{"id":291,"date":"2023-10-28T20:19:25","date_gmt":"2023-10-28T20:19:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.314stories.com\/?page_id=291"},"modified":"2023-10-28T20:19:25","modified_gmt":"2023-10-28T20:19:25","slug":"you-dont-know-jack","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.314stories.com\/?page_id=291","title":{"rendered":"You Don\u2019t Know Jack"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 For moments, people have been pondering the decades-old question about Jacks in the major league.\u00a0 Not Jacks as in, the lifting of a tiny rawhide ball into the mesosphere, out of the modern bandbox ballparks, but the ephemeral question: which Jack was better\u2014Jack Morris, or Jack Clark?<\/span><\/p>\n

Career Comparison:<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Jack Morris<\/b> lurked angry-bulldog on pitching mounds around the American League for 18 seasons, playing for four teams: the Detroit Tigers (for 14 seasons), Toronto Blue Jays (2), Minnesota Twins (1) and Cleveland Indians (1).\u00a0 He was not a Rookie of the Year, and never won a Cy Young nor an MVP, though he did play in five of All-Star games.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Jack Morris\u00a0 won 254 games, losing 186, all while carrying the 3.90 ERA that kept him out of the Hall of Fame until 2018. Morris racked up 175 complete games in his career, maybe the last pitcher in the modern era to record so many. He struck out 2478 batters, though he did walk 1086, and served up no fewer than 321 gopher balls.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Jack Clark<\/b> strode to the batter\u2019s box in (mostly) National League parks, moonlighting as a right fielder and first baseman for 18 seasons.\u00a0 Thanks to a timely late career move to the American League, where he could focus his efforts at the dish, Clark extended his career and padded his stats.\u00a0 Clark played for five teams (six if you count an aborted attempt to prolong his career in Montreal in 1993): the San Francisco Giants (for 10 seasons), St. Louis Cardinals (3), Boston Red Sox (2), San Diego Padres (2), and New York Yankees (1).\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Jack Clark was also not a Rookie of the Year, and never won an MVP or Gold Glove, though he, too, took part in All-Star games (four) and even won two Silver Sluggers.\u00a0 Clark played in 1994 career games, amassing 6847 at-bats, scoring 1118 runs, while mashing 1826 hits, 332 of which were doubles, and 340 of which were home runs.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Clark was never well-known for his discriminating eye at the plate (1441 career whiffs) but he did walk 1262 times in his career.\u00a0 He also plated 1180 runners and found himself on base a good portion of the time (for a \u201cslugger\u201d), with a career .379 OBP.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Verdict<\/span>: Both players totaled a career\u2019s-worth of quality numbers, though it\u2019s not likely Jack Clark will reach the Hall of Fame.\u00a0 Many pitchers feared Jack Clark in his prime, however short it may have been, but even more batters failed to dig in too much against the tenacious Morris, a warrior on the mound before the term became overused on the Kevin Browns of the world.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Clark failed to reach the necessary power numbers for Hall consideration, in part due to injury, and though Morris did finally reach the Hall, his 3.90 career ERA is the highest of any enshrined hurler, and that alone may keep him out.\u00a0 Morris gets the edge here.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Top of Their Games:<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Finding Jack Morris\u2019 best season is a challenge, and an exercise in subjectivity.\u00a0 Was it 1981, when he was 25, and he led the league with 14 wins in a strike-shortened season?\u00a0 Morris also lost 7 games that year, though he posted a 3.05 ERA and completed an astounding 15 of the 25 games he started.\u00a0 His 97 strikeouts were none too impressive, nor were his league-leading 78 walks but, for his efforts, Morris finished 3<\/span>rd<\/span> in the Cy Young voting and 15<\/span>th<\/span> in MVP voting.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Or did Morris\u2019 best season come two years later when, in 1983, he led the Tigers with a 20-13 record and a 3.34 ERA.\u00a0 That season, Morris led the league in innings pitched (293 2\/3), batters faced (1204) and strikeouts (232), completing <\/span>20<\/i><\/b> (of 37) games and finishing 3<\/span>rd<\/span> in Cy Young voting and 21<\/span>st<\/span> in MVP voting.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Then again, it is tough to ignore Morris\u2019 \u201crenaissance season\u201d at the age of 37 in 1992, when he went 21-6.\u00a0 He took to the hill for 240 innings that year and whiffed 132 batters, though he did sport a burly 4.04 ERA.\u00a0 Of course, he was part of the Blue Jays team that won the World Series that year (more on that later.)