Jack Clark is da man!

[Insidious Von]

I'm surprised this hasn't been brought up yet.

Former St Louis Cardinals slugger, and 1982 World Series Champion, Jack Clark recently snubbed Mark McGwire at a charity function. To him McGwire recent contrition is disingenuous and opportunistic. He almost went on to say that all "juicers" should be banned from the HOF for life.

He's a frustrated and bitter man, with good reason. Even though he was the clean-up hitter on some very good Cardinals teams of the 80's, he's been eclipsed by McGwire. He played for the Cardinals at a time when Busch Stadium was set up to favour pitchers - his numbers do not reflect his productivity. Also, when he got to the WS with the SF Giants, they lost to a chemically enhanced Oakland A's team in 1989.

He has good reason to rant.

 

[Insidious Von]

It appears that the anti Paul Bunyan bandwagon appears to be growing.

Canadian HOF pitcher Ferguson Jenkins believes that Bunyan should apologize to all the pitchers who's careers he ended. He also said that he would have known how to deal with a roided out Bunyan:

"It's tough to hit home runs when you're on your back"

Fergie is being modest - had Bunyan taken exception he would have been on his back twice.

Now some of you may be saying, IV aren't you being a little harsh? HELL NO, the memory of how Ben Johnson was pilloried is still fresh in my mind.

I hope A Roid turns into Dolly Parton.

 

[C Dick]

Didn't Jack Clark also go bankrupt after he retired? Which is a truly impressive feat. And another reason for him to be bitter.

 

[Hard Idle]

What do we really know about Jack Clark? How many doping tests did Jack Clark take in his career?

Crude PEDs were available and in use long before Jack Clark came along. For all we know he could have been just as dirty as Clemens or Palmeiro - guys who also talked the moral high ground on PED's only to be exposed - only difference might be that Clark was no longer around to be tested and outed as a hypocrite? How do we know all of his injuries weren't the long term consequence of using PED's early in his career?

I'm not suggesting Clark actually used anything. I'm just saying we don't really know, we'll never know one way or the other, and one shouldn't take ANY athletes word at face value.

Could be that Clark was clean and he is just voicing his honest opinion, to which he is constitutionally entitled. But the fact is he never had to stand up to the same scrutiny and people should keep in mind that it's easy to point figners and be judgemental now that it's impossible to go back and VERIFY his own credibility on the issue.

 

[maurice93]

Jack Clark was considered one of the biggest assholes and clubhouse cancers in his day. I doubt anyone cares what his opinion is.