Former All-Star Jim Clancy has passed away, the Blue Jays announced. He was 69.
Clancy was drafted by the Rangers in the fourth round of the 1974 draft out of a Chicago high school. The 6’4″ right-hander pitched three seasons in the minors. The Blue Jays selected him in the expansion draft in advance of their inaugural season in ’77. Clancy made his big league debut against his former club that July. He started 13 games as a rookie and would remain a fixture in Toronto’s rotation for the next decade.
He won 10 games with a 4.09 earned run average over 31 outings during his first full MLB season. He struggled through an injury-plagued ’79 season before breaking out the following year. Clancy turned in a career-low 3.30 ERA across 250 2/3 innings in 1980. After a down season in ’81, he was one of the top pitchers in the sport in 1982. Clancy led MLB with 40 starts and tossed a career-high 266 2/3 innings. He won 16 games and earned an All-Star nod.
That kicked off a six-year run in which he posted five seasons with a sub-4.00 ERA. Clancy surpassed 30 starts and 200 innings in all but one of those years. While injuries limited him in 1985, he managed a 3.78 ERA across 23 starts and helped the Jays to the first playoff berth in franchise history.
Clancy pitched in Toronto through the end of the ’88 campaign. He finished his Jays tenure with a 4.10 earned run average and 128 wins. Longtime teammate Dave Stieb is the only pitcher in franchise history to top Clancy’s 2204 2/3 innings pitched. He trails only Stieb and Roy Halladay on the franchise leaderboard in strikeouts and wins. After leaving Toronto in free agency, he finished his career as a swingman with the Astros and Braves.
At age 35, Clancy was part of Atlanta’s pennant-winning ’91 team and made three appearances in that year’s classic World Series against Minnesota. He was the winning pitcher in Game 3, recording one out in the top of the 12th inning before Atlanta walked it off in the bottom half. He made his final major league appearance two nights later, tossing two innings of one-run ball to record a hold in an eventual blowout win. That pulled Atlanta ahead in the series by a 3-2 margin, but Minnesota won the final two games in extras (capped by Jack Morris’ 10-inning shutout in Game 7) to win the title.
MLBTR joins others throughout the game in sending our condolences to Clancy’s family, friends, loved ones and former teammates.
He was a very good player. Sad day for our sport. Condolences to his family and friends
R.IP.Jim Clancy.
Saw him pitch in Oakland in 1980. Pitched well as I remember.
I had to dig out my graded card of him from the 1979 Topps set. How young!
RIP, JC…
Lots of fond memories watching Jim and Dave Stieb pitch for the Jays throughout the 80s. They used to give Steinbrenner fits because they always seemed to pitch well against the Yankees. I remember reading once that Steinbrenner complained the Umps favored them when playing New York. Jim was a classic work horse and always battled hard.
Jim Clancy is the only Toronto Blue Jays player to have played at least one major league game for the club in each of their first 12 seasons, from 1977 to 1988.
I saw Jim Clancy and Jeff Byrd pitch as members of the Blue Jays organization for the horrible Jersey City Indians in the Eastern League in 1977. In those days, the expansion teams didn’t have to field a full slate of minor league teams at each level (AAA, AA A, etc ) so the Blue Jays assigned those 2 to the Clevelend Indians AA team. Clancy was in Toronto by year’s end. Always followed him from that point forward. Sad to hear. REST IN PEACE!
@imissjoebuzas,
Great unique history regarding expansion team farm systems at that time. Thanks for sharing.
Those were great Jays teams. Final pitch was during the 1991 World Series for Atlanta and his old manager, Bobby Cox. Came so close to a ring.
I swear Jim was just pitching yesterday. Too damn young or I am too damn old. At any rate, RIP Jim. Condolences to his family and friends.
RIP. Jim Clancy
40 starts 266+ innings
They are not making them like Jim Clancy anymore
Jim was a workhorse in an era when Pitchers workload was so much heavier than today. Jim had 74 complete games and 11 career shutouts. The only active pitcher with more shutouts is Clayton Kershaw with 15. The next two on the active list are future HOFs Justin Verlander with 9 and Gerrit Cole with 5.
The Blue Jays 1-2 Stieb and Clancy and the Tigers 1-2 Morris and Petry were dominant in the early 80s. Fun days for me as a little kid at the time. Great memories. RIP Jim
SL
Times certainly have changed. The evolution of the pitching staff. The 4 man rotation. I think of Baltimores vaunted staff of Palmer, Flanagan,D.Martinez and McGregor. The 1 inning save. Tony LaRussa, specialty relievers . Nobody had heard of Bill James or analytics,war. The Internet for that matter. But I digress. LOL. The all-star game tonight will feature an automated strike zone. How long before that is a permanent fixture through out the game? I kind of liked when the umps wore red blazers and big chest protectors and where huge,fat. Where have you gone Eric Gregg(?) I do enjoy the pitch clock. Even your handle brings back a time ……
cdchi – Speaking of Baltimore’s pitching, there’s a bar bet you’ll never lose. “Name a major league record that will never be broken”. The O’s having 4 twenty-game winners in 1971. To break it, a team would need to have five.
I wrote about that amazing feat as a sportswriter for my middle school newspaper, The Bulldog News. I remember someone coming up to me and asking how I knew so much about baseball? Well, I subscribed to The Sporting News!
RIP Jim Clancy, you had a very nice career.
Or never win that bet unless you live till there’s no MLB.
Pete Rose said that Johnny Van DerMeer’s back to back no hitters will never be broken.
I agree!
yes, and the guys from the late 1800s would laugh at Clancy and call him soft. Some of them had 600 IP per year.
RIP Jim…..
Looking at his stats….It shows he has 74 Career “Complete Games”…..
Anyone know what a “Complete Game is”?
Looks like the MLB Leader has “2” of those things this year….
Nobody else has more than 1….
“The longest complete game in MLB history was a 26-inning tie between the Brooklyn Robins and the Boston Braves on May 1, 1920. The game ended in a 1-1 tie due to darkness after 26 innings, with both starting pitchers, Leon Cadore and Joe Oeschger, pitching the entire game,….Talk about Rubber Arms…”
Love your comment.
Reminds me that I think there was a guy who pitched both games of a doubleheader and both complete games pitched.
I guess I could Google it, but I didn’t. Sounds like Wilbur Wood type stuff, but it’s probably from way before him.
Edit. OK I did Google it before I clicked send.
It happened a lot in the early years plus Wilbur Wood did start two games in one day. No complete games, but that’s how far back in the brain that connection came from. Wild stuff.
Condolences to the family of workhorse Jim Clancy. I’m old enough to remember him on the Jays.
Fond memories. Rest in peace, Jim.
When the Brewers played in the AL East (the best division ever, thank you very much) and played Toronto, it was Stieb and Clancy on the mound.. Not an easy 1-2 punch to get by.
RIP
Too Young.
40 starts and 266 innings…. When men were men. Cheers.
RIP Jim
Fine South Side Catholic league product
(Chicago St Rita High)
He was awesome
40 starts. Wow. The only guy to start 40 games since then was Charlie Hough, and he was of course a knuckleballer.
Clancy was a very underrated pitcher. Teams today would give their left “baseball”for a consistent pitcher like him. Sorry to hear of his passing. Condolences to his family, friends, & fans.