Tony Clark This is Me

 Web References

1. 1. The Advocate - Bad to Worse For Heilman

   www.stamfordadvocate.com/sport - [Cached]

   Published on: 8/6/2003   Last Visited: 8/7/2003

   Tony Clark
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   Tony Clark (AP Photo)

2. 2. The Advocate - Mets: Piazza-Mota Now A Dead Issue

   www.stamfordadvocate.com/sport - [Cached]

   Published on: 3/15/2003   Last Visited: 3/15/2003

   Mike Piazza and Tony Clark
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   Mike Piazza and Tony Clark (AP Photo)

3. 3. The Advocate - Nice Power Move

   www.stamfordadvocate.com/sport - [Cached]

   Published on: 3/25/2003   Last Visited: 3/26/2003

   If Clark can learn to play outfield, Mets may have a big bonus
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   Tony Clark
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   Tony Clark (Newsday / Kathy Kmonicek)
   
   Photo Gallery
   
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   That's quite an improvement from the start of camp when most of those fans wouldn't have known Tony Clark from Tony Soprano.
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   Clark, 30, was an All-Star first baseman for the Tigers in 2001 and hit at least 27 homers from 1996- 2000. Then came a debilitating back injury and subsequent exile to the Boston Red Sox. He batted a mere .207 in 2002 with just three homers in 275 at-bats.
   
   "I feel good. The work I did in the offseason has been a positive," said Clark, a free agent who was signed to a minor-league contract on Feb. 20 with the understanding that he would try to make the team as a spare outfielder, even though he has never played there in the majors. "Last year is last year. I washed that off in the shower a long time ago."
   
   Given a clean start, Clark has been one of the major hitting surprises of Mets camp. He struck out twice last night but hit his fourth homer Sunday against the Braves, a monstrous pinch-hit, two-run shot. He is batting .311 (14-for-45) with three doubles, nine RBIs and seven walks.
   
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   Phillips called Clark "a low-risk, high-reward guy." The rewards might come quickly, as he appears certain to make the team, even though the outfield experiment is coming along a lot slower than Clark's bat.
   
   "It's fun. It's a challenge, but it's a re-acclimation," said Clark, who has made a couple of nice running catches, even if he has looked a bit awkward in the process. "You're trying to see the ball from 200 feet instead of 90."
   
   As long as the balls fly 400 feet off Clark's bat, the Mets will gladly overlook any outfield deficiencies.
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   Clark played mostly in the outfield earlier in spring training, but when Mo Vaughn's knee acted up, it was nice to have another veteran first baseman who lost weight in the offseason to step in. Clark shed pounds while working out at home in Glendale, Ariz., with his close friend, current Tiger Damion Easley, "just in case I had to run around in those green pastures [in the outfield]."
   
   More importantly, his back has recovered to the point that he can resume his original hitting style of using the entire field, rather than just trying to pull the ball, as he did the last season and a half. "When I'm going well, I'm a gap-to-gap guy," Clark said. "But I got away from that because I didn't feel like I had the power."
   
   The power appears to have returned. You can tell not only by how many balls he is hitting out of the park but by how many he is being asked to sign.
   
   Today