I must admit, I had never heard of the late Tom Clark. When I was googling “Neil Simon and baseball” for an entry on the late playwright, Clark’s name popped up in the results; his obituary — written by Richard Sandomir — must have appeared on the same date as Simon.
The piece was published on August 24 under the headline, “Tom Clark, 77, Is Dead; Poet, Biographer, Baseball Bard.”
Mr. Clark also delved into baseball, writing poems about the sport as well as books about his favorite team, the Oakland A’s, and the oddball Detroit Tigers pitcher Mark Fidrych, nicknamed the Bird, who had a phenomenal rookie season. (He and Mr. Fidrych collaborated on the book.)
He also wrote a book, called simply “Baseball
” (1976), which he augmented with portraits of ballplayers that he had painted, including Vida Blue and Sal Bando of the A’s.
” (1976), which he augmented with
I have the book about the A’s — Champagne and baloney: The Rise and Fall of Finley’s A’s
Clark’s work also appeared in Into the Temple of Baseball
is available on Amazon.com,
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