Posted in Yankee Players, Yankees History, Yankees Memories, Yankees Miscellaneous, Yankees Photos, tagged Bobby Richardson, Chocolate Drink, Elston Howard, Joe Pepitone, Mickey Mantle, Milk Chocolate, Moose Skowron, New York Yankees, The drink of champions, Tom Tresh, Vintage, Vintage Advertisement, Whitey Ford, Yogi Berra, Yoo-Hoo on December 6, 2011| 1 Comment »
Posted in Baseball Statistics, Yankee Players, Yankees History, Yankees Miscellaneous, tagged "The Horace Clarke Era", "The Horace Clarke Years", 1965-1974, Bobby Murcer, Bobby Richardson, Horace Clarke, Kenneth Hogan, Mickey Mantle, New York Yankees, Thurman Munson, Whitey Ford, World Series on September 2, 2010| 3 Comments »
Horace Meredith Clarke played second base for the New York Yankees from 1965-1974. With the retirement of longtime Yankee, Bobby Richardson, Clark became the Yankees full-time second baseman in 1967. In his 10 seasons with the Yankees, he hit .257, with 27HR’s and 300RBI’s.
My dad was born in 1955, and grew up watching these Yankees. It wasn’t a time of celebration, but rather a decade filled with disappointment. From 1965-1974, the Yankees won absolutely nothing. Some of these teams included the likes of Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford, Bobby Murcer and Thurman Munson.
The big complaint about Clarke was that he wasn’t able to turn the double play. With runners trying for the take out slide at second base, he would wind up holding onto the ball instead of turning it. With that said, Clarke was also a durable player, who came out ready to play everyday. He became the face of those poorly performing Yankees ball clubs, which is often called “The Horace Clarke Era” or “The Horace Clarke Years.”
In a recent interview, conducted by Kenneth Hogan, Clarke expressed his feelings on the subject:
You see (Laughs) every time I hear “the Horace Clarke Era” I don’t know how to take it but I think it is mostly because we were losing and I was a member of all of those teams. I could understand because fans, writers, and commentators were spoiled at being so successful for so long. I know how the fans feel about the drought that we went through, it was a let down during that losing era. But when I hear it I think, “Here we go again. The Horace Clarke Era, the Horace Clarke Years”. I’m going to tell you something, while I was there some guys (writers) always target me, I was targeted more than anybody I think because I played just about everyday. When I was traded to San Diego a writer wrote, “You know, that guy wasn’t so bad after all.” Because he had gone to the record books and saw what I had done over those years.
They said I couldn’t make the double-play but Gene Michael and I were tops in double plays a couple of years. I have looked in Yankee books and compared my stats to some of the older second basemen over the years and they didn’t do any better than me but they were among elite players that won World Series. My play was consistent over the years. I got on base and scored runs everyday. During the time I played I had the 3rd leading fielding percentage among second basemen. How could I be that bad?
| Year | Tm | W | L | Ties | W-L% | Finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1974 | New York Yankees | 89 | 73 | 0 | .549 | 2nd of 6 |
| 1973 | New York Yankees | 80 | 82 | 0 | .494 | 4th of 6 |
| 1972 | New York Yankees | 79 | 76 | 0 | .510 | 4th of 6 |
| 1971 | New York Yankees | 82 | 80 | 0 | .506 | 4th of 6 |
| 1970 | New York Yankees | 93 | 69 | 1 | .574 | 2nd of 6 |
| 1969 | New York Yankees | 80 | 81 | 1 | .497 | 5th of 6 |
| 1968 | New York Yankees | 83 | 79 | 2 | .512 | 5th of 10 |
| 1967 | New York Yankees | 72 | 90 | 1 | .444 | 9th of 10 |
| 1966 | New York Yankees | 70 | 89 | 1 | .440 | 10th of 10 |
| 1965 | New York Yankees | 77 | 85 | 0 | .475 | 6th of 10 |
M. B. Rozell
Kevin Rozell
