Clarke was solid for the Yankees for the bulk of his Major League tenure, though sadly he missed out on the early-60s juggernaut teams and the “Bronx Zoo” Yankees of the late-70’s.
But right in-between he put in a nice career that had him play day in and day out, topping out during the 1969 season when he collected 183 hits while leading the American League in at-bats with 641 and stealing 33 bases along with a very nice .285 batting average.
Of course many will remember that within one month during the 1970 season, Clarke broke up three no-hitters in the ninth inning!
On June 4th he ruined Jim Rooker’s bid for immortality, on June 19th he did the same to Sonny Siebert, and finally on July 2nd he eliminated Joe Niekro’s chance at no-hit fame.
Of his ten years as a Major League player, 9 1/2 were in the Bronx, finishing up with a half-season with the San Diego Padres in 1974 before retiring with a .256 batting average over 1272 games and 4813 at-bats.
