Will Clark | SPECIAL Interview w/ San Francisco Giants Legend & Major League Baseball Great Will Clark (This Show Is Dedicated to My Father, Thomas Clayton Clark (We Miss You Dad)!
Transcribed with Cockatoo
(Speaker 2)
I dedicate today’s show to my late father, Thomas Clayton Clark. You see, my dad used to work night shifts. He used to work the night shift so he could put food on the table. And when he would come home from working at the Quick Trip convenience stores or the other late night jobs he had, we would sit down together and watch the San Francisco Giants baseball games, and specifically the career of Will Clark. And then my dad convinced me to play baseball. And next thing you know, I was batting like Will Clark, had the same batting stance as Will Clark, playing the same position as Will Clark, wearing the same jersey number as Will Clark, drawing pictures of Will Clark in my room, and wanting to grow up to be like Will Clark.
(Speaker 2)
And on today’s show, I’ll be interviewing Will Clark. And so my dad passed away in 2016 of Lou Gehrig’s disease. And so I want to dedicate this interview to my late great father, Thomas Clayton Clark. Dad? I know in heaven, you’re up there with Jesus. And Jesus, if you’re watching, and I know you are, if you could give my dad the ability to watch today’s show, that would be great.
(Speaker 23)
Get ready to enter the Thrive Time Show.
(Speaker 2)
Thrive Nation, I’m so fired up. I get the opportunity today to interview a man who I literally wore 22. I wore the number 22 during my entire baseball career. I’d made myself learn to bat left -handed and play first base because of today’s guest. This is the man with the sweetest swing in baseball, Will The Thrill. Welcome on to The Thrill.
(Speaker 2)
Time Show. How are you, sir?
(Speaker 3)
I’m doing great, Clay.
(Speaker 29)
And how about yourself?
(Speaker 2)
Well, brother, I’m so fired up to talk to you. I got to ask you, at what age did you recognize that baseball was your passion? When did that occur for you?
(Speaker 3)
You know what? I grew up in New Orleans. And my dad and I loved to hunt and fish. And I played baseball during the summertime. Uh, but I guess probably when it got into high school, it really started kicking in. I mean, everything really sort of, uh, fell into place.
(Speaker 3)
I started getting a lot better. I was also growing, I was maturing. And, uh, so probably, probably high school is where the bug hit me. And then, you know, when I went to college, it just took it to the next level and then pro ball, et cetera.
(Speaker 2)
Now, my father was obsessed with Ted Williams. My late father was obsessed with Ted Williams. And he used to make me watch video footage of Ted Williams. And he’d have me watch footage of you. And there’s a lot to the mechanics of how you hit the baseball. And there’s a lot to it.
(Speaker 2)
When did you become a student of the game? At what point did it become a thing where you were obsessively studying and trying to improve your skill set?
(Speaker 3)
So, so I made a huge swing change in between my junior and senior year in high school. I got with a gentleman that he’s local, and he was playing AAA for the Boston Red Sox Pawtucket at the time, and he had me come out to his facility and really kind of worked with me. on hitting, closed up my stance. I was able to start using the left field and the middle part of field. Before that, I was a dead bull type of guy. And, you know, that’s kind of where it clicked. And then when I went to Mississippi State, Coach Ron Polk was absolutely incredible, taught us the X’s and Z’s.
(Speaker 3)
O’s of the game, you know, where you need to be on in this play. And hey, when you do a double cut and relay, this is where all of these guys line up. And so I took those lessons and in pro ball, I actually became kind of like a captain almost. I was directing traffic out on the field. And, you know, that’s kind of where the kind of, uh, you know, my love of the game, the study of the game and all that. So it kept, kept me going.
(Speaker 2)
The speed of the game, uh, the speed of the game, you know, when you go from, uh, high school, college, and then from college to pros, um, talk to me about the, the talk to us about the speed of the game. You know, when you went from college where you were all American and you, you were, you did well, uh, and then you went into the pros. Talk to me about the speed of the game and the, just the velocity, uh, increase of, of the speed of the pitches.
(Speaker 3)
Well, you know what, I mean, you know, we were facing some some pretty good guys in college, you know, but but the one thing that you can count on in college was two or three mistakes out over the plate that you could handle. And that is probably the biggest thing when you go into pro ball, guys start getting it up there a little bit better. Yes, they thrown a little bit harder. But the guys on the pro side of things know exactly what they’re doing. They make a lot better pitches. They don’t make near as many mistakes as the guys in college.
(Speaker 3)
And, you know, you have to become a better hitter in order to capitalize on those, not necessarily mistakes, but the good pitches that the pitches are going to make. And you have to kind of spoil their day.
(Speaker 2)
First at bat in the major leagues, the first time you stepped to the plate at the major league level. Uh, I know the story, but a lot of people don’t, uh, tell us about that first at bat. What were you thinking when you stepped to the plate, sir?
(Speaker 3)
So I had made the, uh, major league team in spring training after only having, uh, three months in my leagues in high a ball the year before I was slated to go to triple a. wind up making the major league roster, and my first at bat in the major leagues is off of Nolan Ryan in Houston, and go up there first pitch, you know I mean I got the butterflies going and all that first pitch he throws me a curveball and I sort of, you know, sort of surprised me a little bit, but the great part about that was and it was best thing he could ever done for me was it allowed me to settle down. It allowed me to get those butterflies out the way I saw the curveball really good and it was a strike next pitch he missed up and away with a fastball and then the one one fastball was just right there and you know when I hit it. You know, I was, I knew I caught it good, but you don’t ever think of balls going out of center field in the Houston Astrodome. It goes out, you know, and I’m just floating around the bases, touch home plate, point to my family that was in the stands. And then after we do all the customary high fives and all that, I’m sitting on the bench.
