The Hall of Fame case for San Francisco Giants legend Will Clark
San Francisco Giants legend Will Clark was one of the best players to play in the majors in the last 1980s and early 1990s.
However, he only played 15 years in the majors as he decided to retire to spend some more time with his family and his son, Trey. Trey, who was just four years old at the time, had recently been diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Disorder, which put him on the autism spectrum. However, since then, his son was able to receive therapy to perform at a high functioning level, even playing on his high school’s baseball team, where Will was a volunteer coach.
Will has stayed in touch with the game as a special assistant for the Giants since 2009 and, previously, as a special assistant with the D-Backs (where his former agent, Jeff Moorad, became an executive) and with the Cardinals (his final MLB team).
In 2022, the Giants will finally retire Clark’s no. 22 but he had a career that should be heavily considered for the Baseball Hall of Fame.
San Francisco Giants legend Will Clark has a good case for the Baseball Hall of Fame
Will Clark played in the majors from 1986 through 2000, spending eight of his 15 seasons in the majors with the San Francisco Giants.
He was an All-Star six times and he was a two-time Silver Slugger Winner, a Gold Glove winner, and he received MVP votes in five seasons, including four seasons with top 5 finishes (1987-89, 1991, 1994).
He was a career .303/.384/.497 with a career OPS+ of 137. He also had six seasons with 20+ homers, seven seasons with 90+ RBI.
The 1989 San Francisco Giants got to the World Series largely due to Will Clark
Will Clark’s best season was 1989 which was, arguably, the best season that the San Francisco Giants had since they last got to the World Series in 1964. The Giants got to the World Series in ’89 as well, largely, because of Clark.
Clark hit .333/.407/.546 with 23 homers, 111 RBI, 38 doubles, and nine triples with an OPS+ of 175 in 159 games. The slash line stats were second, third, and third in the NL. The RBI total was third, the doubles were fourth, the triples were third, and the OPS+ was second in the NL that year. He led the league in runs (104).
Defensively, he had 9 Total Zone Runs (TZ or Rtot), which is the predecessor to Defensive Runs Saved (DRS), which was the highest among NL first basemen. Total, he had an rWAR of 8.6, which was second in the NL.
The only player higher than Clark in WAR was Cardinals’ outfielder Lonnie Smith but Clark’s teammate, Kevin Mitchell, won the NL MVP award. Mitchell led the majors in homers, RBI, OPS, and slugging percentage but Clark topped him in batting average, on-base percentage, hits, runs, and WAR (largely due to his defense) by 1.7 (Mitchell’s WAR was 6.9).
Additionally, Clark was the 1989 NLCS MVP, when he hit 13-for-20 in the five-game series with three doubles, a triple, two homers, and eight RBI.
Overall, he had 56.5 rWAR in his 15-year career.
Will Clark is better than a few modern Hall of Fame first basemen
Will Clark’s 56.5 rWAR is very comparable to current Hall of Famers. In fact, all-time, Clark is in a four-way tie for WAR. The other three players (Bill Dickey, Larry Doby, and Bill Terry) are all Hall of Famers.
Among first basemen, Clark’s WAR is tied for 23rd all-time with Terry. Clark is ahead of some modern (post-World War II) Hall of Famers, including David Ortiz, Tony Perez, Orlando Cepeda, and Gil Hodges. All four of those players played at least two more seasons than Clark as well.
The next three Hall of Fame first basemen ahead of Clark (Harmon Killebrew, Willie McCovey, and Eddie Murray) are within 12.1 WAR of Clark but each of the three played at least six more seasons than Clark so their average WAR is much lower than Clark.
When you look at OPS+, Clark’s 137 OPS+ is ahead of Cepeda, Murray, Perez, and Hodges.
By WAR7 (a player’s WAR in their best 7 seasons), Clark is 30th among primary first basemen at 36.1. He is just behind Perez (36.5) and Killebrew (38.1) and ahead of Ortiz, Cepeda, and Hodges.
When you look at JAWS (which averages WAR and WAR7), Clark is 27th all-time among first basemen at 46.3. That’s ahead of Ortiz, Perez, Cepeda, and Hodges.
Particularly with Ortiz, he was voted into the Hall of Fame on his very first ballot with 77.9 percent of the vote just a few months ago. He was a primary DH so he didn’t play the field like Clark and he wasn’t leaps and bounds better offensively (Ortiz is the first current Hall of Famer above Clark in OPS+ at 141). Ortiz had a longer postseason resumé but Clark was also excellent in the postseason.
Instead, Clark got 4.4 percent of the vote on his first and only BBWAA ballot in 2006 so he fell off of the ballot. However, he did make the 2019 Today’s Game Era Committee ballot for the Hall of Fame and while he didn’t get enough votes to get into the Hall, half of the battle is actually getting on to one of those ballots.
Next. The HOF case for Clark's former teammate Rick Reuschel. dark
Will Clark is someone that would have been a first ballot Hall of Famer had he played a few more seasons. But even with his current career, he should be in the Baseball Hall of Fame because of his peak years, especially because he played in the steroid era and rivaled many of the players on steroids. Clark never touched them.