William Watson Clark (May 16, 1902 – March 4, 1972) born in St. Joseph, Louisiana, was a baseball pitcher for the

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive F ...

(1924), Brooklyn Robins/

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 ...

(1927–33 and 1934–37) and

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

(1933–34). Clark finished 20th in voting for the 1931 National League MVP for having a 14–10 win–loss record, 34 games (28 started), 16 complete games, 3 shutouts, 2 games finished, 1 save, 233 innings pitched, 243 hits allowed, 86 runs allowed, 83 earned runs allowed, 4 home runs allowed, 52 walks, 96 strikeouts, 1 hit batsman, 3 wild pitches, 981 batters faced, 1 balk, 3.20 ERA and 1.264 WHIP. He led the National League in walks/9 IP in 1930 (1.71) and 1935 (1.22), innings in 1929 (279), games started in 1929 (36) and 1932 (36), hits allowed in 1929 (295), losses in 1929 (19) and batters faced in 1929 (1,189). He ranks 81st on the

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), ...

career walks/9 IP list (1.97). He also holds the Dodgers single season record for walks/9 IP (1.22 in 1935). In 12 seasons, he had a 111–97 win–loss record, 355 games (206 started), 91 complete games, 14 shutouts, 84 games finished, 16 saves, 1,747 innings pitched, 1,897 hits allowed, 836 runs allowed, 711 earned runs allowed, 86 home runs allowed, 383 walks allowed, 643 strikeouts, 17 hit batsmen, 21 wild pitches, 7,442 batters faced, 2 balks, 3.66 ERA and 1.305 WHIP. As a hitter, Clark posted a .196

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 ...

(117-for-598) with 49 runs, 1

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 ...

, 38 RBI and 33

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 ...

. Defensively, he was better than average, he recorded a .976

fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putouts and assists, div ...

which was 16 points higher than the league average at his position. Clark died at the age of 69 in

Clearwater, Florida Clearwater is a city located in Pinellas County, Florida, United States, northwest of Tampa and St. Petersburg. To the west of Clearwater lies the Gulf of Mexico and to the southeast lies Tampa Bay. As of the 2020 census, the city had a populat ...

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1902 births 1972 deaths Baseball players from Louisiana Major League Baseball pitchers Cleveland Indians players Brooklyn Robins players Brooklyn Dodgers players New York Giants (NL) players Minor league baseball managers Mississippi College Choctaws baseball players Peoria Tractors players New Orleans Pelicans (baseball) players Terre Haute Tots players Minneapolis Millers (baseball) players Reidsville Luckies players People from St. Joseph, Louisiana {{US-baseball-pitcher-1900s-stub