Jack Anthony Clark (born November 10, 1955), nicknamed "Jack the Ripper", is an American former

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

right fielder A right fielder, abbreviated RF, is the outfielder in baseball or softball who plays defense in right field. Right field is the area of the outfield to the right of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the ...

and

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

. He played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB) for the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yor ...

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penna ...

, and

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

from 1975 to 1992. During his prime, Clark was one of the most feared right-handed hitters in the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

, winning the

Silver Slugger Award The Silver Slugger Award has been awarded annually since 1980 to the best offensive player at each position in both the American League and the National League, as determined by the coaches and managers of Major League Baseball. These voters co ...

in and . A four-time All-Star In an 18-season career, Clark was a .267

hitter In baseball, batting is the act of facing the opposing pitcher and trying to produce offense for one's team. A batter or hitter is a person whose turn it is to face the pitcher. The three main goals of batters are to become a baserunner, to driv ...

with 340 home runs and 1180 RBI in 1994 games. He also collected 1,118 runs, 332 doubles, 77

stolen base In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base to which they are not entitled and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or ...

s, 1,262

bases on balls A base on balls (BB), also known as a walk, occurs in baseball when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls '' balls'', and is in turn awarded first base without the possibility of being called out. The base on balls is defined in Se ...

and 1,826 hits in 6,847

at-bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens during their turn at bat, but a bat ...

s. He batted and threw right-handed.

Career

San Francisco Giants

Clark began his minor league baseball career in 1973 with the

Great Falls Giants Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" *Artel Great (born ...

where he played the outfield and third base and had a 0-2 record in 5 games as a pitcher. In 1974, he led the league with 117 RBIs with

Fresno Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, maki ...

. The following year, he led the league with 23 home runs with Lafayette. Jack Clark 1983

Clark started his major league career with the San Francisco Giants in as a

and the youngest player in 1975 (19). His 26-game hitting streak in 1978 is the longest by a Giants player after 1900. He won the first

Willie Mac Award The Willie Mac Award is named in honor of Willie McCovey. It has been presented annually since 1980 to the most inspirational player on the San Francisco Giants, as voted upon by Giants players, coaches, training staff, and more recently, Giants ...

in 1980 for his spirit and leadership. On the other hand, Clark frequently complained about the cold and windy conditions at

Candlestick Park Candlestick Park was an outdoor stadium on the West Coast of the United States, located in San Francisco's Bayview Heights area. The stadium was originally the home of Major League Baseball's San Francisco Giants, who played there from 1960 un ...

, the Giants' home park. He had a rift with manager

Frank Robinson Frank Robinson (August 31, 1935 – February 7, 2019) was an American professional baseball outfielder and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB) who played for five teams, from to . The only player to be named Most Valuable Player (MVP) of both ...

, and some members of the Giants front office thought Clark took too long to recover from injuries.

St. Louis Cardinals

On February 1, , Clark was traded to the

for shortstop

José Uribe José Altagracia González Uribe (January 21, 1959 – December 8, 2006) was a Dominican Major League Baseball shortstop from until . Most of his ten-year career was spent with the San Francisco Giants. He played for the Giants in the 1989 W ...

, pitcher

Dave LaPoint David Jeffrey LaPoint (born July 29, 1959) is a retired Major League Baseball pitcher. He was the manager of the Rockland Boulders, an American professional baseball team based in Pomona, New York and member of the Canadian American Association o ...

, and first basemen-outfielders

David Green David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

and

Gary Rajsich Gary Louis Rajsich ( ; born October 28, 1954) is an American Major League Baseball (MLB) scout and a former professional baseball outfielder. He played all or parts of four seasons in the Majors from until , then played three additional seasons ...

. He switched to

first base A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

to reduce risk of injury. His three-run home run against the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...

in game 6 of the 1985 NLCS was the pennant-clinching hit for the Cardinals. Clark's fielding, never his specialty, played a pivotal role in the 1985 World Series. Umpire

Don Denkinger Donald Anton Denkinger (; born August 28, 1936) is a former Major League Baseball umpire who worked in the American League from 1969 to 1998. Denkinger wore uniform number 11, when the AL adopted uniform numbers in 1980. He is best remembered ...

's notorious controversial call in Game 6 came from Clark's throw to

Todd Worrell Todd Roland Worrell (born September 28, 1959) is an American former professional baseball relief pitcher. He played all or part of eleven seasons for the St. Louis Cardinals and Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball, serving as those team ...

at first. Clark would later misplay a foul popup that, while not ruled an error, should have been caught.

Darrell Porter Darrell Ray Porter (January 17, 1952 – August 5, 2002) was an American professional baseball catcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1971 to 1987 for the Milwaukee Brewers, Kansas City Royals, St. Louis Cardinals, and Texas Ran ...

later admitted that he called off Clark but hesitated at the last minute when he thought Clark had called for the catch, which Clark had not. This opened the door for the

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team was founded as an expans ...

to score two runs in the bottom of the 9th to win Game 6, and go on to capture the World Series in Game 7 the following night. In 1987, despite a rift with St. Louis All-Star shortstop

Ozzie Smith Osborne Earl Smith (born December 26, 1954) is an American former professional baseball player. Nicknamed "the Wizard of Oz", Smith played shortstop for the San Diego Padres and St. Louis Cardinals in Major League Baseball, winning the National ...

