Would You Have Pitched To Jack Clark?

Reviewing Game 6 of the 1985 NLCS

Would You Have Pitched To Jack Clark?

Some of you undoubtedly remember this one.

Some of us are a bit young, though, and this story has been mostly forgotten over the years. I was barely a year old, and had no idea what was going on. I’m not sure if my dad even watched this game.

The Dodgers won the first two games of this NLCS, and looked good to go when speedster Vince Coleman’s left leg was injured by the tarp before game 4. St. Louis came back, however, capped off by the famous “Go Crazy” home run hit by Ozzie Smith off Dodger closer Tom Niedenfuer to end game 5.

Niedenfuer was back out there in the top of the 9th inning of game 6. The Cardinals managed to get runners on second and third with two men out. And up came Jack Clark, who was a powerhouse.

We tend to forget just how dangerous Jack Clark was back in 1985. Clark was a notorious home run hitter in San Francisco, defying a ballpark not known for being friendly to home run hitters. He went to Busch Stadium, another large park, and was the sole power hitter on a team known for speed and small ball.

You’ve got to wonder if it was worth pitching to Clark with runners on second and third and two men out, with a tight 5-4 lead. Andy Van Slyke, who was a few years away from all star status, was the batter on deck. Walking Clark looked like the “by the book” rule.

Tommy Lasorda clearly thought about walking him. In fact, Vin Scully caught Lasorda talking to himself in the dugout, wondering aloud if he should walk Clark and pitch to Van Slyke.

So let’s dig in a little bit.

Clark was hitting .375 in the NLCS going into game 6. He was coming off a regular season batting average of .281 — and it was a fat .281 at that, with 22 home runs and a .502 slugging percentage.

Van Slyke, meanwhile, was hitting .167 in the NLCS before the game started. Andy hit .259 in the regular season, without anything near the type of power that Clark enjoyed.

Now, Niedenfuer, a right handed pitcher, was no pushover. Righties hit .222 against him; lefties hit only .224 — and he certainly wasn’t platooned. He gave up only 1 home run to a righty during the regular season, but was prone to giving up home runs against lefties — there were 5 such during the regular year.

You’ll remember, however, that Ozzie Smith’s big home run in game 5 came from the left side of the plate:

There was no guarantee that Niedenfuer would have fared much better against Van Slyke, a lefty.

So what do you think? And what would you have done?

If this scenario came up for you in one of your replays, would you walk Clark? Or would you pitch to him?

Comments are open to all once again.