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Winnowing out Jack Clark\u2019s best season is a bit easier.\u00a0 His two best seasons happened at key times in his career, one early and one at the end of his prime.\u00a0 Those two seasons burnished his reputation as a slugger.\u00a0 The first occurred in 1978 when, at the youthful age of 22 (though it was his sixth season in professional ball) he played in a career-high 156 games amassed 181 hits in 592 at bats, for a solid .305 average.\u00a0 All four of those numbers were career highs Clark would never again approach in full seasons.\u00a0 Clark also had 46 doubles and 25 HRs to go along with the 98 runs he batted in. Perhaps more amazing: Clark whiffed only 72 times (a career low for a full season) and <\/span>stole 15 bases!<\/b>\u00a0 That year, Clark was named to his first All Star team, and finished fifth in the MVP vote.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Clark’s second impressive season occurred while playing for the Cardinals World Series contenders in 1987.\u00a0 Clark played in 131 games and racked up 23 doubles, 35 home runs and 106 RBIs (a .547 slugging percentage) in 419 at bats.\u00a0 Clark was never known for his high average (even though he never batted below .300 in the minors), but hit .286 that season and led the league with 136 walks (a .459 OBP) though he also whiffed 139 times.\u00a0 Clark was third in MVP voting that season and won his second Silver Slugger award.<\/span><\/p>\n

Verdict<\/span>: During their best seasons, both men played major roles on contending teams, though Jack Morris\u2019 early two were sandwiched around the Tigers\u2019 lone modern-era World Series win.\u00a0 Morris and Jack Clark both made it to the World Series in seasons that some would argue were their best, so they appear to be even on that count.\u00a0 Some might even say that Clark carried the Cardinals offense, from a power standpoint during that 1987 season, but some could also argue that Morris was the bulldog constant of that Blue Jays squad in the dogfight that was the 1992 pennant race.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Slight edge to Morris here as well because, though Clark\u2019s power numbers were impressive, and he did win some hardware for one of his good seasons, Morris\u2019 longevity allowed him to complete a strong showing at an age when Clark was out of the league.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Friends in Low Places<\/span><\/i>:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 There is little doubt about which season was Jack Morris\u2019 <\/span>worst<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0 In 1989, Morris went 6-14 with a whopping 4.86 ERA, leading the league with 15 wild pitches, while whiffing a measly 115 batters in 246 1\/3 innings.\u00a0 Of course, Morris also completed 10 games and pitched two shutouts (not impressive in its own right, but keep in mind that Morris had only 28 shutouts in his career.)\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Playing for a 59-103 Tigers team that scored only 617 runs and allowed 816 probably did not help.\u00a0 Morris allowed 102 of those runs, so he was just as much at fault.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Finding a season when the oft-injured Jack Clark played enough to quantify what might have been his worst is difficult.\u00a0 There is one that seems to sink below the rest.\u00a0 In 1990, playing for the San Diego Padres, Clark eked into 115 games and scraped together a mere 334 at bats and a .266 batting average.\u00a0 He did still hit 25 homers and led the league with 104 walks, but he also whiffed in nearly a third of those ABs (91) and had only 65 RBIs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 It was a strange fact of Jack Clark\u2019s baseball career that as he evolved into a league-leader in walks, he almost always matched that total in strikeouts.\u00a0 Witness: 1982, 90 walks, 91 whiffs; 1985, 85 walks, 83 whiffs; 1989, 132 walks, 139 whiffs.\u00a0 Once he moved to the AL and became a DH for the Red Sox, the totals changed dramatically: 1991, 96 walks, 133 whiffs; 1992, 56 walks, 87 whiffs. Perhaps that is why 1992 was Clark\u2019s last \u201cofficial\u201d season.<\/span><\/p>\n

Verdict<\/span>: Call this one even, mostly because Morris\u2019 worst was pretty horrendous, and for a hideous team, while Clark\u2019s worst <\/span>could<\/span><\/i> be attributed to injuries.\u00a0 Plus, Morris\u2019 worst featured some pretty good (complete games, and innings) to go with the bad, while Clark\u2019s worst was just a dip in numbers from his usual averages.<\/span><\/p>\n

