OT: Congrats little Timmy!

[itjclarke]

Originally Posted by clydepepper

... my favorite players, Will Clark.

The Thrill was by far my favorite player as a kid. Being a left handed first baseman, I tried to emulate everything he did (except didn't bat left handed), including the eye black, blowing bubbles mid-play, pointing to my teammates after hits, and perfecting facial expressions including the one sided smile and that strange ridiculous but awesome game face frown. Love that guy! Not really interested to argue other points nor to hear from Yankee fans (I like my teams' HOFers, you/they can like theirs), but I guess I'll read it if they post it.

Regardless, congrats again Timmy and stay hot! I'll be at his next start in SF with one my best friends and a die hard Cards fan.. Gonna be awesome and electric.

Btw- I definitely think Timmy still tokes

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

What about Bonds?
Er, never mind.

Was limiting list to current HOFers, otherwise would have listed our former resident red ass and porn stache'd Jeff Kent too. I think Mr Bonds should be a HOFer too... But think Kent may have a better shot (though voting doesn't support it yet). If sport writers remain on their moral high horse about the cheaters, they may as well reward bonus points to the uber clean Kent who's one of the first to go on record and demand testing (he and Glavine are in a class of their own in that regard)... Also offensively one of the most productive 2nd baseman ever.

[ooo-ribay]

Originally Posted by itjclarke

The Thrill was by far my favorite player as a kid. Being a left handed first baseman, I tried to emulate everything he did (except didn't bat left handed), including the eye black, blowing bubbles mid-play, pointing to my teammates after hits, and perfecting facial expressions including the one sided smile and that strange ridiculous but awesome game face frown. Love that guy! Not really interested to argue other points nor to hear from Yankee fans (I like my teams' HOFers, you/they can like theirs), but I guess I'll read it if they post it.

Regardless, congrats again Timmy and stay hot! I'll be at his next start in SF with one my best friends and a die hard Cards fan.. Gonna be awesome and electric.

Btw- I definitely think Timmy still tokes



Was limiting list to current HOFers, otherwise would have listed our former resident red ass and porn stache'd Jeff Kent too. I think Mr Bonds should be a HOFer too... But think Kent may have a better shot (though voting doesn't support it yet). If sport writers remain on their moral high horse about the cheaters, they may as well reward bonus points to the uber clean Kent who's one of the first to go on record and demand testing (he and Glavine are in a class of their own in that regard)... Also offensively one of the most productive 2nd baseman ever.

I'm a huge Giants fan but would not be surprised at all if Kent took PEDs. How else can you explain his 37 HR (and Aurilia's 37) when no one other than Bonds has hit more than 27 since? Just like the finger wagger, Kent doth protest too much.

and I'm still pissed by Kent's no-show in the 2002 WS.

[itjclarke]

Originally Posted by ooo-ribay

I'm a huge Giants fan but would not be surprised at all if Kent took PEDs. How else can you explain his 37 HR (and Aurilia's 37) when no one other than Bonds has hit more than 27 since? Just like the finger wagger, Kent doth protest too much.

and I'm still pissed by Kent's no-show in the 2002 WS.

Don't get me wrong. I'm definitely of the mind that any of them could be (could've been) dirty. In my mind this includes iconic players from the pre- recognized steroid era (when I think plenty of guys did roids.. The old kind)... Ryan, Ripken, Schmidt, who knows??? This is one reason it drives me nuts to see Bonds/Clemens bear ten times the brunt of all other players. I think it's very probable there are roiders in Cooperstown, but they were just lucky enough to have played before baseball (and writers) grew a conscience toward such things.

The only reason I give Kent benefit of doubt is that he was so adamant about mandatory testing before anyone else was.. except maybe Glavine. Part of me wouldn't be surprised if he suspected or knew many of his teammates were juicing (Santiago, Rios, Estalella, Santangelo, Bernard... And yes, I've been suspicious of Richie, nice guy or not, as well as the super beefed up 2000 version of Ellis Burks) and was infuriated by it. Kent has never been known to be popular with teammates, and also didn't have patience for players he didn't like (see final years in LA playing with Matt Kemp and company).

If writers so condemn what would have been HOF worthy guys for doing what most of the league was doing, they may as well give brownie points for a guy who stood up to it. Seems like a fair trade to me. Especially when that guy has hall worthy 2nd base offensive stats.

(Love your username btw!)

[the 'stache]

Originally Posted by itjclarke

The Thrill was by far my favorite player as a kid. Being a left handed first baseman, I tried to emulate everything he did (except didn't bat left handed), including the eye black, blowing bubbles mid-play, pointing to my teammates after hits, and perfecting facial expressions including the one sided smile and that strange ridiculous but awesome game face frown. Love that guy!

That's really interesting, Ian. Something else we have in common. I always loved Will Clark. He eventually made his way down to Texas, and played with the Rangers for most of the second half of his career. I saw him a few times at the Ballpark in Arlington. He just mashed the ball. I always put him and Robin Yount in the same category. I felt they were both throwback players. Just the way they approached the game. Never showy, never flashy. They just went out there every single day, did their jobs exceedingly well, and at the end of the day, you always felt you got more than 100% from them.

Clark had one of the sweetest swings I've ever seen, too. That front leg of his would just kick out perfectly straight. Then his hips would start to rotate, and then he'd get that full extension of his arms, and the bat head would just whip through the strike zone. So fluid. It's as if God made him to play baseball. If you'd ask me to name two of the most beautiful swings I've ever seen, I'd put Ken Griffey Jr. and Will Clark right at the top. And Clark was so good at just taking what the pitcher was giving him. He could just rip it into the seats in right field, or just pop it to the opposite field in left. He never got fooled.

