Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Tony Clark's 2002 season with the Boston Red Sox was the equivalent of Weekend at Bernie's II...HILARIOUS!
Clark only hit 3 homeruns and his batting average was .207. It was difficult to imagine him playing again, let alone being a starting first baseman. He spent 2003, and 2004 with the Mets and Yankees respectively. Over two seasons he smacked 32 homeruns. His batting average improved, but only marginally.
This year Clark caught on with the Arizona Diamondbacks and he's enjoyed a brief resurgence. Clark has hit 30 homeruns, collected 86 runs batted in, and is hitting .308. His stats are better than they ever were. Consider this, in Clark's best year with the Tigers, he hit 34 homeruns, but it took him 602 at bats to accomplish the feat. This season Clark has 30 homeruns in 338 at bats (one homerun every 17.7 at bats as opposed to one for every 11.3 at bats). He parlayed that into a 2 year contract with the Diamondbacks. The contract is not an extravagant one in terms of pay, what is truly unique about the contract is its charity stipulations/provisions:
Clark's contract requires the Diamondbacks to contribute each of the following per year:
-Use of the owner's suite for charity in four regular-season games.
-1,000 tickets to regular-season games for charity.
-$10 food vouchers for 34 underprivileged children at 34 regular-season games.
-Two scholarships of $7,500 each in Clark's name for the club's annual scholarship program.
-2,000 tickets to regular season games for use by families of military personnel serving overseas from Luke Air Force Base.
-$5,000 donation to a Little League in Arizona and working with MLB's annual equipment drive; will also work to develop other community charitable projects such as those involving the police and fire departments.
The contract is a rarity.
Even if Clark is traded, the Diamondbacks must still fulfil these stipulations. It's nothing short of awesome.
Clark only hit 3 homeruns and his batting average was .207. It was difficult to imagine him playing again, let alone being a starting first baseman. He spent 2003, and 2004 with the Mets and Yankees respectively. Over two seasons he smacked 32 homeruns. His batting average improved, but only marginally.
This year Clark caught on with the Arizona Diamondbacks and he's enjoyed a brief resurgence. Clark has hit 30 homeruns, collected 86 runs batted in, and is hitting .308. His stats are better than they ever were. Consider this, in Clark's best year with the Tigers, he hit 34 homeruns, but it took him 602 at bats to accomplish the feat. This season Clark has 30 homeruns in 338 at bats (one homerun every 17.7 at bats as opposed to one for every 11.3 at bats). He parlayed that into a 2 year contract with the Diamondbacks. The contract is not an extravagant one in terms of pay, what is truly unique about the contract is its charity stipulations/provisions:
Clark's contract requires the Diamondbacks to contribute each of the following per year:
-Use of the owner's suite for charity in four regular-season games.
-1,000 tickets to regular-season games for charity.
-$10 food vouchers for 34 underprivileged children at 34 regular-season games.
-Two scholarships of $7,500 each in Clark's name for the club's annual scholarship program.
-2,000 tickets to regular season games for use by families of military personnel serving overseas from Luke Air Force Base.
-$5,000 donation to a Little League in Arizona and working with MLB's annual equipment drive; will also work to develop other community charitable projects such as those involving the police and fire departments.
The contract is a rarity.
Even if Clark is traded, the Diamondbacks must still fulfil these stipulations. It's nothing short of awesome.
# posted by Die Brucke @ 2:02 PM 
