Waaaaay back in May 2009, I showed off a Howie Clark Royal Rookies autograph that was in my collection at that time. It was a pretty ugly card (ask Troll what he thinks about Royal Rookies), and not an Orioles card, so I was happy to upgrade to this autographed card sometime since then.
Howie was drafted by the O's in the 27th round of the 1992 draft and spent ten seasons in their minor league system before he made his MLB debut in 2002. He appeared in 14 games for the O's that season, before spending the parts of the next two seasons with the Blue Jays. He came back to Baltimore for 7 games in 2006 and made a few appearances for the Blue Jays and Twins in 2007 & '08, but he was more of a minor league veteran. For his career he played 1561 minor league games and only 134 in the Bigs. He was named in the Mitchell Report as a PED user, and it seems like that might have been the only way he was able to crack an MLB roster at all.
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2 comments:
Hilarious that you mentioned Royal Rookies...
Howie Clark was a fantastic minor league hitter...
He reminded me a lot of Harold Baines in the batting cage... So weird that someone could hit soo well in AAA but not do anything at the big league level.
I can't comment on the PEDs but I know he was a super hard worker on the field and in the gym - he had a fantastic work ethic...
He was also a super fan friendly guy and a great signer.
I always thought he would be a solid bench player for the Os. A good hitter who could play any position.
Thanks for a great post that pulled out a bunch of memories!
Troll,
Thanks for the back story. It sounds like Howie was a pretty decent guy. I always seem to find that the fringe players are nicer/more normal than the stars.
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