Bryan Clark (baseball) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Bryan Clark |
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| Pitcher | |||
| Born: July 12, 1956 Madera, California, U.S. |
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| debut | |||
| April 11, 1981, for the Seattle Mariners | |||
| Last appearance | |||
| May 30, 1990, for the Seattle Mariners | |||
| MLB statistics | |||
| Win–loss record | 20–23 | ||
| Earned run average | 4.15 | ||
| Strikeouts | 259 | ||
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Bryan Donald Clark, born on July 12, 1956, is a former baseball player. He was a pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB) for eight seasons, from 1981 to 1990. He played for teams like the Seattle Mariners, Toronto Blue Jays, Cleveland Indians, and Chicago White Sox. Bryan was from Madera, California, stood 6 feet 2 inches tall, and threw with his left hand. He went to Fresno Community College.
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Baseball Career Highlights
Bryan Clark started his professional baseball journey after being chosen by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1974 MLB draft. This was the 10th round, and he was the 227th player picked overall.
Early Days in Minor League Baseball
When Bryan began playing in the minor leagues, he quickly showed that he sometimes had trouble controlling where his pitches went. For example, in his second year, he walked 138 batters in just 131 innings. A walk happens when a pitcher throws four pitches outside the strike zone, and the batter gets to go to first base for free.
Bryan was mostly a starter in the minor leagues. A starter is the pitcher who begins the game. He had an ERA (which measures how many earned runs a pitcher gives up per nine innings) over 6 in two seasons. He also walked over 100 batters in four different seasons.
His best year in the minor leagues was in 1979. That year, he won 14 games and lost 5, with a good 2.64 ERA in 23 starts. Even then, he still walked 112 batters in 167 innings.
Major League Debut
Even with his minor league stats, Bryan Clark made it to the big leagues! He made his MLB debut on April 11, 1981. He was 24 years old and played against the California Angels.
Interestingly, even though he was a pitcher, the Seattle Mariners used him in a very unusual way for his first game. They had bought him from the Pirates in 1978. In his debut, they used him as a pinch runner. A pinch runner is a player who enters the game to run the bases for another player.
Finding His Role in MLB
Bryan spent the rest of his career trying to find the best role for himself. He played as both a starter and a reliever. A reliever is a pitcher who comes into the game after the starter.
His best season in MLB was in 1982. That year, he won 5 games and lost 2, with a strong 2.75 ERA in 37 games. Five of those games were starts. This season also included his only complete game shutout. A shutout is when a pitcher (or team) prevents the other team from scoring any runs. This happened on September 25, 1982, against the Toronto Blue Jays. In that game, Bryan allowed only six hits, walked one batter, and struck out two.
Moving Between Teams
On December 8, 1983, the Mariners traded Bryan Clark to the Toronto Blue Jays. He was traded for another player named Barry Bonnell.
His control issues sometimes showed up in games. For example, on August 19, 1983, against the Cleveland Indians, he walked seven batters in just 2⁄2 innings. He also allowed three earned runs. He did not get a win or a loss in that game, which the Blue Jays lost 6–5. Bryan played only one season with the Blue Jays. He finished with a record of 1 win and 2 losses, and an ERA of 5.91 in 20 games (three starts).
Bryan Clark played his final MLB game on May 30, 1990. He was back with the Seattle Mariners, who had gotten him again in December 1989.
Career Statistics
Throughout his entire MLB career, Bryan Clark had a record of 20 wins and 23 losses. His ERA was 4.15 over 516.1 innings pitched. He walked 261 batters and had 259 strikeouts. A strikeout is when a pitcher gets three strikes on a batter, and the batter is out.
He was also among the league leaders in wild pitches. A wild pitch is a pitch that is so far from the plate that the catcher cannot stop it, and a runner can advance. In 1981, he was sixth in the American League with seven wild pitches. In 1983, he was fourth in the league with 10 wild pitches.
Winter Baseball
Bryan also played winter ball in Venezuela. This is a type of baseball league that plays during the off-season for MLB. He played for the Tiburones de La Guaira and Navegantes del Magallanes teams in the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League. He played there for seven seasons between 1980 and 1989. He also pitched for La Guaira in the Caribbean Series tournaments in 1983 and 1985. The Caribbean Series is a baseball tournament for champion teams from different Caribbean countries.
Interesting Fact
- A famous baseball player named George Brett got his 2,000th career hit off Bryan Clark.
