Another Thrill

I know that I’ve been a little lax this past month about writing here. The demise of the Giants coupled with the demise of the Pickled Pecklers has made me interested in some other things. That said, this is entry number 300 in this blog, begun just a year and a half ago. As you know, for a blog, I tend to write long entries, so that says something.

To celebrate, I want to write my favorite kind of entry: an historical observation, somewhat obscure. My favorite entry ever was my discovery of Hal Trosky, who at age 25 was listed as one of Albert Pujols’ equivalent players by Baseball Reference. I spent a lot of time finding out about a guy who was, for a while, an incredible player in the thirties, but whose career was ultimately cut short by blinding migrane headaches.

I’ve been doing some research on BR lately on potential Hall of Famers, including Craig Biggio (yes), Manny Ramirez (he’s a nut, but he’s got some serious numbers), David Ortiz (not clear yet) and others. I was also looking at some guys who aren’t going to make it, like Edgar Martinez (wonderful hitter, but nowhere near HOF).

Which led me to Will Clark.

I’m not an old Giants fan. (OK, I'm old.) I came to California in 1974, 32 years ago yesterday. At the time I came here, to be honest, I wasn’t much of a baseball fan anymore. The Yankees sucked and I stopped following baseball. I was an NBA and NFL fan. I became a baseball fan again during the 1975 World Series (Game 6, greatest game ever). And I became a Giants fan when Joe Morgan hit that homer against the Dodgers on the last day of the season in 1982.

Right from the start in 1986 I was a big fan of The Thrill. I was there when he stroked that fastball up the middle in the NLCS against Mitch Williams to win it in 1989. I saw him on TV cursing up a storm on live TV after clinching the division in 1987. I’d like to say he’s my all-time favorite Giant, but he’s just edged out by the guy whose Sonoma Crushers bobblehead I’m looking at right now: Kevin Mitchell. Another time about Mitch.

Clark didn’t get enough votes last year to even make the next HOF ballot. It’s a shame, because when he hit that homer in his first at bat off Nolan Ryan, he was, for that moment, The Natural. I’ve got lots of his rookie cards if anyone is interested in buying them.

Will Clark was a good hitter his entire career, from beginning to end. He had a beautiful swing, but didn’t have quite enough power or quite enough durability. It was great to see him hit so well in his swan song with the Cardinals in 2000, replacing Mark McGwire who got hurt that season. He hit .345 and slugged .655 down the stretch, and topped it off by hitting .412 and slugging .706 in the NLCS. It would have been nice to see Clark get one more shot at the Series, and I was rooting for him all the way.

He finished with a career batting average of .303, but only hit 284 homers over his 15 years in the majors. He needed 5 more years of production to be considered, and even that might not have been enough. He sure had a sweet swing.

This isn’t about Will Clark. It’s about a guy I’ve never heard of who was Clark’s closest comparison on BR for the first 3 years of his career, a guy named Don Hurst.

Hurst was a first baseman who came up for the Phillies in 1928 at the age of 22. His closest career comparison is a guy named Zeke Bonura. He’s also compared to Kevin Millar, Sean Casey and Leon Durham. Certainly not HOF material. On Hurst’s page, Clark is listed as his closest comparison through age 27.

Here are some numbers:

1928 – 396 AB, 23 2B, 19 HR, 64 RBI, .285/.391/.508
1929 – 589 AB, 29 2B, 31 HR, 125 RBI, .304/.390/.525
1930 – 391 AB, 19 2B, 17 HR, 78 RBI, .327/.401/.522
1931 – 489 AB, 37 2B, 11 HR, 91 RBI, .305/.386/.468
1932 – 579 AB, 41 2B, 24 HR, 143 RBI, .339/.412/.547
1933 – 550 AB, 27 2B, 8 HR, 76 RBI, .267/.327/.329
1934 – 281 AB, 14 2B, 5 HR, 33 RBI, .228/.279/.331

In 1929 at the age of 23 he hit 31 homers while striking out only 36 times. I found a list on the web of players under the age of 24 who hit over 30 homers and showing the number of strikeouts that season. Joe D was #1, #2 and #5 in terms of the lowest number of strikeouts in such a season. Ted Williams was #3. Mel Ott was #6 and #7. Gary Sheffield was #8, Don Mattingly was #9 and Hank Aaron was #10. Hurst was #4. That’s pretty good company.

In 1932, Hurst led the NL in RBIs with 143. He was the starting NL first baseman in the first ever all-star game.

Somewhere along the way he set a record by hitting six homers in six games. This was subsequently tied by Lou Gehrig and Ken Williams, and later broken by Dale Long, Don Mattingly and Ken Griffey, Jr. By the way, those were his only hits in the six games.

In 1935, at the age of 29, Don Hurst was washed up and out of baseball.

In the middle of the 1934 season, he was dumped by the Phillies to the Cubs for a prospect, Dolph Camilli, who went on to win the NL MVP in 1941. Don Hurst’s claim to fame is that he was the weak side of one of the most lopsided trades in MLB history. Given that he only had 151 more at bats left in his career, it would be impossible to dispute.

There is no evidence that it was connected to a cause other than the loss of the ability to hit the baseball. There was an immediate decline from his career year of 1932. There was a ton of hitting in the early ‘30’s (Hack Wilson drove in those 191 runs in 1930). There is no explanation as to why a 28 year old hitter reaching what should have been the prime of his career couldn’t hit a baseball anymore.

It’s a mystery. And so before we start inking Albert Pujols into the Hall of Fame, let’s remember that as great as he is, he’s still got a hell of a lot to accomplish.