ST. LOUIS -- Running back Stump Mitchell, apparently unable to reach agreement on a new contract with the St. Louis Cardinals, has agreed to a three-year, $1.5 million contract with the Arizona Outlaws of the U.S. Football League.
Mitchell was expected to sign the contract today in Phoenix.
'If Stump and his agent keep their word, as I'm sure they will, it's done,' said Bill Tatham Jr., president of the Outlaws.
'I'm an Outlaw now,' Mitchell said. 'I hope everybody knows how much I wanted to stay with the Cardinals. I'm going to miss playing with talents like Roy Green and Ottis Anderson, working with Neil Lomax, playing for a coach like Gene Stallings. But I couldn't turn this down.'
However, Mitchell's agent, Harold Lewis, said Sunday night the Cardinals still had a chance to retain Mitchell.
'The door isn't closed entirely,' Lewis said. 'We've tried everything possible to keep Stump in St. Louis. We tried harder than anything we ever tried before. And we'd still be willing to try.'
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch said today Mitchell and the Cardinals came close in weekend negotiations to a contract agreement. A proposed three-year, $1.1 million deal would have paid Mitchell a base salary of $300,000 a year.
However, the agreement came apart when team owner Bill Bidwill proposed changes in the contract, the Post-Dispatch said.
Mitchell said he wants to leave St. Louis on good terms.
'I am not upset in any way with Mr. Bidwill,' he said. 'He was the one who gave me the chance to play football when a lot of teams passed me by.'
Mitchell was a ninth-round draft choice from The Citadel in 1981.
In five NFL seasons he rushed for 2,177 yards, had 97 receptions and 20 touchdowns. He started eight games last season because of an injury to Anderson.
