Your 1981 Red Sox Pt. 5: Mark Clear

In this series, I will look at each player who played in 1981, the year I was born. Because, why not?

The Boston Red Sox looked a lot different in 1981 than they had in 1980.  Longtime stars like Carlton Fisk, Fred Lynn, Rick Burleson, and Butch Hobson were all gone.  One of the new players on the team was Mark Clear.

Clear was acquired in a trade with the Angels, along with third-baseman Carney Lansford and former Red Sox outfielder Rick Miller, now in his second stint.  The deal cost the Red Sox fan favorites Burleson and Hobson.  Boston ended up getting the better end of the deal over time.  Burleson had a great year in 1981 for the Angels, but suffered serious injuries the rest of his time.  Hobson only played half the season and struggled, then was released and played just part of one more season with the Yankees.  Lansford and Miller will be covered in future posts, and Mark Clear was a major part of the Red Sox bullpen for several seasons.

To say Clear was wild would be an understatement.  He had a career strikeout-to-walk ratio of 1.45 and it was a little better in 1981: 1.61.  But Clear was 8-3 in 1981, though with an ERA of 4.11.  He led the team in saves with nine, in a year before closers became the one-inning specialists they are today.  He was part of a three-headed bullpen monster that also included Bill Campbell and Tom Burgmeier.  Clear struck out 82 and walked 51 in 76.2 innings over 34 games.  He was decent enough in 1981.

1982 would be Clear's best season in the Majors.  He was an All Star and was 14-9 with a 3.00 ERA and 14 saves.  He struck out 109 and walked 61 in 105 innings that season.  He struggled in 1983 with a 6.28 ERA before having a couple of decent seasons in 1984 and 1985.  Clear was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers before the 1986 season, for utility infielder Ed Romero.

Unknown Heroes Before My Time Pt. 8: Mark Clear

I have mentioned my affinity for closers before.  Mark Clear was kind of a closer, though he pitched at a time when relief roles were not as well-defined as they are now.  Nevertheless there was no dispute that Mark Clear was a relief pitcher.  He pitched in 225 games with the Red Sox and never started a single one.  In fact, he started precisely one game in his entire career, in his ninth season.  Clear never really picked up a lot of saves, his career high was 16.  He did win a lot of games in a relief role though.

Clear was acquired in a trade with the Angels prior to the 1981 season along with Carney Lansford and Rick Miller for Rick Burleson and Butch Hobson.  Unlike the other trade with the Angels before the '81 season, this one worked out reasonably well for Boston.  Lansford won the batting title in '81 and kept third base warm for Wade Boggs.  Miller was a regular outfielder for a couple of years.  And of course Clear was a valuable member of the Red Sox bullpen for a few years.

Clear had his best season with the Red Sox in 1982.  He was an All Star that season and went 14-9 with a 3.00 ERA and 109 strikeouts and 61 walks in 105 innings.  He also saved 14 games.  Clear did have a tendency to walk too many batters, which was a big problem for him throughout his career, but he also racked up very nearly a strikeout an inning for his career (804 strikeouts in 804.1 innings).  Clear had a bad year in 1983 but rebounded nicely in 1984 and 1985.  He was then traded to the Brewers for utility infielder Ed Romero, a less than good trade for the Red Sox.

Mark Clear was not the most effective reliever, but he got the job done more often than not, plus he had one hell of a mustache.

Most Wins Without Starting a Single Game

When I get bored, I look at statistics, particularly on this site. Recently, I was curious as to the most wins by a relief pitcher who never started a game with the Red Sox. I can't quite remember why I thought of this, perhaps it had to do with looking at the early 1990's and how bullpen use has changed so much. At any rate, I know victories don't really tell us much as an individual stat, but I wanted to look into it anyway. So here we go, with a cutoff of 10 wins, the most victories by a Red Sox pitcher who did not start a single game that year:

Dick Radatz - 1964 - 16 W (It does not surprise me to see him on this list at all. The Monster was truly one of a kind. He lead the team in victories that year.)
Dick Radatz - 1963 - 15 W
Mark Clear - 1982 - 14 W (Clear actually led the team in victories that year)
Bill Campbell - 1977 - 13 W
Bob Stanley - 1982 - 12 W (How about 1982? Two relief pitchers with more than 10 Ws without starting a single game. Weird.)
Ellis Kinder - 1953 - 10 W
Mike Fornieles - 1960 - 10 W
John Wyatt - 1967 - 10 W

NOTES
-As I mentioned, I am not at all surprised to see Radatz. He won 49 games in just a few years with the Red Sox, and never started a single game.

-The modern exclusive relief pitcher is a fairly recent concept, so I am not surprised to not see anybody pre-1950.

-Most of the names are not terribly surprising. Radatz, Stanley, Fornieles, Campbell, and Kinder were all fairly well-known relief pitchers in their time. Clear and Wyatt are probably the most surprising. Clear was an All Star that year and Wyatt was an underrated and forgotten key component to the 1967 A.L. Champs.

-1982 was apparently an unusual year. The Red Sox had four pitchers with more than 10 wins, two of whom were Clear and Stanley. The other two were Dennis Eckersley and John Tudor, each of whom only had 13 wins. Clear lead the team in victories and he and Stanley each had 14 saves.

-I wonder what the record is? Is Radatz close? Unfortunately, without a colossal investment of time, I'm not sure how to check.