(Speaker 3)
And I don’t know why, but in my whole career, every time something really major happened, I was able to like, just have a bit of a calm come over me. And I’m sitting on a bench, and I look at one of our veterans that’s sitting next to me, Chili Davis, and I go, he’s going to drill me next time up. He goes, Oh, hell yeah. And so the next time I come to the plate, you know, he’s in his windup and I’m like, Oh, we drew one up and in.
(Speaker 2)
So, uh, now, uh, you know, one thing about your career that, uh, you know, my dad died of Lou Gehrig’s a few years back and, and, um, I, you know, when your father passes, you kind of reflect back on that. And my dad, we grew up really poor. So my dad worked at quick trip gas stations. It was a convenience store. And, uh, And he would come home late. The only time I get a chance to see him was after that night shift.
(Speaker 2)
He’d come home and the San Francisco Giants, your games were on replay on SportsCenter. So for some reason, ESPN would replay your games. Francisco giants games at some bizarre time. And we would watch you and we would watch you. And I know you played more than just a 1989, but in 1989, you’re batting three 33. You are just absolutely having a great year.
(Speaker 2)
You’re having, I believe, was a gold glove or close to a gold glove, a series it’s obviously voted on. But I mean, you’re doing great at first base. And you had a cast of characters that you guys teamed up together to go to the World Series. So it’s you guys versus the Oakland A’s in 1989. Could you tell, what was the experience like being on the kind of the Bay Area World Series? What was the energy like in Oakland and San Francisco at that time?
(Speaker 3)
Well, I mean, it was it was absolutely incredible. You know, we had in a pretty short period of time had turned around the San Francisco Giants organization. The year I got drafted, 1985, I was in A -Ball. They lost 100 games that year. And so then I made the team the next year. We turned the organization around a little bit.
(Speaker 3)
87, we’re in the playoffs. 88, we have a really good year. And then 89, we’re in the World Series. On the flip side of things, Oakland A’s were in the World Series in 88 against the Dodgers. They wound up losing. And then 89, boom, we’re in the World Series against our Bay Area rival, who we play eight or nine times in spring training.
(Speaker 3)
So we’re very familiar with each other. We go over to Oakland. They threw Mike Moore and Dave Stewart, wound up losing the first two games. Both of the games were kind of a a slugfest it wasn’t really a pitcher’s deal, and then we come back to San Francisco for game three, and right before introductions is when the earthquake hit, and you know that was just absolutely unbelievable I mean you know, never in your baseball career, especially on a pro side of things, do you have more than one day off. And because of the earthquake and the loss of life, what was going on in the Bay Area and all that sort of stuff, we wound up having to take 10 days off.
(Speaker 3)
And so when, you know, we came back to finish up the World Series, it was kind of like spring training all over again. And the World Series, for me especially, had lost a lot of its luster because I was more worried about the deaths in the Bay Area and stuff like that.
(Speaker 2)
Now, uh, I’m going to go rapid fire on my dad, who I believe is listening from heaven. I believe there’s technology where he can just tune in here and listen from heaven. So I have some questions that my dad would want to ask. Okay. So I’m just going to throw out some names from that 89 roster. And if you could describe these people, because we can only watch, we watched if you guys had 162 games, I bet you, I watched 145 of them.
(Speaker 2)
I’m not kidding, man. Okay. So Terry Kennedy, what was Terry Kennedy like on the 1989 team?
(Speaker 3)
Terry Kennedy was, was one of our veterans. He was a funny guy off the field. His dad actually, Bob Kennedy had been a part of the Giants front office for a long time. We got Terry over from, uh, you know, San Diego and he really was a steadying influence behind home plate. He called a great game and, uh, did a good job on, in the catcher’s position for us.
(Speaker 2)
Robbie Thompson, Robbie Thompson.
(Speaker 3)
Our team, my man Robbie. You know he and I man the right side. We came up together in 1986. He was my second baseman. You know one thing you never had to worry about. Robin Thompson.
(Speaker 3)
If there was a ground ball or fly ball hit on that right side, he was going to catch it and he was Mr dependable. He was our number two goal hitter, so he hit in front of me and he did a lot of hitting and runs and sacrifice bunts.
(Speaker 2)
Stuff like that and really was an integral part of the team. Now this is a big thing for that don’t know. And I’m not, I’m not attacking all professional baseball players. It’s just an observation that I had pre -steroids. It was a big deal to hit 47 home runs.
(Speaker 2)
So Kevin Mitchell hit 47 bombs. I mean, that was unheard of in the pre -steroid era. As an example, like Mark McGuire hit 33 home runs for the A’s in a pre -steroid era. And people thought that was remarkable. What was Kevin Mitchell like?
(Speaker 3)
Kevin Mitchell, we call him the boogie bear. He was an absolute treat. Every day he’d come to the ballpark, he’d say something to make you laugh. I mean, he was that guy, loosey -goosey. But then when he went up to the plate, it was all business. Like you said, 47 homers, 120 -something RBIs.
(Speaker 3)
He was the MVP of the league. I wound up finishing second. I was in front of him all the time in the batting order. And, you know, we’d be standing in the on -deck circle and I’d say, you know, hey, I’m going to get on there for you, big boy, drive me in. He goes, you got it. And he did the majority of the year.
(Speaker 3)
He got some unbelievable clutch hits, homers and all that sort of stuff. And he played a pretty darn good outfield for us, too, as well.
(Speaker 2)
And I don’t know how much of this is accurate in my nine -year -old mind. I’m thinking back on it, but Brett Butler, I feel like Brett Butler was a very busy guy in the batter’s box. I felt like he was crafty. He was always getting on base. Somehow his batting average, I don’t think showed how often he was getting on base. What was Brett Butler like?
