So I wanted to take a brief break from Wicked Week for this VERY random post with 2 completely different titles and topics... I don’t know what got me thinking about this, but… There have been 24 different players to play professional baseball since 1888 who shared the name Will Clark, or Will Clarke. 24 different dudes with the same name! Of those 24, eight Will Clarks made it to the Majors. A few of them had pretty decent careers. William “Watty” Clark was a pitcher who won 20 games for Brooklyn in 1932. William “Boileryard” Clark was one of the National League’s top catchers at the turn of the century. William “Win” Clark played in 4 games in 1897 while William “Dad” Clarke was 17-24 with an amazing 33 complete games for the Giants in 1896. There was also William “Stu” Clarke, Wee Willy Clark and William “Otey” Clark. All of these Will Clark’s made it to the big leagues, but it wasn’t until 1988 that a Will Clark was an All Star and the following year the same Will Clark became the first player with that name to play in a World Series. Of the 24 Will Clarks to play pro ball, the only All Star, Gold Glove, Silver Slugger and NLCS MVP among them is
William Nuschler Clark, AKA Will the Thrill. That Will Clark spent 15 seasons playing at the big league level.
He hit nearly 300 homers, drove in more than 1200 runs and is a career .303 hitter. He played at the height of the steroid era, but his name never came up in allegations. He played hard, got dirty, wore black under his eyes and could flat out hit. Ten years after his retirement he is still one of the most collected players in the blog-o-sphere. Maybe that is why I was thinking about him and how someone with such a common name became such a huge star.
Maybe it is because during my group break I pulled about 15 different cards of him. Maybe it is because I know that so many people collect him he is one of the few players (Carl Crawford, Larry Doby and Danny Tartabull being the others) that I will buy any card that comes for sale through the card shop. Honestly not that many do. I think The Thrill still has a ton of fans even in sunny Florida. One card did make its way to the card shop this past week though, ironically it came in with a Dewon Brazelton card-Dewon is another guy that I will buy anything that comes up for sale. I basically get on the hook for any Rays that come through the door, but Dewon and Jared Sandberg and Jonny Gomes are my favorite Ex-Rays to buy, but anyway… When my buddy Frank called to let me know I had some cards waiting I was excited, but nervous because I was low on cash. He assured me it would be under 20 bucks, so I told him I would be right over. I have to say I was a little surprised when I saw the cards of Clark and Brazelton both. Surprised and disappointed actually.
Bummed because I had both cards already, but more bummed because they were both graded. I really don’t like graded cards. I have bought a few graded 1965s and it just amounts to extra work pulling them out of their cases. Upon closer inspection I nearly hit the ground laughing and I thanked Frank very much for grabbing these for me. He picked up a few other slabbed and graded cards for me too.
One for the PC (and I love Dewon but would never have one of his cards graded, especially one that isn't mint!), one just for this story and one just for laughs. No offense to Jim Slaton, who had a very nice career, but who grades this stuff? Moreso, who gets a card like this graded? I should mention that the seller originally want $10 each for the graded cards. He didn't get it.
I know this started off as a Will Clark story, but it was all just a set-up for a card from 1986 that was sold in a box, opened, sent off to Beckett to be graded and came back a 4.5. It is a very sharp card corners wise, but only gets a 3 on centering resulting in the laughable 4.5 grading.
I see folks list 10s on eBay and mention that they are 1 of only 4 cards to get that grading, I wonder how many 1986 Topps Traded Will Clark cards there are out there with a 4.5 grade? I bet there are more players named Will Clark who played big league ball than there are 4.5 versions of this very card. Seriously, I think this could be one of one. It’s a keeper either way! Go Rays! Troll out.
