Will Clark to the Giants
Unfortunately, he won’t be playing first base:
Will Clark, who remains one of the club’s most popular players since the franchise moved to San Francisco in 1958, is expected to be named to the Giants’ front-office staff on Wednesday.
The Giants issued a media advisory on Tuesday stating that Clark and Bill Neukom, the Giants’ managing general partner and chief executive officer, will be on a conference call with reporters Wednesday morning. Clark’s appointment is likely to be announced at that time.
As the article notes, the Giants are really good about keeping their history in the fold, as the team employs Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Orlando Cepeda, and others in various capacities. I’m not sure to what extent other teams do this — I know the Tigers do — but whether these guys are doing actual front office work like Nolan Ryan or if they’re simply making public appearances like McCovey, keeping these connections strong can only be a good thing.
As for Clark, while I know he has some baggage, I’ve always loved the guy. Great swing. Just carried himself like I always thought a Ballplayer should. I had a serious flirtation with Giants fandom in the late 80s, and he had an awful lot to do with it. Well, him and Jeffrey Leonard. Forgive me: I’m not that big on team chemistry.
Barry Bonds for GM in 2010!
I think Clark was the last notable player drafted while my gramps was in the front office . . . they had a good run there with the Mitchell/Clark/Williams/Thompson bunch. Hard not to like all the late-inning comebacks.
Anyhow . . . can we start calling Bill Neukom “Duke?” That’d be cool.
Who was your gramps, Dave?
The Royals employ George Brett as, I think, VP Baseball Ops. They’ve also employed John Wathan, Hal McRae and Bob Boone (consecutively, as a matter of fact) as managers, and have a lot of former players contracted to provide spring instruction to young players and/or rove throughout the minor leagues in various jobs. Paul Splittorff is a broadcaster.
I’ll always appreciate Will Clark for the impersonation of 1985 Cesar Cedeno he did for the Cardinals in late 2000, filling in for Mark McGwire to the tune of a .345/.426./.655 line. All while sporting a li’l beer belly.
The Dodgers do that also. They have Ron Cey and Steve Garvey do a lot of publicity stuff like McCovey. And they always have lots of former players around at spring training (I suspect a lot of teams do; I know the Yankees do), most notably Maury Wills and Sandy Koufax. As for front office—well there’s Tommy Lasorda. What he actually does administration-wise, who knows, but technically he’s a former player.
Even though I’m a Royals guy, Will Clark was my favorite player as a kid. He did everything well and played with intensity. It’s nice to see him back in the game.
My gramps was Jack Schwarz – he was with the team for over forty years, with most of the good times at the beginning and towards the end.
Luckily, I wasn’t around for the post-McCovey, pre-Clark era.