(Speaker 3)
So Brett Butler, you know, he was actually one of our our older players. And he was our leadoff guy, a little guy could could run real well. And he was a great bunter. And he practiced bunting every day. And I know in the three or four years that I played with Brett, he had over 20 bunt base hits every day. So, you know, he was, he was like a little pesky gnat that was, that was at the top of our order.
(Speaker 3)
He’d work pitches. He’d go to three, two counts all the time. And for a guy like myself, a guy like Kevin Mitchell, we’re standing there in the on deck circle. We’re looking at this and we’re getting a good read on the pitcher, you know, cause Brett’s working him over pretty hard. Also on top of that, Brett Butler played center field, played a a gold glove centerfield out there for us. And he was basically our catalyst.
(Speaker 3)
And, you know, it was it was one of those things that he and I would talk about it. And I said it to his face many times. I said, you go, we go. And it was it was a truth. If he got on base, we created havoc for everybody.
(Speaker 2)
Now, uh, Don Robinson was one of the few people, and again, I’m going back to my nine -year -old mind here. Uh, he was one of the few pitchers I’d ever heard of. They would bring him into pinch hit. Can you explain Don Robinson?
(Speaker 3)
Yeah, no. So, so Don Robinson, we got him, uh, in a, in a trade from Pittsburgh and it was pretty well known that, you know, he was a good hitter and, uh, you know, not only, you know, we used him in the bullpen, but we Roger Craig also used him as a starter. And when, you know, when he was a starter, I mean, he’d get two or three ABs and he hit a bunch of clutch base hits for us. And he also, he also led the NL in like pitchers homers a few years in a row. So, you know, not only was he a quality pitcher, you know, as a starter and as a reliever, but then he’d help his own cause, you know, with, with the bat and in pinch hitting roles too.
(Speaker 2)
Now, feel free to hang up on me when I ask this question, because again, I’m nine years old, okay? My dad would say, Clay, my dad called me Clayton. He would say, you see that swing? I mean, I’m not kidding. He would be, you see, you see, that’s what you got to, you got to get that stance you got. And I was like, I mean, I emulated every, every nuance you did.
(Speaker 2)
I mean, it was like, I had to watch. And then my dad goes, you see him, he does when he slides into second? Do you see that? And I’m going, what is that? He goes.
(Speaker 2)
It’s a little bit dirty, but it’s effective. Look how he slides into second. He creates some half slides. It’s a little bit dirty. Now, my dad played in the Little League World Series in 1965, and he could hurl some heat, and he was, my dad went to, he was going to be very, very good, hurt his arm, win a different career, you know, a different career path, but he was very good at baseball, and he would make me watch highlights of you sliding.
(Speaker 3)
Can you please explain your theory towards sliding into second base? So, so my theory on sliding and you got to remember it was a little different rules back then, you know, as long as the rule was as long as you could touch second base with a hand or with a foot or whatever. you, you were legitimately good. And so my theory on sliding was if I got to run 90 feet, somebody’s going to get hit. And I didn’t, I didn’t like to run too much. So, you know, and on top of that, you know, if you go in there and you make contact with the second baseman or the shortstop, it’s going to be a lot tougher for them to complete the double play.
(Speaker 3)
And so, you know, nowadays I sit, I sit there and I watch the guys, you know, they’ll run down a second and they’ll peel off, get out the way. And the second baseman’s like, Thank you. And it just make a great throw to first base. Um, so, you know, for us back then it was, it was more about not letting a double play be completed. And, you know, also, also when you go in and you go in hard, all of a sudden that word gets around the league, Hey, look, you know, this guy’s coming in here to break, break up a double play. We, we need to get the ball and get rid of it.
(Speaker 3)
Otherwise he’s going to be on top of us.
(Speaker 2)
And, and that was kind of my theory on sliding. Now, my dad would again, he would zoom in and he’d watch and he’d do this is all before you had picture in picture. This is, you know, 1989. But my dad would say, you see what Will’s doing there? I’m like, I don’t know what he’s doing. He seems to be playing first base.
(Speaker 2)
He’s like, he’s actually He’s engaged. Look at him. He looks pissed. He looks focused. He’s like, he’s, can you explain the mindset that you had?
(Speaker 2)
Because again, my dad would go, you see that when you’re playing first base, you need to be doing that. I go, what’s he doing? He’s, he’s focused. He’s engaged. He’s, he seems pissed. Do that.
(Speaker 3)
Can you explain what you were doing? So in the field, Um, you know, and then this is, this is the one thing that, that our infield instructor, his name was Bob Lillis. Bob, Bob told me, he goes, look, he goes, you’re going to have your 0 for threes and your 0 for fours. He said, but you can’t have an 0 for three, 0 for four out in the field. We need to help the pitchers, you know, win the ball game. And it was the truth.
(Speaker 3)
I mean, no matter what happened at the plate, you still had to feel the ball, feel the clean, all that. And so, you know, what we did was we took the mindset of being aggressive. So if you ever had in the back of your brain, oh, I should stay back on this ball or I should charge it. We always charged everything. And it wound up being really good because you actually, as a defensive player, you play the ball and the ball doesn’t play you and you create actually a good hop for yourself. And so, you know, it was just like, you know, being aggressive in the batter’s box and being aggressive out on the field and, uh, you know, myself, Robbie Thompson, you know, we both talked about it a lot.
