Horace Clarke Autograph

Horace Clarke gets a bad rap. Yesterday in the Bill Virdon post I referred to the unfortunate era between the Yankees mid-century dominance and their early success in the Boss Steinbrenner reign.  Most people in New York just call it the Horace Clarke Era, as Clarke was generally considered a mediocre player who happened to be with the Yankees for almost the entire period.   His timing was nearly perfectly terrible. He joined the team as a major leaguer in 1965, when their last pennant of the mid-century era was 1964. Then the Yankees sold his contract to the Padres in 1974 and they won the pennant in 1976.

He has his regrets, but also is proud of his career, and he should be. Here is a pretty good defense of him as a player.  He was one of the most solid and dependable players of those teams, and his performance as a second baseman was well within the standards of the day. Today we expect middle infielders to be more productive hitters. He also had his moments, including breaking up three ninth-inning no-hitters in one month in 1970. Also, while he only hit 27 home runs his entire career, his first two were grand slams. How about that?

Received 1971.

Comments

  1. Sounds like a bad rap to me! Cool action pic!