I've been a baseball fan for as long as I can remember.  I remember playing in the backyard with my best friends, going to Brewer games with my Dad and playing on as many little league teams as I could, usually as the pitcher or third baseman.  I also collected baseball cards.  Lots of them.  Though my childhood collection has cards dating back to 1977 and 1978, I really began collecting cards in 1982.  Growing up in Wisconsin, 1982 was the summer of Harvey's Wallbangers, with Robin Yount, Gorman Thomas and Pete Vukovich taking the team all the way to game seven of the World Series.  I quickly caught baseball fever, and collecting thousands of cards was only the most obvious symptom.

Like most young baseball fans, I went through a series of favorite players and teams.  I became a Steve Garvey fan when he was traded to the Padres and then led them to the World Series in 1984.  Tony Gwynn came along for the ride, and I had maybe a dozen cards of each of them.  The 1983 Topps Traded Steve Garvey was probably my favorite, as there was just something about the white card stock and the bright colors.  Eddie Murray and Cal Ripken were soon to follow.  I collected as many of Cal's 1983 Topps card as I could, probably because his 1982 Topps rookie card was already priced out of my reach.  I think I drafted them with my first two picks in my two-person fantasy baseball league in 1985 or so.  The league might have only lasted a week, but I'm pretty sure that Cal and Eddie had me on top.

Rickey Henderson was another favorite of mine, especially after he was traded to the Yankees in 1985.  Rickey was just cool.  Cool like Jack Nicholson.  The way he walked was cool.  The way he dangled his fingers while taking a lead off of first was cool.  Heck, even his jeri-curl in 1985 was cool.  I had a stack of Rickey Henderson cards, and I think most kids my age did.  Most of the time, the only way I would trade you a Rickey Henderson is if you were crazy enough to give up a Don Mattingly card.  Almost no one was foolish enough to do that.

I think all young baseball fans collected Don Mattingly cards during his glory years of 1984 to 1989.  His 1986 Topps card is, in my mind, one of the perfect cards of the era.  It's got a great design and perfectly captures the finish to Mattingly's beautiful swing.  Unfortunately, his 1987 Topps card didn't live up to his star status.  I have a very clear memory of my first glimpse of that card, and the disappointment it brought.  How could Topps use such a boring picture for the best and most collected player of the year? 

Interestingly, my sister even became a baseball card collector for a few years, though for different reasons.  She had a small collection of Robin Yount, George Brett and Jim Palmer cards that she acquired either from her extremely generous younger brother or from the flea market that I scoured for cards for hours at a time.  Years later she wanted me to sell her cards, but I never did.  I'm glad I didn't, as I still have many of them, and always will.

1986 was probably the year that I started to look at baseball cards as more than just something fun to collect and trade.  It may have been the 1986 Donruss Jose Canseco card that really started it for me.  Canseco was so hyped during the spring of 1986 that his Donruss card quickly climbed to over six dollars, driving up the price of wax boxes and making them nearly impossible to find on gas station or grocery store shelves.  In addition to Canseco, the summer of 1986 saw an impressive crop of rookies, including Wally Joyner, Bo Jackson, Will Clark, Cory Snyder, Ruben Sierra and Pete Incaviglia.  Oh yeah, some guy named Barry Bonds was in that class, too.  For some reason, I immediately took an interest in Will Clark. 

I started collecting Will Clark cards in 1987 and I haven't stopped.  I may have taken extended breaks from time to time, but my collection has grown steadily over the last twenty years.  At one point, likely in 1989, I decided to buy as many copies of Will's 1987 rookie cards as I could find, with a limit of $1.00 each.  (I do recall breaking that limit for a trio of 1987 Fleer rookies that set me back $1.25 each.)  I was able to put together quite a collection of Will's rookies.  While the cards may not have tremendous value today, they did see some impressive gains in the early 1990s, with his 1987 Fleer card reaching a peak of about $35.  In fact, I once packaged 15 or so of those Fleer cards and sent them to a dealer.  While I don't recall the exactly how much I received for the cards, it did allow me to buy a new pair of Air Jordans, so I was pretty happy with the deal.

As Will's career took off, I followed him more and more closely, and quickly became a Giants fan, as well.  I was a full-blown Giants fan by the time they won the NL West in 1989.  That fall Will put on one of the most dominating performances in the history of the postseason, leading the Giants to a four games to one win over the Chicago Cubs in the National League Championship Series.  Will hit an amazing .650 with two homeruns and eight runs batted in during the NLCS.  He slugged an incredible 1.200 and was, not surprisingly, named Most Valuable Player. 