(Speaker 3)
And on top of that, when we were in the field, we were talking back and forth. So Robbie, especially with a left -handed hitter up, he would, he would go, Hey, well, Hey, two, two, you know, a double deuce, whatever. And he would give me a heads up that breaking ball is coming so that, you know, those are the ones that the left -hander is going to roll over, you know, the first base or second base. And so both of us were really aggressive that way. And another thing too is with the communication, if he ever moved. So if he has to play, you know, double play depth or whatever he has to do.
(Speaker 3)
I knew that and I knew I had to cover more ground.
(Speaker 2)
on my side, on my side of the diamond. No, I gotta, I gotta confess to you here. Uh, this is, uh, I basically baseball died for me when you retired for me, because it was like, I used, I’m not kidding. I was, there was a different, you had a different way. You played, you, you, you were aggressive. You were focused.
(Speaker 2)
You weren’t screwing around. Um, I, it was, you weren’t screwing around. You were not screwing around. It was like the Knicks. versus the bulls back in the day. You know, it’s like if Jordan was going to go into the lane and try to do a dunk or make a layup, they’re going to hit them.
(Speaker 2)
They’re going to Jordan versus the bulls versus the pistons. Jordan takes the ball to the hole. And guess what? He’s going to get hit by lamb beer. They’re going to blow the whistle. And then guess what?
(Speaker 2)
Isaiah Thomas is going to hit them too. And the guys didn’t want to talk to each other before the game. They weren’t getting like selfies before the game. They were pissed. You got the feeling that Isaiah Thomas and Jordan and we’re pissed. And I loved it.
(Speaker 2)
And I love I’ve been but then I’m not gonna attack baseball. That’s what you do for a living now. But it became kind of softball for me when you and your ilk retired. How did you know that it was time for you to retire? Because you came back on the Cardinals. And I’m going, he’s got 42 RBIs.
(Speaker 2)
He’s doing great. I saw you on the Rangers. And I’m like, he’s got it. I was wanting to play forever.
(Speaker 3)
How did you know it was time to be done? Uh, I was in Baltimore and, uh, it was, it was the last year of my contract. And during the off season, our son, who was a little bit autistic, uh, we saw a major change in him during the off season. And my wife and I both talked about it and I said, this is probably going to be it because, you know, I want to be home for him and, and support him. And so, you know, I go into Baltimore, start off a little slow, but then I picked up the pace a little bit. and I get traded to St. Louis.
(Speaker 3)
And when I got traded to St. Louis, like you said, I kind of went off. I mean, I had a hit 350 with like 15 homers and 50 RBIs and 55 games or something like that. And we wound up making the playoffs. A homer in my last at bat in the playoffs. And that offseason, the Cardinals said they want to sign me back, but McGuire was having surgery.
(Speaker 3)
And so he was going to come back. So I’d have to be either an outfielder or a utility guy. And I was like, you know, that’s the old dog, new tricks thing. And so I decided, you know, if I’m going to go out, I’m going to go out on top. I had 15 years in, I did I did pretty much everything except win a World Series that you could do on the baseball field. And I said, it’s time.
(Speaker 2)
So I did that.
(Speaker 3)
Wait a second.
(Speaker 24)
I lost you.
(Speaker 3)
Wait, wait, wait.
(Speaker 2)
I lost you.
(Speaker 28)
I don’t know what happened here.
(Speaker 3)
Can you see me now?
(Speaker 27)
No, no.
(Speaker 26)
Hang on.
(Speaker 20)
Hang on.
(Speaker 3)
OK. I can see you. All right, here we go.
(Speaker 2)
Boom, I got you back. OK, now I’ll edit it out. Now you, OK, your number finally got retired, I believe.
(Speaker 25)
Your number finally was retired.
(Speaker 2)
Yes. San Francisco Giants. And you’re not saying this, but I’m going to say this, and then you can correct me, OK? you should be in the hall of fame. And it’s abundantly clear. This isn’t a backhanded compliment.
(Speaker 2)
It’s abundantly clear that you weren’t doing roids. Every time you got to bat, I didn’t see here comes wheel clock to pump it up. He’s going to hit the baseball. You know, when you look at a lot of these guys and I’m not going to mention their names, I’m just going to hint at who they are. There was a guy who came up through the Tulsa drillers, minor league baseball system who never hit home runs. And he went to the pros and never hit home runs.
(Speaker 2)
Next thing you know, it’s kind of here to 50 home runs, you know, and it’s this So there was a whole like steroid. And I believe if you would have got on the bulk enhancers and you went to palms adopt, you’d be. would have been hitting 45 home runs every year because you always made solid contact. And you, all you had to do, if you extend the length at which you drive the ball, you would have hit 15 % more home runs, et cetera, et cetera. So you are a pre steroid baseball player. competing with guys who are starting to flirt with roids.
(Speaker 2)
Okay. And you maintained a 300 plus average. You can add a ridiculous on base percentage. You got it done in the field. You were a, people forget that you were very good, uh, actual first baseman. You were a general on the field.
(Speaker 3)
Um, what are your thoughts on the hall of fame? So, so that, that question that you have there is kind of two parted. Um, you know, a look, you know, my, the steroids were there, and you knew they were there, you knew who was doing it, because, you know, like you said, you know, a guy would hit 1012 homers and next year you hit 45. It’s like, whoa, wait a second, you just don’t learn how to hit a homer overnight. Yeah, so that’s first off. Second off, my dad always told me he said, he said, Don’t cheat.
(Speaker 3)
He says, out think and outwork the other guy. And that was how I grew up. That’s how I patterned my whole game. So for me personally, that was never an issue. Nobody would have ever come to me because if they would have come to me, we’d have had a fist fight right then and there. So that’s first off.
