Herman Earl "Flea" Clifton (December 12, 1909 – December 22, 1997), was a professional baseball player for 13 years from 1930 to 1943. He played parts of four season in Major League Baseball as an infielder for the Detroit Tigers from 1934 to 1937. He was a member of the 1935 Detroit Tigers team and was the starting third baseman in the 1935 World Series.

Clifton also played 12 years of minor league baseball, including stints with Raleigh Capitals (1930–1931), Beaumont Exporters (1932–1933), Toledo Mud Hens (1936–1937), Toronto Maple Leafs (1938–1941), Oklahoma City Indians (1941–1942), Fort Worth Cats (1942), and Minneapolis Millers (1943). After retiring from baseball in 1944, Clifton worked in the insurance business in Cincinnati, Ohio, for 40 years.

Clifton was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1909. He grew up in the west end of Cincinnati.

His father was killed in the Argonne Forest in 1918 while serving in World War I. In 1925, his mother was strangled, using Clifton's school tie, by a friend of his stepfather. Clifton became a homeless orphan at age 15: "Right after my mom died my stepdad kicked my ass out into the snow. He never liked me, anyway. Rightfully so. That was 1925. I'll never forget that year. For a year it was tough, but I toughened up pretty quick. I was living behind a garage in the back end of town, across the Ohio River in Ludlow, Kentucky." Eventually, his grandmother found him and "dragged" him to her house where he lived.

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