Everything about Nig Clarke totally explained
|debutdate=
April 26
|debutyear=
|debutteam=
Detroit Tigers
|finaldate=
April 24
|finalyear=
|finalteam=
Pittsburgh Pirates
|stat1label=
AVG
|stat1value=.254
|stat2label=
HR
|stat2value=6
|stat3label=
RBI
|stat3value=127
|teams= *
Detroit Tigers *
Cleveland Naps (-)
*
St. Louis Browns *
Philadelphia Phillies *
Pittsburgh Pirates
|HOFer=no
|inductiondate=
|highlights=
- Clarke hit 8 home runs in a Texas League Baseball game on June 15, 1902 (disputed)
- Credited with inventing shin guards for catchers, an idea that's erroneously thought to have been created by Roger Bresnahan
}}
Jay Justin "Nig" Clarke (born December 15, 1882 in Amherstburg, Ontario - died June 15, 1949 in River Rouge, Michigan) is a former professional baseball player in Major League Baseball. He is best known for, in 1902 playing for Texas League's Corsicana Oil Citys, going 8 for 8 with 8 home runs. The success there didn't turn into success in the MLB, as in his nine-year career he hit a measly 6 home runs and drove in 127 runs. Fittingly, Clarke would die on the 47th anniversary of his historic eight-homer game.
Texas League career
Eight-Home run game
On June 15, 1902, while playing for the
Corsicana Oil Citys of the
Texas League, Clarke allegedly hit 8 home runs against the
Texarkana Casketmakers in a game that Corsicana won by the remarkable score of 51-3. The home runs were said to be helped by the stadium they played in that day because Corsicana's blue laws forbade Sunday baseball in
Oil City Park, the regular home of Corsicana. The game was played in nearby
Ennis, in a facility that years later Clarke estimated was only 210 feet to right field. At the time, it was considered the #2 most famous feat in Minor League Baseball history.
Dispute
Almost immediately, the home run total was subject to controversy. In a newspaper account, repeated in a column by
The Dallas Morning News' Frank X. Tolbert in 1965, Corsicana manager and first baseman
Mike O'Connor was alleged to have made the totals much larger than they were. The official account reads:
"The official scorer lost his head, but the foxy manager of the Oil City boys has discovered a tabulated record which goes as the official figures. He realizes the benefits in swelling batting averages ..."
Major League career
Perfect game
Clarke's other claim to fame was as the catcher of a
perfect game on
October 2,
1908 for
Addie Joss. It was just the fourth perfect game in major league history.
Creation of shin guards
The Nickname
In the first half of the 20th Century, before the game was integrated, ball players with a dark complexion were sometimes nicknamed "Nig."
(External Link
) (External Link) In addition to Clarke, the following other major league players bore the nickname:
Johnny Beazley (1941-49),
Howard Berry (1921-22),
Bobby Bragan (1940-48),
Nig Cuppy (1892-1901),
Nig Fuller (1902),
Johnny Grabowski (1923-31),
Nig Lipscomb (1937),
Charlie Niebergall (1921-24),
Nig Perrine (1907), and
Frank Smith (1904-15).
Career Statistics
Further Information
Get more info on 'Nig Clarke'.
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