(Speaker 3)
Second off, the Hall of Fame stuff. I did not get into this sport, you know, to be a Hall of Famer. I got into this sport because I love the competition. I love the, you know, hey, the ball’s in flight, you got to catch it dead center, and you got to beat, you know, eight guys that are running around out there trying to catch it. And so, you know, that’s what I did, you know, for my career. If the Hall of Fame comes, great.
(Speaker 3)
But if not, having my number retired by the San Francisco Giants this last year and having my number up there next to number 24 Willie Mays, who’s the greatest player that ever played the game. Come on, that is that is my Hall of Fame. And, you know, for me personally. You know, if the hall of fame comes great, you know, I’ll, I’ll thoroughly enjoy it. But if not, I can look back on my career, say I did it the right way.
(Speaker 2)
And my numbers are tired in San Francisco. And I’ll tell you this, I got into baseball because my dad and because of you. So I want you in the hall of fame for my own selfish benefit, because I feel like you were one of the best now. Now today, obviously you’re doing other great things today, or you’re a family man, you’re, you’re heavily involved in the community. Um, tell us what you’re doing right now. What, what is your current gig?
(Speaker 3)
What are you doing right now? So I am the special hitting instructor for the San Francisco Giants. So not only do I see the major league team at least once a month, but I also see all of our minor league affiliates and I write reports and send it back saying, Hey, look, this guy, you know, he’s really good at this, but he has a little problems with this. And so kind of gives, you know, not only the front office, but also the coach and staff. you know, a little bit idea what these guys need to work on and stuff like that. So, so that’s, that’s really a very important part of my life.
(Speaker 3)
Another thing too, is because I’m not full time, I get a chance to spend a lot of time with my son, my wife, my daughter, and become, you know, a family man.
(Speaker 2)
And yet at the same time, still keep my hand in the sport that I love so much. Final, uh, final, final five minutes here for final questions for you. Um, you know, the average made mid -league baseball player today is making $4 .38 million. That’s the public. That’s the publicized average. And I’m not going to talk about how much money you made.
(Speaker 2)
All I’m saying is you and Kirby Puckett, you and Kirby Puckett, you and Kirby Puckett were some of the first guys to make some, some contracts. And you guys were the best. I mean, you guys were the first kind of guys to break through certain contractual barriers. And I’m an entrepreneur, so I always watched that. Working with today’s athletes, a lot of these guys are making $4 .38 million a year.
(Speaker 2)
Has money changed at all the game dynamic?
(Speaker 3)
Is the game different? Oh, yeah, definitely. Definitely. Without a shadow of a doubt, the money component has definitely changed the game. I mean, you know, when I got into the sport, there was like two $2 million players. It was Gary Carter and I think Ozzie Smith.
(Speaker 3)
And I bought, let’s see, 1989, I became the first $4 million player. And then within probably another year or two after that, the contracts were at like $8 million. So, you know, I got into sport and kind of caught the elevator ride going up. So that was really good from that standpoint. But now the money that is involved in the sport and you know, the way that the ownership, you know, throws it kind of around. I mean, these guys got job security for the most part.
(Speaker 3)
And, you know, their job security would have gotten me sent to AAA.
(Speaker 25)
You know, if you get 240 to 250 back in my day, you were gone.
(Speaker 3)
See you later. Now these guys, now you got everyday guys. I just, I just looked at, you know, last night I watched the Seattle Mariners play. And yeah, they got a bunch of guys hitting 20 homers and stuff like that. But they had 201, 148, 178 in their starting lineup. And I’m like, What, you’re below 200, and you got a starting job in a major leagues.
(Speaker 3)
Well, I don’t I don’t get it you know another thing to you mentioned it, you mentioned it a little bit ago. So, you know, one of the things that Al Rosen, who is my general manager, he flat out came out and told me, he said, I pay you for two things. He said, I pay you to drive in more runs than the other guy and touch home plate more than the other guy. I said, yes, sir. And so in a three year stretch from 87, 88, 89, You know, they call them walk off hits or, you know, and walk off homers and all that and game winning RBI and all that. I had 36 of those in three years.
(Speaker 3)
And so, you know, now these guys, you know, they’re, you know, you see them take their jerseys and rip it off and then they get a shower and all that. We just expected to do that back then. It was just like we were, you know, we wanted to be the man that ended the game.
(Speaker 2)
And, you know, now that it’s like, it’s like a circus out there sometimes. Well, final, final three questions for you. Just the craziest pitcher you ever, ever had to bat against. I mean, the guy that just was. Crazy. I mean, you know, you talk about Eckersley, just throwing the ball a hundred miles an hour, wild, you know, wild knowing Ryan.
(Speaker 2)
I mean, you faced the greats.
(Speaker 3)
What was the craziest picture that now that you’re retired, you can say some fear. So, so, I mean, you know, you being in the middle of the lineup and playing every day, like we did, you, you face everybody, you face everybody’s number one, number two, number three, number four, number five, you know what I mean? You face them all, you know, and they were all truly tough to face. They were all professionals in their own right. But the guy who was just a, for lack of a better term, a freak show out there was Pasquale Perez. I mean, you know, tell him what he was on when he took the mound and, you know, he throw the ball in between his legs over the first base and he’d jump around on a mound.
(Speaker 3)
I mean, it was just, it was a freak show.
(Speaker 24)
And so, you know, I was not really big on, you know, hitting Homer and stand there watching it, you know, unless it was just a game winning upper tank shot or something like that.
(Speaker 3)
But, you know, I know I caught him in candlestick on one of those. It was a tough night, you know, and I caught him in about the seventh inning to put us up and I sat there and watched it till it hit the stands. And then I ran around the bases and the whole time I was running around bases, I was screaming at him.
(Speaker 2)
So that would be the guy would be Pasquale Perez. Okay. Final two questions. What, what size bat did you use?
