Boileryard Clarke


William Jones "Boileryard" Clarke, was an American Major League Baseball player from New York City who played catcher from 1893 to 1905. He played for the Baltimore Orioles, Boston Beaneaters, Washington Senators, and New York Giants.

Biography

Clarke was born on October 18, 1868 in New York City. He moved to New Mexico in his early childhood, was raised in Indian territory, and studied civil engineering in Santa Fe at Brothers College. He began his professional career in the Three-I League in, and made his debut for the Orioles on May 1, 1893. He said that his nickname, "Boileryard", was given to him because of his voice, explaining, "I had a terrible voice which you could hear all over the diamond."
During his major league career, he also assisted the Princeton University baseball team as a coach from 1897 to 1901. He returned to Princeton in 1909, approximately four years after his retirement from baseball, and stayed until 1927. He came out of retirement again to be an assistant coach for Princeton in 1934, and in 1936 was named manager of the team, and stayed in the position until 1944, when retired again, this time at the age of 75. His managerial record at Princeton was 499-309, and his tenure in athletics there was longer than anybody else's. He also managed minor league teams in Allentown, Pa., Toledo, Ohio, and Albany, N.Y. Bill Clarke Field, the home of Princeton baseball since 1961, is named for Clarke.
Clarke died in Princeton, New Jersey, at the age of 90, of complications suffered from a broken hip resulting from a fall. He was survived by his wife of 64 years and a granddaughter. He is interred at Druid Ridge Cemetery in Pikesville, Maryland, in the Evergreen Section.