: 11.

50 “Hodge Pokes at Schalk; But Gets Two on Chin,” Washington Herald, August 17, 1922: 7.

51 “Hodge Pokes.”

52 A.J. Rooney, “Players Think Cannon’s Plan Will Fail to Materialize,” Boston Traveler, August 17, 1922: 10; “‘Shovel’ Hodge, Pitcher, and Catcher Schalk, 9 Inches Shorter, in Lively Mixup,” Boston Globe, August 17, 1922: 9.

53 Daniel, “Locals Slaughter White Sox, 12 to 5,” New York Herald, August 20, 1922: 45.

54 “Shovel Hodge to Coach Newton College Nine,” Chicago Tribune, February 8, 1923: 15.

55 “’Shovel’ Hodge of Frisco Outfit is Having Good Year,” Montgomery Advertiser, May 28, 1923: 6.

56 “Shovel Hodge, Mammoth Pitcher, Comes to Join Seals,” San Francisco Chronicle, February 26, 1923: 1.

57 Vincent Townsend, “Pelican Shovel Hodge Coaching East-Lakers,” Birmingham News, March 6, 1925: 22.

58 “Shovel Hodge Asks to be Released,” Birmingham News, June 6, 1926: 24; “Hodge of New Orleans Put in Retired List,” Knoxville Journal, June 6, 1926: 20. Baseball-Reference.com (as of July 2022) incorrectly shows Hodge’s record for New Orleans as 0-7, when in fact it was 2-0. The 0-7 mark should be attributed to Milton Hodge who pitched for Mobile that season. See Commercial Appeal (Memphis, Tennessee), May 29, 1926: 20; “Final Dixie Batting and Pitching Averages,” Chattanooga Daily Times, September 27, 1926: 11.

59 “Shovel Hodge Sold,” Town Talk (Alexandria, Louisiana), June 11, 1926: 15.

60 “Payne and Hodge Show Lots of Stuff in Turning Back White Sox in Second, 8-1,” Wichita Falls Times, March 23, 1927: 22; “Spudders Win,” Austin American-Statesman, April 4, 1927: 5.

61 “Links Acquire Pitcher Hodge,” Lincoln (Nebraska) Star, April 26, 1927: 12.

62 “Tars Bow to Montgomery; Albany Wins,” Pensacola Journal, September 14, 1927: 5.

63 “’Shovel’ Hodge Building Cottage Down in Coffee,” Montgomery Advertiser, September 16, 1927: 4.

64 “Columbus Wins Pair,” Birmingham News, April 26, 1928: 20.

65 “’13’ Jinx Hits Ball Club by Count of 4-3,” Southern Star (Newton, Alabama), May 30, 1928: 7.

66 “Welker Selected Enterprise Boss,” Dothan Eagle, July 1, 1936: 2.

67 Reuben Herring, “Second Guessin’,” Dothan Eagle, December 27, 1951: 14.

68 Fred Russell, “Sideline Sidelights,” Nashville Banner, March 27, 1943: 6.

69 “Notes,” Dothan Eagle, September 10, 1944: 5.

70 “Avinger Reported Not Seriously Hurt; New Pitcher Signed,” Dothan Eagle, July 4, 1948: 12.

71 “Newton Election Contested,” Southern Star, February 6, 1947: 1.

72 Nat C. Faulk, “Over the Wiregrass,” Dothan Eagle, January 9, 1949: 6.

73 “Mutt Hodge is ASL Umpire Chief,” Dothan Eagle, February 23, 1947: 16.

74 Reuben Herring, “Former Umpire ‘Mutt’ Hodge Named by Smith to Manage Dothan Browns,” Dothan Eagle, January 6, 1950: 8.

75 Herring, “Former Umpire.”

76 “Clarence Hodge Elected Alabama-Florida Prexy,” Dothan Eagle, November 15, 1951: 20.

77 Doug Bradford, “From the Doug-Out,” Dothan Eagle, August 30, 1953: 20.

78 Frank Pericola, “Hodge Looks for League to Have Fine Season,” Panama City (Florida) News-Herald, April 1, 1954: 6.

79 “Alabama-Florida League to Open Tomorrow at Three Florida Sites,” Dothan (Alabama) Eagle, April 17, 1955: 9.

80 “North-South Battle Set Tomorrow in Panama City,” Dothan Eagle, July 24, 1955: 16.

81 Leo Coughlin, “AFL Holds Annual Meeting,” Pensacola (Florida) News Journal, October 17, 1960: 11.

82 “Hot Races Expected in Dale Communities Mon.,” Southern Star (Newton, Alabama), September 15, 1960: 1.

83 “Hodge Resigned as Mayor of Newton; Brown Appointed,” Southern Star, February 21, 1963: 1.

84 William Bobo, “Ozark Dodgers Shift Club to Andalusia,” Montgomery Advertiser, July 10, 1962: 13.

85 “Newton,” (Montgomery) Alabama Journal, January 1, 1968: 2.