‘The Thrill’ is on
Perhaps the first hint should’ve come in spring training. The 22-year-old lefty with a picturesque swing and strange middle name was bound for Triple-A, until, three games into the Cactus League, the new manager deemed him the big team’s starter.
With that, Roger Craig assigned William Nuschler Clark a tutor. That man’s name was Willie McCovey, a Hall of Famer who on one spectacular 4-for-4 day in 1959 produced the most memorable debut in Giants history.
Well, until the evening of April 8, 1986, that is. On that night, Clark dug in for his first-ever at-bat, eyed a typical sizzler from legendary fireballer Nolan Ryan and sent it screaming into the seats in center field at the Astrodome. The Giants, coming off the only 100-loss season in the franchise’s 125-year history, went on to an 8-3 victory, and the legend of “The Thrill” was born.
“That told me I belong up here,” Clark said after the game. “I’d like to think I’m doing my job.”
He went on to do it even better than advertised for eight seasons, hitting .299 (fourth in San Francisco Giants history), collecting 1,278 hits (fifth), clubbing 176 home runs (seventh) and driving in 709 (sixth). He helped lead them to a division title in 1987 (their first in 16 years) and, two years later, hit .650 in the National League Championship Series to bring a pennant to San Francisco for the first time in 27 years.
It all started with that monumental moment against the Ryan Express.
