Howard Roddy Clark (born February 13, 1974) is an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

coach and former

utility player In sports, a utility player is one who can play several positions competently. Sports in which the term is often used include association football, basketball, American football, baseball, rugby union, rugby league, softball, ice hockey, and water ...

. He played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB) for the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles (also known as the O's) are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. As one of the America ...

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Since 1989, the team has p ...

, and

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team is named afte ...

, and coached for the Orioles and

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The club plays its ...

. He is currently the

hitting coach In baseball, a number of coaches assist in the smooth functioning of a team. They are assistants to the manager, who determines the starting lineup and batting order, decides how to substitute players during the game, and makes strategy decisi ...

for the Memphis Redbirds.

Playing career

Clark was selected by the Baltimore Orioles in the 27th round (744th overall) of the 1992 Major League Baseball Draft. He would spend ten years in Baltimore's minor league system before making an appearance in the majors. During this time, Clark played in parts of four seasons with the

Rochester Red Wings The Rochester Red Wings are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals. They are located in Rochester, New York, and play their home games at Innovative Fie ...

, the Orioles' Triple-A affiliate, from to and was named the team captain. After his contract was purchased by the Orioles on July 16, 2002, he finally made his major-league debut as a

designated hitter The designated hitter (DH) is a baseball player who bats in place of another position player, most commonly the pitcher. Unlike other players in a team's lineup, they generally only play as an offensive player and usually do not play defense as ...

batting leadoff that same day in a 6–1 victory over the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. The Mariners compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. The team joined the American ...

Camden Yards Oriole Park at Camden Yards, commonly known as Camden Yards, is a ballpark in Baltimore, Maryland. It is the home of Major League Baseball (MLB)'s Baltimore Orioles, and the first of the Baseball park#Retro-classic ballparks, "retro" major le ...

. He was given a standing ovation after his first

at bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens upon completion of his turn at bat, ...

resulted in a

double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

off Joel Piñeiro. Clark eventually scored the first run of the contest. He played in 14 games with the Orioles in his first major league action, batting .302 with 4 RBI. He became a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

after the 2002 season and signed with the

on November 12, 2002. After two seasons with the Blue Jays, Clark signed a minor league contract with the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central ...

on November 1, 2004. He spent the season with the Rookie-level

Gulf Coast League Pirates The Florida Complex League Pirates are a Rookie-level affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates, competing in the Florida Complex League of Minor League Baseball. Prior to 2021, the team was known as the Gulf Coast League Pirates. The team plays its hom ...

and the Double-A

Altoona Curve The Altoona Curve are a Minor League Baseball team based in Altoona, Pennsylvania, named after nearby Horseshoe Curve (but also alluding to the curveball, a type of pitch). The team plays in the Eastern League and is the Double-A affiliate of ...

, batting a combined .394 with two home runs and 17 RBI in 39 games. Clark re-signed with Baltimore before the season. Clark played most of the year with their Triple-A affiliate, the Ottawa Lynx, but was called up to Baltimore for a brief stretch during the months of June and July. He played in seven games, recording one hit in seven at-bats (.143). Clark signed with the

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. ...

on January 10, 2007. He was released at the end of Spring Training on March 31. On May 12, Clark signed a contract to return to the Blue Jays. On May 30, , while playing

third base A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

for the Blue Jays, Clark let an easy pop fly fall after

Alex Rodriguez Alexander Emmanuel Rodriguez (born July 27, 1975), nicknamed "A-Rod", is an American former professional baseball shortstop, third baseman and designated hitter and current businessman. Rodriguez played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (ML ...

yelled "Mine" in order to distract the infielders. Sports telecasts aired this play numerous times in the following days as part of discussions on Rodriguez's poor sportsmanship. Clark was cited in the 2007

Mitchell Report The ''Report to the Commissioner of Baseball of an Independent Investigation into the Illegal Use of Steroids and Other Performance Enhancing Substances by Players in Major League Baseball'', informally known as the Mitchell Report, is the res ...

on performance-enhancing drugs in baseball, but was later acquitted when it was discovered his GH was bunk because he bought it from a false Mexican source. Clark was outrighted to Triple-A by the Blue Jays on August 7, 2007. He then signed a minor league contract with the

on November 21, 2007. He began the season with the

, now the Triple-A affiliate of the Twins. Clark was called up to Minnesota on May 16 to replace the injured Matt Tolbert, but was designated for assignment to Rochester on May 31. He accepted the assignment, stating that one of his reasons for returning to Rochester was his good relationship with the fans. He became a free agent at the end of the season and signed a minor league contract with the Toronto Blue Jays on January 16, .

Coaching career

In February 2015, Clark was named the hitting coach of the Delmarva Shorebirds, the Class-A affiliate of the

. In February 2017, Clark was named the assistant

for the Orioles. He was not retained by the ballclub following the 2019 season. He was named hitting coach of the

Charlotte Knights The Charlotte Knights are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox. They are located in Charlotte, North Carolina, and play their home games at Truist Field ...

, Triple-A affiliate of the

, for the 2020 season. On December 1, 2020, Clark was named assistant hitting coach for the

. In January 2023, Clark became the hitting coach of the Memphis Redbirds, Triple-A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Howie 1974 births Living people Albany Polecats players Altoona Curve players American expatriate baseball players in Canada American expatriate baseball players in Mexico Baltimore Orioles coaches Baltimore Orioles players Baseball coaches from California Baseball players from San Diego Bluefield Orioles players Bowie Baysox players Chicago White Sox coaches Chico Heat players Frederick Keys players Gulf Coast Orioles players Gulf Coast Pirates players High Desert Mavericks players Las Vegas 51s players Leones de Yucatán players Leones del Caracas players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela Major League Baseball hitting coaches Major League Baseball infielders Major League Baseball left fielders Major League Baseball right fielders Mexican League baseball center fielders Mexican League baseball first basemen Mexican League baseball right fielders Mexican League baseball second basemen Minnesota Twins players Minor league baseball coaches New Hampshire Fisher Cats players Ottawa Lynx players Pastora de los Llanos players Rochester Red Wings players Syracuse Chiefs players Syracuse SkyChiefs players Toronto Blue Jays players

Playing career

Coaching career

See also

References

External links