When 34 year old "Will the Thrill" was signed to a 2 year, $11 million contract by the Orioles before the 1999 season, he was seen by the team as a bridge between the past glories of Rafael Palmeiro and the future glory of minor league phenom Calvin Pickering. Things didn't exactly work out as planned as Pickering's career tanked at the AAA level and Clark spent more time on the DL than off it. In 1999 it was (among other things) bone chips and a broken finger, this year it was nagging hamstrings in both legs.

In 2000, Will Clark missed about a fourth of the Orioles' games before finally being traded to St. Louis just before the July 31 deadline. He did hit over .300 for the 10th time in his career (.301 in Baltimore) but slugged only .473 in an O’s uniform, thus managing only 25 extra base hits (only 9HRs), and 28 RBIs. What little power Clark had vanished when a lefty was on the mound as Clark managed to slug just .372 (w/a .248 BA) against southpaws.

As usual, Clark did walk enough so that he got on base about 41% of the time, but even that could not compensate for his anemic power numbers as an Oriole. A blistering 8 weeks with the Cardinals got him back in the highlight reels (see the "notes" below). Will Clark is duly famous as one of the most intense players in the game. He has "old school" smarts and makes it a point to play baseball the way it's meant to be played.

Clark retired after the 2000 season.

Notes: Clark hit .507 when putting the first pitch he saw in play…had almost as many TBs in 51 games as a Cardinal (112) as in 79 games as an Oriole (121). Had 3 more HRs and 14 more RBIs as a Card than as an Oriole -- in 85 fewer ABs...in a season and a half as an Oriole Will Clark played in 153 games, hit 30 doubles, 1 triple, and 19 HRs…he hit .302 with an OB% of .404, and slugged .478. His OPS during that time, ranking 13th among AL 1st basemen. Clark was obviously better off in the NL, where power-hitting first basemen are at a premium. His 2000 slugging percentage of .546 ranked fourth in the NL…he did post an offensive winning percentage of .769, also ranked fourth in the NL, and eighth overall among ML first basemen.