(Speaker 3)
What, what size, what ounce bat, what size bat were you using back in the day? So, uh, you know, back then we used ash. And in order to get a good quality wood in ash, you had to go up in weight a little bit. So like in college, you know, I swung a 34 and a half 32 and a half. And so when I got into pro ball, I bumped that up a little bit. So I was swinging a 3533 c 271, which wasn’t a big barrel head, it was sort of a smaller barrel head.
(Speaker 3)
And when I got up there and was swinging, like I said, 33 ounces, I started getting some steel. I mean, I mean, you would hit it, you’d hit a baseball and it sounded like you hit it with a two -by -four, man. It was an unbelievable, just whack sound.
(Speaker 2)
you know, the ball kind of jumped off the bat. Did you have a, my final question, did you have like a pregame ritual or a thought, a thing you would say to yourself when you were in the batter’s box?
(Speaker 3)
Anything you would kind of do mentally that people couldn’t see that you could share? Well, one of the things that happened was The advent of like videotape and all that came in 1987. And Tony Gwynn and I were really good friends. And so he started watching a lot of videotape and he was telling me about it. So then I started watching a lot of videotape. So I’d get to the ballpark at about one, one 30 in the afternoon.
(Speaker 3)
I’d watch videotape on the guy that I was facing that night and try to get, you know, a game plan as to what side to play. He went to. if he had his butt in a ring or what pitch did he go to these kind of things. I would then go into the batting cage and I’d work on it, then we take batting practice on the field, and I’d work on it some more. And then for the game, I just kind of paid attention to the game. You know, if he had those pitches working that I was looking for, I stuck with the game plan.
(Speaker 2)
If he did not have those pitches working, then I reformulated a new game plan. Now, Will, if people want to buy, mainly me, if people want to buy a custom jersey, a signed jersey, where can they go to buy signed stuff from you?
(Speaker 23)
Are you selling memorabilia these days?
(Speaker 3)
Mainly me. Yeah, I mean, you know, yeah, I mean, the San Francisco Giants, they have me sign memorabilia all the time. I know I signed a bunch of baseballs that had the my retirement logo on the baseballs. They actually use those baseballs in the game too. So I signed a bunch of those baseballs.
(Speaker 2)
I’ve definitely signed jerseys.
(Speaker 3)
Do they sell those on the San Francisco Giants website? Yes, on the Giants website. And then also, if you go to Major League Baseball alumni. Yeah, I signed a bunch of jurors, I signed a bunch of jerseys for those guys.
(Speaker 2)
So Major League Baseball alumni has a lot of will Clark signed jerseys. Brother you this interview was the highlight of my my decade. Uh, the highlight of, no, seriously, I interviewed so many great people on the show. We’ve had Wolfgang Puck and John Maxwell and all these big names, but I just want you to know this was my favorite interview I’ve ever done. And I really appreciate you for carving out time.
(Speaker 22)
It’s been an honor to have you.
(Speaker 3)
Thank you. Well, clay, I thoroughly enjoyed it. You a true pro with the questions and all that. And thank you for being a fan and your dad rest in heaven for being a fan for so long. I really appreciate it.
(Speaker 21)
I know it’s tough on you guys watching the games, uh, you know, out there in candlesticks so late at night, but, uh, thoroughly enjoyed doing the interview with you and, uh, we’ll do it in the future if you want to.
(Speaker 2)
do it again. Absolutely brother. I’d be honored. Take care. Have a great day.
(Speaker 14)
Will the thrill.
(Speaker 20)
All right.
(Speaker 3)
You take care.
(Speaker 2)
Have a great. All right, dad. Hopefully you, you enjoyed that interview and I just want to. Thank you for being an awesome dad. And the video that you recorded for me before you died has always been something I go back to.
(Speaker 1)
And I thought I would share with everybody, because if you’re out there today and you want to leave your kids a great gift, my dad, when he got sick with Lou Gehrig’s disease, he decided to sit down and record me a video as kind of a word of encouragement that I could go back and watch every time that I miss him, which is every day. Well, Clayton, not clay, Clayton, you will always be Clayton to me. You’re named after your grandfather. Well, actually, we’re all named after your grandfather. He’s Thomas Clayton Clark, Sr. I’m Thomas Clayton Clark, Jr. And I didn’t want somebody calling you Trey, so you’re Clayton Thomas Clark.
(Speaker 1)
Son, I’m really proud of you. You overcame stammering. Now you speak for a living. That’s amazing. You couldn’t get two words together at one time. And now, I can’t shut you up.
(Speaker 1)
You’re one of those. But I’m exceptionally proud of you, son. And I just ask you, keep going, keep focused. And when you called me that day and said, you promised to be a follower of Christ all your life, that meant everything to me. So I’m just praying a blessing on you that you’ll continue. be successful in your business, in your family, and number one, in service to your Lord.
(Speaker 1)
Go get them, Tiger. Okay, one last thing. I’d like to say the most important thing. We can’t begin to express the amount of thanks and gratitude we have for all the prayer and all the support, physically, spiritually, every way possible. We had some people on Facebook that we knew It’s blown up. People beyond what I can count.
(Speaker 1)
People in the church, prayers, and the support they’ve offered us. Even this chair, which is a lift chair, which helps me get up, which was given to me last night. How can you thank somebody for those things? It’s unbelievable. I know there’s hundreds, if not thousands of people that are lifting me up in prayer. I know that God answers prayer.
(Speaker 1)
My desire is to be healed in this life. life. The main thing that I want you to pray for is that no one can go without hearing the message of Jesus and his saving power and his love. That’s the number one thing that we want out there. Focus your prayers on that and please continue to pray for my healing. Thank you so much.