Postseason Battles<\/span><\/i>:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Jack Morris made a name for himself as a gamer\u2014one most managers would cite as the guy they would want on the mound if a series came down to one game.\u00a0 He played in seven postseason series in his career, amassing a 7-4 record with a 3.80 ERA in 92 1\/3 innings.\u00a0 Morris walked 32 and served up nine long balls in those series, but he also struck out 64, threw one shutout and completed five games.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Inside those numbers, Morris was a monster in the Tigers\u2019 run to the 1984 World Series, going 1-0 with a 1.29 ERA in the ALCS against Kansas City and 2-0, with a 2.00 ERA and two complete games against the Padres in the World Series.\u00a0 Against his grain, Morris struck out 13 batters in 18 innings in the Series win.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0In 1991, during the Twins surge to the Series, Morris was shaky in two ALCS wins over Toronto (4.05 ERA, and allowed 17 hits in 13 innings) but an absolute force once the Twins reached the World Series: 2-0 with 15 Ks, a 1.ERA and a complete game shutout in game seven in which he only allowed 11 balls into the outfield.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Of course, Morris had his tough postseason times as well.\u00a0 In the 1987 ALCS , when the Tigers succumbed to the earlier version of the Twins\u2019 buzzsaw, Morris pitched only once, giving up six runs and striking out seven in a complete game effort in game two.\u00a0 He scattered seven hits in that loss, but gave up a homerun to Kent Hrbek that tipped the balance in the Twins\u2019 favor.\u00a0 Again, Morris was conspicuously ineffective during the Blue Jays postseason in 1992: though Toronto won the World Series, Morris pitched in four games combined in the ALCS versus Oakland and World Series against the Braves, going 0-3, while giving up 19 earned runs in 23 innings.\u00a0 The first game of the ALCS was to be a classic pitchers\u2019 duel between Dave Stewart and Jack Morris and, though Morris did toss a complete game in taking and 4-3 loss, the two pitchers gave up five combined home runs.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Jack Clark has a significant disadvantage in this category, owing to the smaller sample size of his postseason experience.\u00a0 Clark did not make it to the postseason until 1985 with the Cardinals and, due to injury, played in only one game of the 1987 postseason (one at bat, one whiff.)\u00a0 During the 1985 NLCS against the Dodgers, Clark punished Los Angeles to the tune of 8 for 21 (.381) with one HR and 4 RBIs, sporting a robust .500 OBP.\u00a0 The Dodgers walked Clark five times in the NLCS, and three of those were intentional passes.\u00a0 Clark was on base so much, he scored four runs in the six games, though he did fan five times as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Coming in hot off that series, Clark hoped to carry that success into the World Series against the Royals.\u00a0 Sadly, he ran into the Saberhagen roadblock and batted only .240 (6\/25) scoring one run.\u00a0 Throwing caution to the wind, Clark walked only three times in the seven game series, striking out nine times, though he did hit two doubles and plate four runners.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Verdict<\/span>: This one is easy\u2014Morris did it better, and longer.\u00a0 In Clark\u2019s best seasons with San Francisco (1978-1983)the Giants never finished higher than 3<\/span>rd<\/span> in the NL West, had only three seasons with winning records, and finished a combined 387-463.\u00a0 Perhaps worse, during that time Clark was the best player on his team, (according to WAR\u2014wins above a replacement player) twice, trailing such luminaries as Greg Minton and Atlee Hammaker in 1982 and 1983, respectively.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Then again, the WAR argument could <\/span>favor<\/span><\/i> Clark, since Morris was only <\/span>once<\/span> considered the best player on his team using the same metric.\u00a0 One could claim that it is difficult for pitchers to lead their teams in WAR, and Roberto Alomar\u2019s 1992 team-leading campaign for Morris\u2019 Blue Jays would support that, but Kevin Tapani\u2019s team-leading 1991 effort for the Twins would not.\u00a0 Despite that, the win still goes to Jack Morris on this one.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What About Head-to-Head?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Consider what could be the greatest equalizer of all: face-to-face competition. The men were approximately the same age (Morris was born 5\/16\/55; Clark 11\/10\/55) and build (Morris, 6\u20193\u201d, 195 lbs; Clark 6\u20192\u201d, 175 lbs) so they should face similar career trajectories regarding age and wear-and-tear, relatively speaking.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 The two played in the same game a handful of times in the latter stages of their careers.\u00a0 Played in, but not necessarily faced one another.\u00a0 Their first meeting was on June 27, 1988 when Morris was still pitching for the Tigers and Clark was DH-ing for the Yankees.\u00a0 Clark went 1-4 with an RBI and a whiff in a 6-3 loss to Detroit, facing 15 pitches, 11 of which were strikes.