Owen F. "Spider" Clark (September 16, 1867 – February 8, 1892) was a

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 leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

player. He played two seasons 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): 1889 for the

Washington Nationals The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C.. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. From 2005 to 2007, the team played in RFK Stadiu ...

of 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 ...

and 1890 for the

Buffalo Bisons The Buffalo Bisons (known colloquially as the Herd) are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. Located in Buffalo, New York, the team plays their home games at Sahlen ...

of the Players' League. While he was primarily an

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to c ...

, he played every position at least once, including one game as a

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

for the Bisons. He was the first MLB player nicknamed "Spider." Born and raised in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, Clark started playing professional baseball in 1887. Signed by the Nationals in 1889, he made his MLB debut on May 2. An injury to his catching hand limited his playing time, but he appeared in 38 games for the team,

batting Batting may refer to: * Batting (baseball), the act of attempting to hit a ball thrown by the pitcher with a baseball bat, in order to score runs * Batting (cricket), the act of defending one's wicket with the cricket bat while attempting to score ...

.255. The team ceased to exist after the 1889 season, but Clark joined the Bisons of the newly formed Players' League for 1890. According to ''Sporting Life'', his skill as a

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 ...

made him a favorite of the fans. He appeared in 69 games with Buffalo, batting .265, but his second season would be his last. Diagnosed with

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...

in late 1890, he missed the 1891 season because of the disease and died of it on February 8, 1892.

Early life

Owen F. Clark was born on September 16, 1867, in

. His parents had immigrated to the United States from Ireland. The young Clark loved playing baseball. He would play the game at actual playing fields in Brooklyn, as well as on the street. It was in these settings that he developed the skills that would help him one day to play at the major league level.

Minor leagues (1887-88)

Clark began playing baseball professionally in 1887 with the Nashville Blues of the Southern League, though he only appeared in three games with them. In 1888, he played for two teams: the Manchester Maroons of the

New England League The New England League was a mid-level league in American minor league baseball that played intermittently in five of the six New England states (Vermont excepted) between 1886 and 1949. After 1901, it existed in the shadow of two Major League B ...

as well as the Hazelton Pugilists of the

Central League The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League in the annual Japan Series. It currently consi ...

. Clark could play multiple positions, and spectators noticed that he appeared everywhere on the baseball diamond except on the

's mound during his minor league career.

Washington Nationals (1889)

The

, a team in the

(NL), signed Clark for the 1889 season, putting him in the major leagues for the first time. He made his debut with the team on May 2. During the year, he was primarily used as a

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the ( home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the ca ...

, though he played in the

outfield The outfield, in cricket, baseball and softball is the area of the field of play further from the batsman or batter than the infield. In association football, the outfield players are positioned outside the goal area. In cricket, baseball a ...

and at all the

infield Infield is a sports term whose definition depends on the sport in whose context it is used. Baseball In baseball, the diamond, as well as the area immediately beyond it, has both grass and dirt, in contrast to the more distant, usually grass-c ...

positions except for first base. It was as a catcher that he suffered a strange injury. According to the May 8, 1889 issue of '' Sporting Life'': The injury cost him playing time, but did not keep him out for the rest of the season; Clark would play 38 games that season. He recorded a

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

of .255 with 19 runs scored, 37 hits, three

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s, 22

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the ba ...

, and eight stolen bases. With the Nationals in 1889, Clark also became the first major league player with the nickname of "Spider," a moniker he received because of his thin build and his excellent range as a fielder.

Buffalo Bisons (1890)

After the 1889 season, the Nationals folded. In 1890, Clark signed with the

. This team participated in the newly created Players' League. Formed to challenge baseball's

reserve clause The reserve clause, in North American professional sports, was part of a player contract which stated that the rights to players were retained by the team upon the contract's expiration. Players under these contracts were not free to enter into an ...

, the league enticed players to join by promising them part ownership in the teams. It was formed in direct opposition to the NL; Buffalo was the only team not in a city that already had an NL team. With Buffalo, Clark was used mostly as an outfielder, but he played every position at least once during the season, even pitching in one game. An August 9 story in ''Sporting Life'' related that "Owen Clark's first base playing has caught the crowds. He is deservedly a favorite." For the second year in a row, Clark injured his hand while catching, this time splitting a finger while facing the

Cleveland Infants The Cleveland Infants were a one-year baseball team in the Players' League, a short-lived Major League that existed only for the 1890 season. Owned by Al Johnson, the Infants finished , their lone season, with 55 wins and 75 losses. Their home ...

. However, he managed to get into 69 games for the Bisons, as opposed to 38 the year before. His last game with the ballclub came on October 4. Clark batted .265 with 45 runs scored, 69 hits, two home runs, 25 RBI, and eight stolen bases.

Death and career statistics

The Players' League went defunct after just one season, and the Bisons franchise followed suit. In late 1890, Clark was diagnosed with

. This prevented him from playing for any team in 1891. He died of the disease on February 8, 1892, in Brooklyn. His grave is located at the Calvary Cemetery in

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

, New York. Clark played 107 total games during his two seasons in the major leagues. He batted .262, with 64 runs scored, 106 hits, five home runs, 47 RBI, and 16 stolen bases.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Spider Major League Baseball infielders Major League Baseball outfielders Washington Nationals (1886–1889) players Buffalo Bisons (PL) players Nashville Blues players Hazleton Pugilists players Manchester Maroons players Sportspeople from Brooklyn Baseball players from New York City 1867 births 1892 deaths 19th-century baseball players American people of Irish descent 19th-century deaths from tuberculosis Tuberculosis deaths in New York (state) Burials at Calvary Cemetery (Queens)