Clyde Milan

Who was Clyde Milan?

Jesse Clyde Milan was an American baseball player who spent his entire career as an outfielder with the Washington Senators. He was not a powerful batter, but was adept at getting on base and was fleet of foot, receiving the nickname "Deerfoot" for his speed. He set a modern-rules record for stolen bases in a season with 88 in 1912, a mark surpassed three years later by Ty Cobb. Milan was mostly a center fielder.

He was born in Linden, Tennessee and died 22 days before his 66th birthday, in Orlando, Florida. During spring training as a coach, he collapsed from heat and had a heart attack.

In sixteen seasons, he batted .285 with 17 home runs and 617 runs batted in over 1982 games. He accumulated 495 stolen bases and 1004 runs scored. Milan had 2100 hits in 7359 career at bats. He ended with a .353 all-time on-base percentage.

As a player-manager, with the Senators, he was 69–85, a .448 lifetime winning percentage, after which he managed minor league teams and spent seventeen seasons as a coach with Washington. His brother, Horace Milan, was briefly his teammate with the Senators.