So I wanted to take a brief break from Wicked Week for this VERY random post with 2 completely different titles and topics... I don’t know what got me thinking about this, but… There have been 24 different players to play professional baseball since 1888 who shared the name Will Clark, or Will Clarke. 24 different dudes with the same name! Of those 24, eight Will Clarks made it to the Majors. A few of them had pretty decent careers. William “Watty” Clark was a pitcher who won 20 games for Brooklyn in 1932. William “Boileryard” Clark was one of the National League’s top catchers at the turn of the century. William “Win” Clark played in 4 games in 1897 while William “Dad” Clarke was 17-24 with an amazing 33 complete games for the Giants in 1896. There was also William “Stu” Clarke, Wee Willy Clark and William “Otey” Clark. All of these Will Clark’s made it to the big leagues, but it wasn’t until 1988 that a Will Clark was an All Star and the following year the same Will Clark became the first player with that name to play in a World Series. Of the 24 Will Clarks to play pro ball, the only All Star, Gold Glove, Silver Slugger and NLCS MVP among them is William Nuschler Clark, AKA Will the Thrill. That Will Clark spent 15 seasons playing at the big league level. 
#65 Will Clark Texas Rangers (I don’t think that PatP will give up any of his Will Clark cards, but if he did, a Thrill-bipping is in the making-I think this is the 6th Clark to come out of this box) 
#105 Todd Hollandsworth Los Angeles Dodgers (The Joe Charboneau of the 90’s. See Spezio’s comment, it applies)
#12 Jose Canseco Oakland A’s (This dude is huge!)
#44 Tino Martinez New York Yankees
#128 Scott Spiezo Oakland A’s (Spiezio spent 12 years in the big leagues and won 2 rings, but I never liked him. He was a career .255 hitter and he just seemed average, but not a cool average guy, an overrated average guy that always let you down)
#84 Jim Thome Cleveland Indians (I am really excited about Thome signing with the Twins, I think it’s a great fit and I think he still hit. Minnesota fans should be able to look forward to this. Oh, and by the way, this is a sight that I never get tired of seeing…)There is only 1 more pack to go. Shannon Stewart would tell you to check it out, but I know your dying in anticipation, so she will save her breath for now, plus I am too tired to find ANOTHER picture. Gotta get back to work… By the way, today is one of those days that I work till 7 AM and have to be in class at 8. I do not like these days. Go Rays! Troll out.
#366 Eric Plunk Cleveland Indians (Plunk had a respectable career, he was 72-58 in 714 games over 14 seasons AND he was traded for Rickey Henderson TWICE)
#345 Joe Carter Toronto Blue Jays (This is one of my favorite cards ever and not just because I am a Joe Carter fan… Look at the pic, Carter is making a GREAT catch at the wall, but there is a Yankee fan in the front row (thrusting at the fence) wearing a tee shirt with Babe Ruth or Melky Cabrera on it with a ball on his hat. Just look at the picture. Awesome!)
#412 Mark Hutton New York Yankees
#432 Brian Anderson MUSEUM COLLECTION California Angels (Awesome! Brian is a do everything guy in the Rays organization… A little coaching, a little announcing, some play by play, shagging fly balls, bullpen catcher-whatever)
#513 Will Clark Texas Rangers (Will the Thrill just keeps on popping up, everywhere!)
#520 Julio Franco Chicago White Sox (Wow, Julio Franco was just a 35-year-old young pup in ’94. He won the Silver Slugger Award for DH in ’94 after batting .319 with 20 homers and 98 RBI. He already had 4 as a second baseman which ties him for 2nd most All Time behind Ryno. I really would have liked to see Franco play at 50)
#315 Robby Thompson San Francisco Giants (Robby T pulled off the Trifecta in ’93-he was an All Star and won a Gold Glove and Silver Slugger at 2nd base for the Giants)
#17 Ken Hill Texas Rangers
#145 Tony Clark Peak Performers Detroit Tigers (Tony was the 2nd overall player selected in the 1990 draft)
#16 Mike Piazza Los Angeles Dodgers (Piazza was a 62nd round pick in the 1988 draft, and was the 1993 NL Rookie of the Year)
#65 Will Clark Texas Rangers (Will the Thrill didn’t bring home a ROY Award or a ring or an MVP, but he’s still one of the most popular players out there… Popular with the fans, not necessarily with the Baseball Writers)
