Edmonton Cracker-Cats infielder and eight-time Baseball Canada national team member Stubby Clapp (Windsor, Ont.) has accepted an offer to act as a player/coach for the Edmonton club.
Clapp, now 36 years old, says accepting the offer isn’t necessarily a sign he’s ready to put his playing days behind him just yet.
“Personally I’m not thinking about it, but I obviously won’t be able to play forever,” he said, adding he will likely remain involved in baseball when his playing days are over. “I think I’d be a fool if I wouldn’t have anything to do with baseball after I’m done playing - especially when it comes to Baseball Canada. It would break my heart if I couldn’t give back to them because they’ve been the whole basis of my career.”
Cracker-Cats Director of Baseball and Field Manager Terry Bevington says that although Clapp’s title has changed, his role with the team won’t be much different than last year’s – Clapp’s first year with the club.
“The main thing is that Stubby definitely has the leadership abilities and attributes,” said Bevington. “He’s just a natural fit so he doesn’t need to do anything differently.”
Bevington says this was also a way to reward Clapp before the Northern League outlaws player/coaches next year. Under current Northern League practice, the coaching salary portion of a player/coach’s earnings does not apply to the league’s salary cap.
“We have a legitimate guy that someday will likely be a manager, so he fits into that player/ coach mold,” he said. “We’re not going to overload him with organizational stuff, because that’s not the way it works. At some point in time he’ll be able to step in somewhere and become a manager without having to have been a player coach.
Regardless, Clapp says he’ll make most of his opportunity.
“I’m going to get to see what happens behind the scenes a little more, see how decisions are made and gain a little bit more knowledge from that perspective,” he says. “I feel like I’m going back to school all over again.”
Clapp has played 10 professional seasons. The Windsor, Ontario native has been a household name in Canada since driving home the winning run in an upset of the American powerhouse in an 11-inning round-robin thriller at the 1999 Pan-Am Games. Most recently he was named to the all-star team and voted the best defensive player at the 2005 CONCEBE Baseball Regional Olympic Qualifier. In a 15-5 win over Panama that helped Canada secure a berth at the Americas Olympic Qualifier in Cuba this August.
A former major leaguer with the St. Louis Cardinals, Clapp also helped Canada win the 1991 World Youth Championship gold medal.
Clapp hit .286 with 29 doubles, 5 homeruns, 42 RBI and 14 stolen bases in 87 games for the Cracker-Cats in 2005.
