His name identified with the Yankees as their
years of dominance were ending...was the feeling at the time, and still lingers
to this day....Case in point: ”When the
Yankees Were on the Fritz: The Horace
Clarke Era” is the title of a book written by Fritz Peterson...such
comparisons were unfair because the Yankees had so many holes in their lineup
at the time that put them in unfamiliar second tier status...Third base position in the
time after Clete Boyer and before Craig Nettles, Catcher in the time after
Elston Howard and before Thurman Munson, Right field at various periods were more to blame....in
the prime of his career, attributes were durability, excellent strikeout and
stolen base ratios...debuted in 1965 and was up and down with the big club and
farm system....firmly established as a part time shortstop 1966....took over as
the regular 2nd baseman thereafter from 1967 to 1973...best year
1969 when he hit .285...took a backseat in 1973 with the acquisition of Sandy
Alomar....hitting dropped and sold to Padres two months into the season....no
resurgence occurred, hit only .189 and released immediately after the season....consistent and durable player....Led AL in at bats two years running.
I read Peterson's book about 2.5 years ago. My impression was that he named it after Clarke not so much to blame Clarke, but because Clarke played for the Yankees during that whole era. Others left before the era was over or had started during era of the World Series teams. I might have called it the "CBS era."
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