Home » Sports » NY Yankees » He Was a Better Player Than We Bleeps Thought He Was

He Was a Better Player Than We Bleeps Thought He Was

© Harold Friend

He was a fine player who is almost always overlooked when discussing Yankees second baseman. He was a sure handed fielder who led American League second baseman in fielding with a .990 mark in his first full season and he set a league record by leading second basemen in assists for six consecutive seasons and in put outs for four consecutive seasons.

A durable switch hitter with good speed, he appeared in at least 143 games every season from 1967-1973 and twice led the American League in at bats. In his first full season, he batted 36 points above the league average, and in 1969, at the age of twenty nine, he batted .285 with 53 walks, only 41 strikeouts, and 33 stolen bases.

Imagine what slick fielding, twenty nine year old second baseman Horace Clarke would command in today's free agency era. Thirty four year old Tony Womack batted .307 with 36 walks, 60 strikeouts, and 26 stolen bases in 2004. The Yankees signed him to a two year contract for $4 million.

Since 1950, the top Yankees' second baseman brought up through their farm system have been Jerry Coleman, Billy Martin (purchased from Oakland of the Pacific Coast League), Bobby Richardson, and Horace Clarke. Coleman's lifetime batting average was .263 in 723 games with the Yankees, Martin's was .257 in 527 games as a Yankee, and Richardson's was .266 in 1412 games as a Yankee. Clarke batted .256 in 1272 Yankees' game.

Horace Clarke stole 151 bases, Bobby Richardson stole 73, Billy Martin stole only 34, including his years after the Yankees banished him for being what they believed was a bad influence on Mickey Mantle, while Jerry Coleman stole all of 22 bases. All four were fine defensive players, with Coleman and Richardson ranking as two of the greatest defensive second baseman of all time.

Interestingly, it was Martin, who was probably not as good defensively as Coleman, Richardson, or Clarke, who made the most important play any Yankees' second baseman ever made when he caught Jackie Robinson's pop up in Game 7 of the 1952 World Series.

Coleman, unlike Martin, made a terrible decision in pivotal Game 5 of the 1957 World Series. Whitey Ford was locked in a scoreless duel with Lew Burdette. In the Braves' half of the sixth inning, with the bases empty and two outs, Eddie Mathews hit a seemingly harmless slow ground ball to second. Coleman underestimated Mathews' speed and didn't charge the ground ball. Mathews beat Coleman's throw to first, bringing up Henry Aaron, who singled Mathews to third. Joe Adcock followed with another single to score Mathews with the game's only run.

The copyright of the article He Was a Better Player Than We Bleeps Thought He Was in NY Yankees is owned by . Permission to republish He Was a Better Player Than We Bleeps Thought He Was in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.