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Summer Olympics
This is one in a series of Olympics feature stories by Mark Maloney leading up to the Games on Aug. 8-24. He will be covering his 10th Olympics for the Herald-Leader, Kentucky.com and McClatchy Newspapers.
Stubby Clapp
Full name: Richard Keith Clapp
Born: Feb. 24, 1973, at Windsor, Ontario, Canada
Height, weight: 5-8, 175
Bats: Left Throws: Right
College: Texas Tech
Professional: Drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 36th round of the 1996 amateur draft; signed June 10, 1996.
Major-league debut: June 18, 2001, vs. Chicago Cubs (0-for-1). Fun fact: The Cardinals promoted Clapp from Triple-A Memphis after placing J.D. Drew on the DL.
Major-league statistics: Clapp played in 23 games for St. Louis in 2001, hitting .200 in 25 at-bats, with two doubles and one RBI.
Olympics
When: Aug. 8-24TV: NBC
More online: For more on the Summer Games, go to www. kentucky.com/summer_olympics
Stubby Clapp has done what he can to instruct the Lexington Legends.
Now, the hitting coach gets his chance to show the last-place Legends — and the world — how to do things.
Clapp, 35, is about to take leave from his job as coach to play for Canada in the Beijing Olympics.
The 5-foot-8, 175-pounder is known for his firecracker play at second base. He helped Canada come within six outs of reaching the gold-medal game at Athens in 2004. (Cuba rallied for six runs in the bottom of the eighth to spoil Canada's upset bid 8-5.)
He says he's going for the gold in China, too.
“I wouldn't be going if I wasn't going for the best of things, and that's a gold medal,” Clapp said. “There's nothing else in mind.”
A native of Windsor — just across the border from Detroit — Clapp has been a part of Baseball Canada since 1991 when he was on the Junior Olympic team.
And yes, growing up in Canada, he loved hockey.
“Hockey and baseball were always No. 1. Both of them, together,” Clapp said. “The only reason why I stuck with baseball was because baseball paid for more of my education at that time in my life. I had better scholarship offers with baseball.”
Size — he then weighed 145 pounds — also played a role in his decision to play baseball for Texas Tech.
Clapp says his skill and demeanor were pretty much the same in each sport.
“Baseball, I'm a gritty guy, grind it out, get dirty and get it done,” he said. “Same thing in hockey. ... In the corners, grinding it out, trying to fish the puck out. If I had to take a hit, that's what I did. If I had to give it, that's what I did. Scoring goals was secondary for me in hockey.”
Think Pete Rose in baseball; Tiger Williams or a small version of Cam Neely on ice.
The St. Louis Cardinals drafted Clapp in 1996, out of Texas Tech, in the 36th round. He eventually made it to the big leagues for 23 games in 2001 but was otherwise a career minor-leaguer.
A third-generation Stubby — the nickname first tagged to his grandfather — Clapp had his No. 10 jersey retired by Triple-A Memphis. He played four years for the Redbirds, setting franchise career records for doubles (87), triples (19), walks (222) and runs (258).
Canada has used Clapp almost exclusively at second. He says he could help elsewhere if needed but probably wouldn't play first “because I'm vertically challenged.”
He says he learned from the Athens Olympics “how important every run and every pitch is. International baseball is so much more different than professional baseball because you live and die by each pitch. You can't afford to walk a guy and you can't afford to drop a ball. So it's cutthroat baseball; it's just the way I like it to be.”
He is passionate about his opportunity to play in Beijing.
“When you play for Canada, you compete for the love of the country and for the love of your sport,” he said. “There's nothing better than wearing red and white with a big maple leaf.”
■ Jimmy Van Ostrand, a member of the 2007 Legends, also will play for Canada. He represented Canada in badminton at 15, when he made the national junior team.
“The kid can hit, and he's a great competitor,” Clapp said. “It's not too often that you'll see a gentleman of that size and stature (6-foot-4, 220 pounds) that has the competitive edge that he portrays. He'll probably play a little bit of first base for us, probably play some outfield.”
