[1] A native of Colony, Oklahoma, he threw and batted left-handed, and was listed as 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) tall and 195 pounds (88 kg).

However, an agreement to grant monthly payments until he graduated high school fell through when the front office reneged, leading to a long standoff where he elected to not report to the minors but also not negotiate with another team.

In 1949, Mitchell led the AL in hits (203), singles (161) and triples (23), struck out only 11 times in 640 at-bats, and made his first appearance in the All-Star Game.

Mitchell posted a career .312 batting average, 41 home runs and 403 RBIs in eleven seasons in major league baseball.

Mitchell, pinch-hitting for Brooklyn pitcher Sal Maglie, took a called third strike to end the only perfect game in Series history.

After baseball, he worked in oil and the Martin Marietta Corporation as president of its cement division in Denver along with maintaining farmland that he had bought with the proceeds of making the World Series in 1948.