Will hit both his homeruns in game one, including a grand slam off the Cubs' young ace, Greg Maddux.  Some say that grand slam is responsible for a slight, but widespread, change in the game.  The homer came immediately after Maddux and his catcher, Rick Wrona, had a conference at the mound.  Maddux apparently said words to the effect of "I'm gonna throw him a curveball."  While Will has never admitted as much, the longstanding rumor is that Will read Maddux's lips and crushed the curveball for a grand slam.  Today, most pitchers and catchers hold their gloves over their mouths while talking on the mound in an effort to prevent future replays of Will's 1989 grand slam. 

In addition to starting the 1989 NLCS with a bang, Will ended it with a game-winning line drive off of Cubs closer Mitch Williams.  I have a clear memory of watching that game, and that final at bat while standing in the bedroom of my childhood home in Wisconsin.  That was a great time to be a Giants fan, and a Will Clark fan in particular.  Of course, the excitement of that NLCS would quickly be dashed, as an earthquake rocked San Francisco's Candlestick Park moments before the start of game three of the World Series.  The Series was delayed ten days, and the Oakland A's swept Will's Giants four games to none.

While the World Series loss was difficult, and the earthquake was tragic, I became a life-long, die-hard Giants fan that summer and fall.  I struggled with the team through the lean years from 1990-1992 and celebrated when they signed Barry Bonds in the off-season before 1993.  That 1993 season was perhaps the most bittersweet of all.  The Giants surprised most everyone by playing fantastic baseball all summer long.  Judged by his high standards, Will had a disappointing season, but the team won 103 games.  In what some say was the last great baseball pennant race, the Giants and Atlanta Braves fought all summer long, with the Braves slowly making up ground on the Giants, who had sprinted to a large lead throughout the summer.  The teams came into the last day of the season tied at 103-58.  While the Giants had to play their hated rival, Los Angeles, the Braves faced expansion team patsy Colorado.  The games were both lopsided, as the Dodgers ended the Giants' season with a 12-1 drubbing, just hours after the Braves completed a season sweep of the Rockies with a 5-3 win. 

The season was over, and so was Will's career in San Francisco.  In late November of 1993 Will signed with the Texas Rangers.  It was not a surprising move, as the team chose to resign second baseman Robby Thompson and pitcher Mark Portugal rather than resign its aging, injured star.  Even though I saw the move coming, it was still painful.  I honestly didn't know how I would react to seeing Will in another uniform.  My college roommate asked me if I was going to remain a Giants fan or if I'd be moving my allegiance along with Will.  While I told him that I'd be a Giants fan for life, I wasn't really sure it was true.  More than a decade later, I can safely say that it was.  During Will's career with the Rangers, Orioles and Cardinals I continued to check first to see if the Giants won the night before.  Then I'd check to see how Will did.  Most of the time he did quite well. 

Will seemed rejuvenated in Texas.  The power he displayed as a youngster didn't return, but he hit for consistently high average and good on base percentage to go with an excellent glove and fair power.  His year and a half in Baltimore were disappointing.  He seemed to be playing out the stretch on a team that had little energy or desire.  Injuries accumulated and it was clear that the end was on the horizon. 

Will's sweet swing and intensity reemerged after a late season trade to St. Louis in 2000.  Filling in for injured mega-star Mark McGwire, Will was a dominant force for the Cardinals.  He hit homeruns in his first four games for the Cardinals and hit .345 with a .426 on base percentage and .655 slugging percentage.  Despite this fifty game stretch, Will quietly retired after the season.  He certainly could have signed one more contract, but it seems to me that Will would rather go hunting and fishing in his native Louisiana than train and prepare for another 162 game grind.  While I was disappointed, I understood his decision.

I don't know that I'll ever again have a favorite player.  Will may not be a Hall-of-Famer, but he was, for a stretch, one of the best and most feared players in the game.  That stretch may have been shorter than I hoped, but it was memorable, and it made me a fan for life.

This site is dedicated to Will and my (still expanding) collection of his baseball cards.  I hope that you enjoy your stay.  Feel free to contact me with any questions or comments. 

Thanks, Will.

Drew

P.S. All of the cards pictured on this site are from my own collection, and I constantly update the site as my collection continues to grow.  Here's a fairly exhaustive list of officially licensed Will Clark cards.  I have shaded all of the cards I currently have, and I'm always looking to add those that I don't.  Please let me know if you have something I'm looking for.  Note that I have *many* cards that aren't included on the list, as I don't restrict myself to officially licensed cards.  I hope you enjoy the site.