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Later that season, on September 10, 1988 Clark would have his best game against his namesake, as he went 2-4 with a strikeout, facing 17 pitches (11 strikes.)\u00a0 Roberto Kelly came in as a pinch runner after Clark\u2019s second hit, stealing second and keying the 9-4 Yankee win.\u00a0 Perhaps still fuming, Morris took the upper hand just twenty days later as he threw Clark only 16 pitches (12 strikes) and forced him into an 0-4 outing, with one whiff, as Detroit won 6 to 2.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0The two did not meet again for three years, on May 8, 1991, when Clark was DH-ing for the Red Sox and Morris pitching for the Twins.\u00a0 Clark went 0-2 with a whiff, facing 18 pitches, 11 of which were strikes.\u00a0 Despite Clark\u2019s efforts, the Sox won 8 to 3 that day.\u00a0 As both men faded into their glory days, they would never square off again, though their teams played one another a few more times: on June 13, 1991 when Morris defeated the Sox 3-1 as Clark logged a DNP; and on June 11, 1992, when Morris blanked the Sox 4-0 as Clark (again) notched a DNP.<\/span><\/p>\n

Verdict<\/span>: It would appear, well past first blush, that Morris owned Jack Clark and the stats (5 for 17, 3 RBIs, 5 Ks) would support that.\u00a0 Of course, Morris was a strike-throwing pitcher\u2014a habit that helped him a great deal, and occasionally burned him.\u00a0 But Clark batted .294 against Morris, twenty-seven points <\/span>above<\/span><\/i> his career average.\u00a0 Clark also had a .333 OBP against Morris, though Morris did hold Clark to a .353 SLG %.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 To be fair, Morris did fare better against Clark than some others who faced Clark in a comparable number of plate appearances: Zane Smith (.333, 1 HR, 4 RBIs, 4 BB, 4 Ks), Floyd Bannister (.438, 1 HR, 5 RBIs, 2 BBs, 5 Ks), and Bret Saberhagen (.438, 1 HR, 5 RBIs, 2 BB, 3 Ks.)\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 But a few pitchers of lesser-cachet dominated Clark: Jose DeLeon (.067, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 3 BB, 9 Ks) and Mike Boddicker (.000, 0 HR, 0 RBIs, 1 BB, 7 Ks.)\u00a0 So what we have learned here is that Jack Clark knew how to hit hard-throwing, strike-throwing pitchers, righty or lefty, but not those with forkballs or those who threw major junk.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Considering Jack Morris\u2019 relative domination of the American League\u2019s hitters\u2014Puckett (.264, lifetime vs. Morris), Mattingly (.250), Winfield (.217), Canseco (.159)\u2014it is rather surprising that Jack Clark could tag him for such a high average.\u00a0 Then again, those batters with a more discerning eye at the plate\u2014Brett (.319, lifetime vs. Morris), Molitor (.320), and Boggs (.349)\u2014fared well, and Clark, despite his whiffing tendencies, also walked a lot, and could demonstrate surprising patience at the plate.\u00a0 The edge here goes to Clark.<\/span><\/p>\n

Overall<\/span>:\u00a0 Based solely on wins in the categories above, Jack Morris would get the win, even if he had not had more success over a longer period of time, playing at a higher level far longer than Jack Clark.\u00a0 Based on the money accorded the two men, in the days before the grossly-bloated salaries of the Steroid Era, Morris also made more ($26 million-plus to Clark\u2019s $15 million-plus) Morris was also more valuable to his team.\u00a0 The dilemma of comparing the worth of a pitcher to that of an everyday player here is a virtual wash because Clark was hardly ever an everyday player.\u00a0 Therefore, based on a higher-quality body of work, over a longer period of time, the Jack on the mound gets the win.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 For moments, people have been pondering the decades-old question about Jacks in the major league.\u00a0 Not Jacks as in, the lifting of a tiny rawhide ball into the mesosphere, out of the modern bandbox ballparks, but the ephemeral question: which Jack was better\u2014Jack Morris, or Jack Clark?…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":186,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-291","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.314stories.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.314stories.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.314stories.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.314stories.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.314stories.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=291"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.314stories.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/291\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":292,"href":"https:\/\/www.314stories.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/291\/revisions\/292"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.314stories.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.314stories.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}