, Clark had his best season. He hit .286 with 35 home runs, 106 RBI, and led the league in

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batter reaches base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA), as it is rarely presented as a ...

(.459) and

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at bats for a given player, ...

(.597). He accomplished all this despite missing 31 games due to nagging injuries and finished third in the MVP vote. Clark again led the Cardinals to the World Series that year, although an ankle injury limited him to one at-bat in the postseason.

New York Yankees

Clark signed a two-year contract with the

prior to the 1988 season. He was primarily a

designated hitter The designated hitter (DH) is a baseball player who bats in place of another position player, most commonly the pitcher. The position is authorized by Major League Baseball Rule 5.11. It was adopted by the American League in 1973 and later by th ...

(DH), because of the presence of

Don Mattingly Donald Arthur Mattingly (born April 20, 1961) is an American former professional baseball first baseman, coach, and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB). He is the bench coach for the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball (MLB). Nicknamed ...

at first base. Clark enjoyed playing for manager

Billy Martin Alfred Manuel Martin Jr. (May 16, 1928 – December 25, 1989), commonly called "Billy", was an American Major League Baseball second baseman and manager who, in addition to leading other teams, was five times the manager of the New York Yan ...

, but he didn't get along with Martin's successor,

Lou Piniella Louis Victor Piniella ( usually ; born August 28, 1943) is a former professional baseball player and manager. An outfielder, he played 16 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the Baltimore Orioles, Cleveland Indians, Kansas City Royals and ...

. At the end of the season, he requested a trade.

San Diego Padres

After the 1988 season, the Yankees traded Clark to the

with

Pat Clements Patrick Brian Clements (born February 2, 1962) is a retired professional baseball player who played eight seasons for the California Angels, Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Yankees, San Diego Padres, and Baltimore Orioles of Major League Baseball ...

for

Lance McCullers Lance Graye McCullers Sr. (born March 8, 1964) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played all or part of seven seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Diego Padres, New York Yankees, Detroit Tigers, and Texas R ...

, Jimmy Jones, and Stan Jefferson. Regarding his time in the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

, he said, "I hate that damn league. Every game lasts –4 hours. No wonder the fans are bored over there." He played for the Padres for two seasons. In

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

, he feuded with All-Star teammate

Tony Gwynn Anthony Keith Gwynn Sr. (May 9, 1960 – June 16, 2014), nicknamed "Mr. Padre", was an American professional baseball right fielder, who played 20 seasons (1982–2001) in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Diego Padres. The left-handed hit ...

, who was widely respected by his peers and known as one of the most dedicated players in baseball. Clark called him selfish and stated that Gwynn should be swinging with runners in

scoring position In the sport of baseball, a baserunner is said to be in scoring position when they are on second or third base. The distinction between being on first base and second or third base is that a runner on first can usually only score if the batte ...

instead of bunting and protecting his batting average. "No one bothers Tony Gwynn because he wins batting titles, but the Padres finish fourth or fifth every year", he said (in the two seasons he played with the team, they finished 2nd and 5th, respectively).

Joe Carter Joseph Chris Carter (born March 7, 1960) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as an outfielder and first baseman for the Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Indians, San Diego Padres, Toronto Blue Jays ...

, who played for the Padres in 1990, said, "It just involved one great guy, and that's Tony Gwynn, and anything they want to say about Tony Gwynn is going to be news. It got all blown out of proportion." Gwynn countered, "I've been doing the same things my whole career, playing the same way. Now, why is it an issue? Because Jack Clark says it is." In early 1991, after leaving the Padres, Clark called Padres manager

Greg Riddoch Gregory Lee Riddoch (born July 17, 1945 in Greeley, Colorado) is a retired American professional baseball player, manager and coach who served as manager of the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball from July 12, 1990 through September 22, 199 ...

"a bad, bad man, and he's sneaky. He's a snake. Well, not just a snake, but a s-s-s-n-n-n-a-ke." Clark said of the San Diego fans: "Everything that they should cheer for they'd boo for, and everything they should boo for they'd cheer for ... Tony, he's perfect for them. He just plays the whole thing up, and the town is so stupid that they can't see." Gwynn responded with his own criticism of Clark: "Let's talk about him walking 104 times, being a No. 4 hitter. Let's talk about his not flying on team flights. Let's talk about him getting booted out of games on a called strike three."

Boston Red Sox

Clark returned to the American League in 1991, signing with the

for three years over the Padres' offer of only one. Clark served primarily as Boston's DH, hitting 28 home runs his first year with the team. After hitting only five home runs in a truncated 1992 season, Clark was waived by Boston in February 1993 and was signed to a minor league contract by the

Montreal Expos The Montreal Expos (french: link=no, Les Expos de Montréal) were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal, Quebec. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in t ...

during 1993 spring training. He was released later that year without appearing in a regular season game with the Expos, and retired shortly thereafter.

