Blue Jays Flashback: Jim Clancy
It isn’t unheard of for retired MLB players to drop off the grid following their playing career, but Kevin Glew is determined to give Jim Clancy the love his Blue Jays career deserves.
Where have you gone, Jim Clancy?
That’s what many longtime Blue Jays followers would like to know.
Clancy was a cornerstone of the Blue Jays’ during their formative years and still ranks in the top three in many of the team’s all-time pitching categories. He has also seemingly vanished from public life.
When I recently spoke to his ex-teammate Rance Mulliniks, he said he hadn’t seen Clancy in more than 30 years.
Ernie Whitt, who caught 193 of the games Clancy pitched, has also lost touch.
And legendary Globe and Mail baseball writer Larry Millson, who has penned more stories about the Blue Jays than any other scribe, hasn’t seen Clancy in many years.
Blue Jays autograph collectors will tell you that Clancy does maintain a Dunedin, Florida address and signs autographs via the mail, but no one can remember the last time he appeared at a Blue Jays’ function.
Clancy has clearly opted for a quiet post-playing career life, and good for him. But it’s a shame that today’s Blue Jays fans will likely never have an appreciation for just how good he was.
The onetime workhorse still ranks second all-time among Blue Jays pitchers in starts (345), innings pitched (2,204-2/3) and complete games (73), and third in wins (128), and strikeouts (1,237).
Born in Chicago on December 18, 1955, Clancy was a multi-sport star in high school, but he played mostly catcher, first base and outfield until his coaches discovered how hard he could throw.
He was chosen in the fourth round of the 1974 MLB draft by the Texas Rangers and he spent parts of three seasons in their system struggling with his control.
That wildness was the only reason the then 21-year-old right-hander was available in the 1976 MLB expansion draft. That year, Clancy had walked 98 batters in 125 innings in Double-A San Antonio and had an ugly 6.41 ERA. But newly appointed Blue Jays pitching coach Bob Miller had managed the Amarillo Gold Sox in the same circuit and he pushed for the expansion Blue Jays to select the raw righty.
The Blue Jays listened to Miller and chose Clancy with their third pick. In March 1977, in the Blue Jays’ first spring training camp in Dunedin, much of the buzz was about Clancy.
“That kid is throwing pure smoke,” veteran Ron Fairly enthused to reporters after facing Clancy in batting practice. “He’s one of the fastest I’ve ever seen.”
Clancy’s heater was clocked at 95 mph. And making the 6-foot-4 hurler even more intimidating was that he had little idea where it was going.
Clancy never completely mastered his control issues, but he managed them enough to become a top-end starter for the Blue Jays for close to a decade.
He received his first big league call-up in late July 1977 and pitched to mixed results for the remainder of that season. The following campaign, he made 30 starts for the Blue Jays and topped the team with 10 wins.
After being hampered by a foot injury in 1979, he enjoyed a breakout season in 1980 when he won 13 games, posted a 3.30 ERA and threw a career-best 15 complete games. He also tossed 250-2/3 innings and was voted the Blue Jays Pitcher of the Year.
Over the next eight seasons, Clancy became a staple in the Blue Jays’ rotation, a quiet workhorse. The low-key Clancy could often be found strumming his guitar in the clubhouse.
No one, however, should’ve confused his laidback attitude for a lack of desire to win.
“He had supreme confidence and was a guy you always wanted on your side in a battle,” former Blue Jays CEO Paul Beeston told Sportsnet about Clancy in March 2017. “He would take the ball and pitch until his arm fell off.”
And Clancy’s numbers certainly back that up. He had six, 200-inning seasons for the Blue Jays and two others where he hurled at least 193 innings.
In 1982, he topped the American League with 40 starts and set career-highs with 16 wins and 266-2/3 innings pitched. For his efforts, he was named the Blue Jays’ representative in the All-Star Game.
Clancy led the American League in starts again in 1984, but unfortunately was sidelined by injuries for a portion of their first division-winning season the next year. He still managed to go 9-6 with a 3.78 ERA in 23 starts, but he pitched just one inning in the American League Championship Series.
After another solid year in 1986, Clancy went 15-11 with a 3.54 ERA in 37 starts in 1987 and helped propel the club to 96 wins.
In 1988, his final season with the Blue Jays, Clancy collected 11 more wins and posted a 4.49 ERA in 36 games (31 starts). Following that campaign, he was signed to a three-year deal by the Houston Astros.
The Astros converted Clancy into a full-time reliever in 1991 and he was dealt to the Atlanta Braves at the trade deadline. That same year, he would earn the win in relief for the Braves in Game 3 of the World Series against the Minnesota Twins and then register a hold in Game 5 in what turned out to be his final major league appearance.
The underrated right-hander retired with 140 wins and a 4.23 ERA in 472 games (381 starts) over parts of 15 major league seasons.
North of the border, Clancy should be remembered as one of the longest serving and most effective starting pitchers in Blue Jays’ history. And with Clancy having all but disappeared, I’m going to do my best to ensure that happens.
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