Clise Dudley

Elzie Clise Dudley

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 6' 1", Weight 195 lb.
• School University of South Carolina
• Debut April 18, 1929
• Final Game September 15, 1933
• Born August 8, 1903 in Graham, NC USA
• Died January 12, 1989 in Moncks Corner, SC USA

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Biographical Information

Clise Dudley had five seasons in the big leagues. In 1931, although he had a losing record, his ERA+ was tenth best in the league.

Dudley was born in Graham, NC, not far from Burlington, NC. He attended the University of South Carolina, with his time there overlapping with that of Roxy Snipes. Snipes went on to the majors very quickly, in 1923, while Dudley would not get there until 1929. However, Snipes played in only one game in the majors while Dudley was in 100.

Clise started in the minors in 1924 and spent all or part of four seasons at Greenville. In 1926 he won 16 games split between Greenville and Spartanburg.

He came up to the majors with the 1929 Brooklyn Robins under manager Wilbert Robinson. Dudley went 6-14 with an ERA of 5.69 for a team whose ERA that year was 4.92. One of his teammates was the 38-year-old Dazzy Vance. Dudley was in 21 games in 1930 and then was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies in a deal involving Lefty O'Doul.

Dudley spent 1931 and part of 1932 with the Phillies, also pitching for Columbus in 1932. In 1933, he spent most of the season in the minors with Chattanooga and Atlanta, coming up for one game with the Pittsburgh Pirates. In 1934 he split his time in the minors between Baltimore and Montreal.

As pitchers go, Dudley was a pretty good hitter, and he was sometimes used as a pinch-hitter. As a major leaguer, he hit the first pitch he saw for a home run.