One More Thing

This just caught my eye from the Globe's Red Sox blog and I swear to god if Tony Clark finds his way back onto the Red Sox that may very well be it for me. You remember Tony Clark for the Sox don't you? You know, the supposed power hitter who hit a home run on Opening Day, but then not another one until May 31 and finished the year with a total of 3 home runs, 29 RBI and an amazing .556 OPS. Oh sorry, he did only have 270 at bats. Fine, double it and you still get just 6 homers and 58 RBI. Not really what you want from your first baseman.

Consider the below vitriol that Tony Clark inspired in Sox fans during his infamous 2002 run:

1)Gerry Callahan wrote an article in the Herald claiming him as dollar-for-dollar the worst player in Red Sox history. A fact that really can't be disputed considering his $5M salary. Of course that came before last year's $4.5M investment in Joel Piniero to pitch 34 innings and post a 5.04 ERA prior to his release and lest we forget the BK Kim contract extension after the 2003 season. At least with BK we got the comedy of him flipping off the fans and with Piniero we got to see Theo try to pull a Lacuna Industries on Red Sox fans to make them forget that he actually paid $4.5M to that guy AND he tried to sell them on the idea of him as the closer at the outset of the season.

2) My old roommate Rod fell out of his chair upon seeing him hit a home run as he was so taken aback by the transgression. That is a true story. Consider that.

3) After a few too many Bud Lites at Camden Yards, I unleashed a sarcastic, expletive laden taunt his way - "Gee thanks Tony, it's about f***ing time you did something" - after he made a nice defensive play and then promptly got the boot.

Oh, and that .596 OPS I referenced earlier...compare that to the .638 that heavyweight Doug Mirabeli posted in 2007 or the robust .643 posted by Julio Lugo. I think that frames well how awful he was. Did I mention he was a first baseman and not a speedy middle-infielder or backup catcher whose only discernible attribute is that he can kind of catch a knuckleball?