New York Yankees: the Jack Clark trade was a head-scratcher as well

The New York Yankees drew a lot of ire for their 1988 trade of Jay Buhner. Three months later they sent away Jack Clark in another questionable move.

With the passing of actor Jerry Stiller this week we have seen his famous clip from Seinfeld several times, where he lays into New York Yankees owner Geroge Steinbrenner for trading Jay Buhner for Ken Phelps. The Jack Clark trade he makes just months later couldn’t have sat well either.

On the surface, the Buhner trade, and the way Stiller’s character portrays it, is quite hilarious. In the books, the trade hurt the Yankees for many years.

Buhner would play 15 years in the league, all for the Seattle Mariners, and hit 310 career home runs. Phelps played just 131 games in a Yankees uniform, proving this was one of the most lopsided trades in team history.

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At the conclusion of the season another trade took place, maybe not as egregious as the Buhner swap, but confounding nonetheless.

Jack Clark was coming off a season with the St. Louis Cardinals where he finished third in the NL MVP race. He had career highs in most offensive categories and though no spring chicken, at 31 years of age was still producing at a high level.

The Yankees signed him to a two-year contract out of free agency and while his numbers dropped off some he still hit a team-leading 27 homers and drove in 93 runs. Seems like Clark would have been welcomed back for the following season as he was under contract for another year.

The team finished in fifth place, though it was only 3.5 games back of the division winner. The typical circus which surrounded the Yankees was in full force with Billy Martin being replaced by Lou Pinella mid-season and this could have led to an unsettling feeling with Clark.

Reports were he wanted to play closer to his home on the West Coast. Baseball is a business, however, and Steinbrenner a businessman in every sense of the word. Why would he oblige one of his best power hitters?

In the final week of October Clark was shipped to the San Diego Padres for outfielder Stan Jefferson and pitchers Jimmy Jones and Lance McCullers. The Yankees felt the upgrade to the pitching staff was a priority over creating offense I guess.

Jefferson had twelve at-bats in pinstripes, Jones pitched 28 games with a .500 record. McCullers pitched out of the bullpen in ’89 then was traded for Matt Nokes.

While finishing thirteen games under .500 and going through two more managers, the Yankees’ new designated hitter had much worse stats than Clark provided for his new team.

The Buhner trade had longer-lasting negative effects on the Yankees, though the Clark trade didn’t provide positive results either.