RHP Dera Clark was drafted by the Braves in the 5th round of the 1983 draft, but chose to attend the University of Oklahoma, instead. Four years later, he turned up in the Royals' chain, despite not having been drafted in either '86 or '87. Did he suffer some injury at college and fall so cataclysmically that no team would even take a 50th-round flyer on him? Or had he somehow managed to become a free agent and not be subject to the draft a second time? I couldn't find out.
Anyway, Clark had two decent seasons in relief despite not being much of a fireballer (highest K/9 rate was 7.7) and by 1989 had earned a slot with the AA Memphis Chicks. There he cut his walk rate so it was less than one-third of the K/9 and moved into the starting rotation with success, earning an invitation to the major-league camp for 1990.
I'm not sure if Clark was on the 40-man (and he didn't make Kansas City, obviously), but he had been promoted to AAA Omaha, where he spent the next two seasons in the rotation. Only 17 starts in 1990 (injuries again?), but he went 8-3 with a 133 ERA+, and so might have felt he deserved a promotion to the big club. (Omaha crushed their division, the American Association South, romping home by 14 games over the Iowa Cubs. Then they beat Nashville 3-2 to win the AA title, and put away Rochester, 4-1, to win the AAA World Series.) He followed that up with a more-mediocre 1991, as he went 6-9 with a 98 ERA+, but still acceptable.
But there were problems ahead in 1992, as Clark got off to a slow start and, on April 23, the Royals released him. This happened as Kansas City purchased the contract Rico Rossy to fill in for the injured David Howard, so apparently Clark
was on the 40-man by this time and they needed to clear the spot. (Howard only being moved to the 15-day DL and thus still on the roster.) The Royals were able to swiftly re-sign Clark to a minor-league deal, but his struggles continued, as he went 1-6 with a 7.95 ERA in 9 AAA starts and then likely went on the shelf with an injury, before bouncing back with five strong appearances in Florida. (WHIP under 1.00, ERA not far over.) These last few outings encouraged the Dodgers to take a chance on Clark's 90+ mph fastball and split-finger, and they took him in Round 1 of the Rule 5 draft.
And so began Clark's march (or rather, March) to his greatest glory…
March, 1993. Clark was throwing for his new team in spring training, but not exactly impressing manager Tommy Lasorda. Lasorda began to razz Clark, claiming "
I could hit this guy!" Clark bore down, but Lasorda kept it up, eventually grabbing a bat and getting in the left-handed batter's box. Naturally, Clark eased up on his next pitch. (I mean, what's the good result here? Either you embarrass the manager or you get embarrassed by him. Both outcomes suck.)
Lasorda, even more unimpressed, yelled out at the mound again. So Clark reared back…and knocked Fat Tommy on his ass.
Lasorda got up, took an annoyed swing at the next pitch and popped up. And that was that…or would have been, if not for the Chicken Court.
This was the Dodger players' version of the traditional "Kangaroo Court" to enforce team discipline, the difference being that those found guilty in the Dodgers' court had to buy a chicken for the entire training staff. Which could run as much as $300. So when Tim Wallach decided that Clark should be prosecuted, he was in a bit of a pickle, since that was a decent chunk of change on minor-league spring money. But if you fought the charges and lost, you had to pay double. Even worse.
Luckily for Clark, Lance Parrish agreed to back him financially, so that he could plead his case. Clark's argument in his defense was that dusting his skipper proved that he wasn't afraid of anybody, and that therefore he would stand up for
all of his teammates, regardless of the circumstances. Judge Eric Davis was impressed and ruled in Clark's favor, keeping him from getting plucked.
But, understandably, he was still f*cked. Tommy Lasorda, I mean "the Dodgers", promptly sent Clark to AAA and the Royals reclaimed him. (To be fair, these were the same cuts where the Dodgers sent down a young Pedro Martinez, so it probably wasn't purely about revenge. But it didn't hurt…) So it was back to Omaha, for a fourth consecutive season. The Royals decided to move him back to the bullpen, despite almost all of the successful rehab outings from the year before being starts, and Clark struggled to a mediocre 4.22 ERA in a career-high 51 appearances. So at least he had his health.
By this time, Clark was eligible to be a minor-league free agent and he signed with the Braves, 11 years after they had originally drafted him. But the arm troubles returned, and he only managed 8 mediocre outings before being done for the year.
1995 saw the continuation of the MLB players strike and Clark, his arm healed but his moral compass broken [/SCABS ARE EVIL
], crossed the picket line and attended Braves camp. Where, with the real players still out, he did an interview with
The Palm Beach Post and at least got the "did I ever tell you about the time I knocked down Tommy Lasorda?" story recorded for posterity. Of course, the moment the strike was settled and Chipper/Maddux/Glavine etc. came back, the Braves dumped Clark's backstabbing butt. He didn't even get a minor-league deal. Karma!
No longer able to find a spot at AAA, Clark hooked on once more with Memphis, now a Padres farm. He had a very effective 1995 out of the pen (2.15 ERA, 1.09 WHIP) but only made 23 appearances…I don't know if it took a while for him to get a contract or if the arm troubles came back.
In 1996, he moved back to the rotation and made nine good starts (3.13 ERA). But only nine, indicating that either the arm problems came back or the Padres decided they didn't really need 31-year-old starters, even at AA. And that was the end of that.
But at least he'll always have the Chicken Court…
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