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Jack Clark booed at Winter Warm-Up
[January 17, 2010]

Jack Clark booed at Winter Warm-Up


ST. LOUIS, Jan 17, 2010 (Belleville News-Democrat - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Former St. Louis Cardinals slugger Jack Clark was booed when he appeared on stage at the team's annual Winter Warm-Up on Sunday at the Hyatt Regency St. Louis at The Arch.



Clark, 54, was participating in a round-table conversation with Fox Sports Midwest employees. His appearance came three days after he criticized new Cardinals hitting instructor Mark McGwire for McGwire's use of performance-enhancing drugs.

Clark called McGwire and players like Alex Rodriguez, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro, Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds "creeps" and "liars." "All those guys are cheaters," Clark said. "Fake. Phony. They don't deserve to be in the Hall of Fame." Clark was on the stage less than an hour before McGwire made a six-minute appearance on the same stage. McGwire was received enthusiastically in his first public appearance since acknowledging he used steroids during his career, including 1998 when he hit a then-record 70 home runs with the Cardinals.


"I heard he said something," McGwire said of Clark in a hasty five-minute meeting with reporters in a congested hallway of the hotel.

"I don't know what he said," McGwire said. "But you know, like anybody else, hey, listen, they have their own opinions. I was being as honest as I am, from the heart. I got it off my chest and it's something we can just all move on from." Clark, nicknamed "The Ripper," batted .267 with 340 home runs in his career, which ended in 1992. He hit .286 with 35 homers and 106 RBIs with the Cardinals in 1987, helping them reach the World Series.

Cardinals second baseman Skip Schumaker, who strongly endorsed McGwire's hiring as hitting coach, didn't agree with Clark's decision to criticize McGwire.

"People have their opinions, and they have the right to their opinions. There are some good ones and bad ones," Schumaker said. "For me, if I have a bad opinion about somebody, I'm going to keep it to myself. If I have a good opinion about somebody, then I'll tell everybody.

"I'm not a guy that's going to throws rocks at somebody. No one said to Mark, 'You have to come out and say this.' He did it on his own. Jack Clark has always been good to me. I'm a McGwire supporter, but people are going to have some negative opinions. That's the reality of it.

"But for me, I keep my negative stuff out of the public." For more on the Cardinals, see Monday's News-Democrat or visit www.bnd.com.

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