(Speaker 19)
Mary and I love you all. Clay Clark is here somewhere.
(Speaker 6)
Where’s my buddy Clay? Clay’s the greatest. I met his goats today. I met his dogs. I met his chickens.
(Speaker 19)
I saw his compound.
(Speaker 18)
He’s like the greatest guy.
(Speaker 6)
I ran from his goats, his chickens, his dogs. So this guy’s like the greatest marketer you’ve ever seen, right?
(Speaker 4)
His entire life, Clay Clark, his entire life is marketing. My name is Kevin Thomas and the name of our company is MultiClean. We are a commercial janitorial service and we serve the entire state of Oklahoma and Kansas and soon to be Arkansas. We have probably grown probably five times. We’ve added, I think when we first started with you, we had 60 to 65 employees and now we have a little over 300 employees. Before we got involved with Thrive Time, we didn’t really have any systems or processes in place.
(Speaker 4)
I’ve probably been to Oh, in six, seven years, I’ve probably been to 12 to 13 business conferences. And amazingly, each time I go, I learn something new.
(Speaker 2)
And I’m so excited to bring it back and, and show the team about marketing and how to implement.
(Speaker 5)
Okay, Aaron Antus, guess who’s joining us for the December 4th and 5th, 2025 Thrive Time Show Business Growth Workshop.
(Speaker 2)
Oh, Santa Claus? No, we will not be joined by Santa Claus, but we will be joined by Eric Trump, the son of the 45th and now 47th president of these United States. And yes, Amanda Grace will be in the place. And yes, Dr. Stella man, you well will be there so you know it will go well. Yes, we have Mel K in the house.
(Speaker 2)
Pastor Phil and Tammy Hotson -Piller will be hosting this event at their beautiful church right there in sunny Anaheim, California. Yes, folks, make this a December to remember. Make this a December to remember and join us at the two day interactive business growth workshops. For over 20 years, folks, I’ve been hosting business growth workshops, where we’re going to teach you marketing, sales systems, human resources, accounting, social media marketing, branding, sales training, search engine optimization, accounting, workflow development, financial management, all this and more. How do you get tickets? Go to thrivetimeshow .
(Speaker 2)
com. Again, how do you get tickets? Go to thrivetimeshow . com and request tickets today. I’m Ron Burgundy. of the time management, promoting from within, marketing, branding, quality control, sales systems, workflow design, workflow mapping, how to build.
(Speaker 2)
I mean, everything that you see, the Trump hotels, the Trump golf courses, all their products, the man who manages billions of dollars of real estate and thousands of employees is here to teach us how to do it. You are talking about one of the greatest brands the planet from a business standpoint. I mean, who else has been able to create a brand like the Trump brand? I mean, look at it. And this is the man behind the business for the last pretty much since 2015.
(Speaker 5)
He’s been the man behind it.
(Speaker 2)
So you’re talking we’re into nine going into 10 years of him running it and we get to tap into that knowledge.
(Speaker 11)
That’s going to be amazing. Now think about this for a second.
(Speaker 17)
Nothing is over until we decide it is.
(Speaker 2)
Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Forget it, he’s rolling.
(Speaker 13)
And A over now! and it’s $500 for a VIP ticket.
(Speaker 16)
Now, we only have limited seating here.
(Speaker 2)
Whoa!
(Speaker 15)
There’s a lot of togetherness and closeness, camaraderie.
(Speaker 2)
So again, if you want to get tickets for this event, all you have to do is go to thrivetimeshow . com. Go to thrivetimeshow . com. When you go to thrivetimeshow . com, you’ll go there, you’ll request a ticket, boom.
(Speaker 2)
Or if you want to text me, if you want a little bit faster service, you say, I want you to call me right now. Just text my number. It’s my cell phone number, my personal cell phone number. We’ll keep that. private between you, between you, me, everybody. We’ll keep that private.
(Speaker 14)
And anybody, don’t share that with anybody except for everybody.
(Speaker 2)
That’s my private cell phone number. It’s 918 -851 -0102. 918 -851 -0102. I know we have a lot of Spanish speaking people that attend these conferences. And so to be bilingually sensitive, my cell phone number is 918 -851 -0102. -2 I think you’re attacking me.
(Speaker 2)
Now, let’s talk about this. Now, what kind of stuff will you learn at the Thrive Time Show Workshop? So Aaron, you’ve been to many of these over the past seven, eight years. So let’s talk about it.
(Speaker 5)
I’ll tee up the thing and then you tell me what you’re going to learn here, okay? Okay. You’re going to learn marketing, marketing and branding. What are we going to learn about marketing and branding? Oh, yeah.
(Speaker 2)
We’re going to dive into, you know, so many people say, oh, you know, I got to get my brand known out there like the Trump brand, right? You want to get that brand out there. It’s like, how do I actually make people know what my business is? and make it a household name. You’re going to learn some intricacies of how you can do that. You’re going to learn sales.
(Speaker 2)
So many people struggle to sell something. This just in, your business will go to hell if you can’t sell. So we’re going to teach you sales. We’re going to teach you search engine optimization, how to come up top in the search engine results. We’re going to teach you how to manage people. Aaron, you have managed, no exaggeration, hundreds of people throughout your career and thousands of contractors.
(Speaker 2)
And most people struggle with managing people. Why does everybody have to learn how to manage people? Well, because first of all, people are, you either have great people or you have people who suck. So it could be a challenge, you know, learning how to work with a large group of people and get everybody pulling in the same direction can be a challenge. But if you have the right systems, you have the right processes, and you’re really good at selecting great ones. And we have a process we teach about how to do that.