There were 170 hitters between 1980 and 2000 to have 5,000 or more at bats. Of those, only 17 had a higher OPS than Will Clark's .880. He hit with power, and he got on base. Very underrated player, if you ask me.

[itjclarke]

Oh don't even get me started on Clark's swing!!! So so sweet. He had the most fluid hips, and yes, always seemed to get great extension, and sweet spot, even on inside pitches.

During the height of the roid era, announcers would always marvel at how Sosa or McGwire had "muscled" a ball out the other way, etc, or go on about pretty Pujols' swing was. I wasn't having that then, and I'm not now. Aestheitcally to me, there's still nothing like a regular human being looking guy who's able to generate his power and bat speed through the hips, wrists, etc, as opposed to "muscling" balls. It just looks so much better.

I'd also rate Clark and Griffey's swings one and two visually... giving Clark the slight edge because he had the bigger more dramatic upper cut and a classic follow through (though Griffey's was $$ too). I think Griffey wins out of effeciency though. I was heartbroken when Clark left, but was happy to see him continue to have success in the AL... then call it a day after that awesome late season run with the Cards. One guy who probably wasn't happy was Rafeal Palmeiro though. Clark seemed to just follow and outshine him everywhere... first at MSU, then he took his job in Texas and again in Baltimore. Great Clark quote when someone asked him how he felt about his old college teammate testing positive for PEDs- "ya got caught partner!". Something makes me think Will didn't think highly of Raffy.

Others from our era with swings that stood out to me- Shawn Green, David Justice, even Michael Tucker had a great stroke. Currently, I really like Braun's (we've talked about that) and Posey's, both from the right side.

[the 'stache]

Originally Posted by itjclarke

Oh don't even get me started on Clark's swing!!! So so sweet. He had the most fluid hips, and yes, always seemed to get great extension, and sweet spot, even on inside pitches.

During the height of the roid era, announcers would always marvel at how Sosa or McGwire had "muscled" a ball out the other way, etc, or go on about pretty Pujols' swing was. I wasn't having that then, and I'm not now. Aestheitcally to me, there's still nothing like a regular human being looking guy who's able to generate his power and bat speed through the hips, wrists, etc, as opposed to "muscling" balls. It just looks so much better.

I'd also rate Clark and Griffey's swings one and two visually... giving Clark the slight edge because he had the bigger more dramatic upper cut and a classic follow through (though Griffey's was $$ too). I think Griffey wins out of effeciency though. I was heartbroken when Clark left, but was happy to see him continue to have success in the AL... then call it a day after that awesome late season run with the Cards. One guy who probably wasn't happy was Rafeal Palmeiro though. Clark seemed to just follow and outshine him everywhere... first at MSU, then he took his job in Texas and again in Baltimore. Great Clark quote when someone asked him how he felt about his old college teammate testing positive for PEDs- "ya got caught partner!". Something makes me think Will didn't think highly of Raffy.

Others from our era with swings that stood out to me- Shawn Green, David Justice, even Michael Tucker had a great stroke. Currently, I really like Braun's (we've talked about that) and Posey's, both from the right side.

There was a snide little comment on Braun's ESPN page about how "all in all he's been conspicuously ordinary since returning from his Biogenesis suspension." Then in the next sentence, it mentions "he's struggled with some injuries." Exactly! He's had a thumb issue and a pulled abdominal muscle. That is cutting down on his power, because Braun is a guy that generates his power with his entire body. He's not some muscle bound guy, he has to generate bat speed to hit the ball deep, and he can't do that right now. Trying to generate torque when your abdominal muscles are not working correctly is next to impossible.

A month ago when Braun's OPS was .965, ESPN was gushing about how well he was playing. The guy's human. He's allowed to have an off month.

I seriously think the people at ESPN understand nothing about baseball. They certainly don't understand anything about hitting mechanics.

[itjclarke]

Originally Posted by the 'stache

I always loved Will Clark...

Clark had one of the sweetest swings I've ever seen, too. That front leg of his would just kick out perfectly straight. Then his hips would start to rotate, and then he'd get that full extension of his arms, and the bat head would just whip through the strike zone. So fluid. It's as if God made him to play baseball....

Btw- if you ever want to make friends with a dude in the Bay Area, probably anywhere between the ages of 30-40, talk like this is a great start. Everyone kid I knew idolized Will when we were in little league... and my buddies still light up when his name comes up. He's our Mickey, or Duke, or George Brett. He'll never get a sniff at the hall of fame, but it doesn't diminish him at all, nor does it those memories.

[the 'stache]

Originally Posted by itjclarke

Btw- if you ever want to make friends with a dude in the Bay Area, probably anywhere between the ages of 30-40, talk like this is a great start. Everyone kid I knew idolized Will when we were in little league... and my buddies still light up when his name comes up. He's our Mickey, or Duke, or George Brett. He'll never get a sniff at the hall of fame, but it doesn't diminish him at all, nor does it those memories.

I was just watching some video of him hitting on Youtube. It's funny, because Will has the same kind of build Braun does. They're almost the same size, too. Braun is 6'2" 200 lbs, Clark was 6'2" 190 lbs.

I've got a bunch of nice Will Clark cards. I got the 1986 Topps Traded set when I was a kid. So many rookie cards in there, it might just be the greatest extra set off a major release ever. Will Clark, Jose Canseco, Danny Tartabull, Wally Joyner, Bo Jackson, Barry Bonds, Bobby Bonilla, Andres Galarraga, Pete Incaviglia. Just a great set filled with power hitters. I still have the box for it, too. Too bad it's not worth anything, because stupid Topps printed 10 million sets.