Retirement

Clark was named manager of the

River City Rascals The River City Rascals were a professional baseball team based in O'Fallon, Missouri, in the United States. The Rascals were a member of the West Division of the Frontier League, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball. From the 1999 ...

, a new

Frontier League The Frontier League is a professional independent baseball league with teams in the Northeastern and Midwestern United States and Eastern Canada. Formed in 1993, it is the oldest currently running independent league in the United States. The le ...

independent minor league team, in their inaugural season in 1999. Clark served as the

' hitting coach for the 2001 through 2003 seasons. In October 2008, Clark was named manager of the

Springfield Sliders The Springfield Lucky Horseshoes are a collegiate summer league baseball team of the Prospect League. They play at Robin Roberts Stadium at Lanphier Park and are based in the city of Springfield, Illinois. The team was established in November ...

of the

Central Illinois Collegiate League The Central Illinois Collegiate League (CICL) was a collegiate wooden bat summer baseball league. It was composed of five teams from Illinois and Indiana. The CICL was founded in 1963 as a charter member of National Collegiate Athletic Associatio ...

, which merged into the Prospect League for 2009. Clark caught criticism from an article in ''

The State Journal-Register ''The State Journal-Register'' is the only local daily newspaper for Springfield, Illinois, and its surrounding area. It was founded in 1831 as the ''Sangamo Journal'' by William Bailhache and Edward Baker, and describes itself as "the oldest new ...

'' after missing ten of the Sliders' 26 home games with no telling how many road games he attended.

Controversies

Bankruptcy

Clark was driven into bankruptcy in 1992 by his appetite for

luxury car A luxury car is a car that provides increased levels of comfort, equipment, amenities, quality, performance, and associated status compared to moderately priced cars. The term is subjective and reflects both the qualities of the car and the ...

s. According to his bankruptcy filing, he owned 18 luxury automobiles, including a 700,000

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...

and a

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...

. Clark was trying to pay 17 car payments simultaneously, and whenever he got bored with a car he would get rid of it and just buy another one. He ended up losing his 2.4 million home and his drag-racing business because of his extravagant spending habits. Despite one of the most publicized bankruptcies in baseball, Clark reportedly got back on his feet in the late 1990s.

Talk radio

Clark was hired as a

sports talk Sports radio (or sports talk radio) is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sporting events. A widespread programming genre that has a narrow audience appeal, sports radio is characterized by an often- boisterous on-ai ...

host on

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

radio station

WGNU WGNU (920 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to St. Louis, Missouri, and serving the Greater St. Louis media market. The station is owned by Radio Property Ventures and broadcasts a sports gambling radio format, with programming fr ...

in August 2013, co-hosting "The King and the Ripper" with longtime St. Louis radio personality Kevin "the King" Slaten. At least twice during the show's first week, Clark accused

Los Angeles Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ha ...

slugger Albert Pujols of using

performance-enhancing drugs Performance-enhancing substances, also known as performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs), are substances that are used to improve any form of activity performance in humans. A well-known example of cheating in sports involves doping in sport, where bann ...

(PEDs) while Pujols was with the Cardinals. Clark had said that he talked to Pujols' former personal trainer and said that "I know for a fact he was" using PEDs."Eye on Baseball: Former MLBer Jack Clark Accuses Albert Pujols of Using PEDs,"
BS Sports. Pujols responded by threatening Clark and WGNU with a

defamation Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...

lawsuit, and vehemently denied that he had ever used PEDs. The trainer added that he hadn't even talked to Clark in over ten years. InsideSTL Enterprises, the company that owns WGNU's weekday airtime through a time brokerage agreement, cut ties with Clark and Slaten after only seven shows. On October 4, 2013, Pujols filed a lawsuit against Clark. In response on October 14, Clark challenged Pujols to both take

polygraph A polygraph, often incorrectly referred to as a lie detector test, is a device or procedure that measures and records several physiological indicators such as blood pressure, pulse, respiration, and skin conductivity while a person is asked an ...

tests to resolve who is telling the truth. However, on February 10, 2014, Clark apologized and retracted his accusations against Pujols, saying he had "no knowledge whatsoever" that Pujols ever used PEDs. "During a heated discussion on air, I misspoke", Clark said. In return, Pujols dropped the suit.

References

External links

Baseball Evolution Hall of Fame
– Player Profile * https://web.archive.org/web/20070625154951/http://stl.sabr.org/fungoes/?p=723

''NY Times'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Jack 1955 births Living people Major League Baseball right fielders Major League Baseball first basemen Major League Baseball designated hitters Baseball players from Pennsylvania Major League Baseball hitting coaches Minor league baseball managers National League All-Stars San Francisco Giants players St. Louis Cardinals players New York Yankees players San Diego Padres players Boston Red Sox players Los Angeles Dodgers coaches Great Falls Giants players Fresno Giants players Lafayette Drillers players Phoenix Giants players Silver Slugger Award winners People from New Brighton, Pennsylvania