(Speaker 2)
find great people. When you start with the people who have a great attitude, they’re teachable, they’re driven, all of those things, then you can get those people all pulling in the same direction. So we’re going to teach you branding, marketing, sales, search engine optimization. We’re going to teach you accounting. We’re going to teach you personal finance, how to manage your finance. We’re going to teach you time management.
(Speaker 2)
How do you manage your time? How do you get more done? during a typical day? How do you build an organization if you’re not organized? How do you do organization? How do you build an org chart?
(Speaker 2)
Everything that you need to know to start and grow a business will be taught during this two -day interactive business workshop. Now, let me tell you how the format is set up here. And again, folks, this is a two -day interactive 15 minute workshop. Think about this, folks. It’s two days. Each day, it starts at 7 a .
(Speaker 2)
m.
(Speaker 12)
, and it goes until 5 p .
(Speaker 2)
m. So from 7 a . m. to 5 p . m. , two days.
(Speaker 2)
It’s a two -day interactive workshop. The way we do it is we do a 30 -minute teaching session, and then we break for 15 minutes for a question -and -answer session. So, Aaron, what kind of great stuff happens during that 15 -minute question -and -answer session after every teaching session? I actually think it’s the best part about the workshops because here’s what happens. I’ve been to lots of these things over the years. I’ve paid many thousands of dollars And you go in there and they talk in vague generalities and they’re constantly upselling you for something trying to get you to buy this thing or that thing or this program or this membership.
(Speaker 2)
And you don’t, you leave not getting your very specific questions answered about your business or your employees or what you’re doing on your marketing. And what’s awesome about this is we literally answer every single question that any person asks. And it’s very specific to what your business is. And what we do is we allow you as the attendee to write your questions on the whiteboard. And then we literally, as you mentioned, we answer every single question on the whiteboard. And then we take a 15 minute break to stretch.
(Speaker 2)
And this is also your opportunity to meet some of the great speakers like Pastor Dave Scarlett. You could meet Mel K. You could meet Amanda Grace.
(Speaker 13)
You could meet Dr. Stella Emanuel. You could just grab a coffee.
(Speaker 10)
You could find some alone time.
(Speaker 11)
You could get lost in the bathroom.
(Speaker 2)
You could try to go and get a photo with one of the speakers. You could try to photobomb a photo where someone else is getting a photo with the speakers. You could go attempt to find your phone, wallet, and your keys. My phone, wallet, keys. Yeah, phone, wallet, keys. Whoa.
(Speaker 2)
That’s a good idea. It’s going to be great. And then you’re in the company of hundreds of entrepreneurs. So there’s not a lot of people in America today. In fact, there’s less than 10 million people today, according to US Debt Clock, that identify as being self -employed. So if you have a country with 350 million people, That means you have less than 3 % of our population that’s even self -employed.
(Speaker 2)
So you only have 3 out of every 100 people in America that are self -employed to begin with. And when Inc. Magazine reports that 96 % of businesses fail by default, By default, you have a one out of a thousand chance of succeeding in the game of business. But yet the average client that you and I work with, we can typically double this. No hyperbole, no exaggeration.
(Speaker 12)
I have thousands of testimonials to back this up.
(Speaker 2)
We have thousands of testimonials to back it up. But when you work with a home builder, when I work with a business owner, we can typically double the size of the company within 24 months. And you say double? Yeah, there’s businesses that we have tripled. There’s businesses we’ve grown 8x. There’s so many examples you can see it thrive timeshow .
(Speaker 2)
com. But again, this is the most interactive best business workshop on the planet. This is objectively the highest rated and most reviewed business workshop on the planet. Add to that Eric Trump, the man that runs the Trump organization.
(Speaker 11)
You say Clay, I still I’m not going to get a ticket unless you give me more.
(Speaker 2)
Okay, fine. We’re going to serve you the same meal both days. True story. We have we cater in the food. And because I keep it simple. I literally bring in the same food both days for lunch.
(Speaker 10)
Who’s with me?
(Speaker 2)
It’s an incredible Mexican restaurant. That’s going to happen. Someone says, I want more. This is not enough. Give me more. OK. I’m not going to mention their names right now because I’m working on it behind the scenes here.
(Speaker 2)
We just continue. to add more and more success stories. So if you’re out there today and you want to change your life, you want to give yourself an incredible gift, you want a life -changing experience, you want to learn how to start and grow a company, go to Thrivetimeshow . com. Go there right now. Thrivetimeshow .
(Speaker 2)
com. Request a ticket for the two -day interactive event. Again, the event’s going to be on December 4th and 5th in sunny Anaheim, California. Great weather. to say December to remember. Eric Trump, the man who leads the Trump organization.
(Speaker 2)
It’s going to be a blasty blast.
(Speaker 9)
There’s no upsells. Aaron, I could not be more excited about this event. I think it is incredible.
(Speaker 8)
And there’s somebody out there right now you’re watching and you’re like, but I already signed up for this incredible other program called Smoke Your Way to Thin. I think that’s going to change your life. I promise you this will be 10 times better than that.
(Speaker 7)
It’s like I picked the wrong week to quit smoking. to the two -day interactive Thrive Time Show workshop in beautiful Anaheim, California. I’m Vince Suzuki, also from Sarasota, Florida. He dragged me here. Yup, I was here in 2018 and it changed my business and I built another business and now I’m here to do it again with this business. Yeah, I’m a brand strategist and it’s been really easy to go to a lot of events like this and just leave really
There’s the strategic, step -by -step, real -life implementation. I’m excited that Eric Camp is here, and that is going to be epic. My name is Erica, and it has been amazing being here at the conference. I’m learning so much. Everything is perfect for me.
Transcribed with Cockatoo