Horace Clarke

Who is Horace Clarke?

Horace Meredith Clarke was a Major League Baseball player for the New York Yankees and the San Diego Padres from 1965 to 1974.

He was signed by the Yankees as an amateur free agent in 1958. He made his Major League Baseball debut on May 13, 1965. In 1967, he became the Yankees' regular second baseman upon the retirement of longtime veteran Bobby Richardson. In 10 seasons, he hit .256, with 27 home runs and 304 RBI. In the space of one month in 1970, he broke up three possible no-hitters in the ninth inning. That season, Clarke made 732 plate appearances. As a fielder, though, the knock on Clarke was that he would not turn the double play with runners barreling in. Few ever took him out with a slide, but Clarke would hold the ball after leaping.

Clarke was sold to the San Diego Padres on May 31, 1974, for $25,000. He retired at the end of the 1974 season. After his retirement, he worked as a baseball instructor for the Virgin Islands Department of Recreation and as an assistant scout for the Kansas City Royals.