Will Clark: Will the Thrill from New Orleans

Will the Thrill

Before Peyton and Eli Manning put Newman School on the national sports map, there was another New Orleans kid who showed up to the big leagues and immediately started hitting like he'd been there his whole life. Will Clark was born in New Orleans in 1964, and by the time he was done playing baseball, he'd earned one of the great nicknames in the sport: Will the Thrill.

Clark played first base for the San Francisco Giants, and from the moment he arrived in 1986, he was electric. Six All-Star selections. Two Silver Slugger Awards. A Gold Glove. A career batting average of .303 with 2,176 hits and 284 home runs over fifteen seasons. But the numbers barely capture what it was like to watch him play.

His signature moment came in the 1989 National League Championship Series against the Cubs, where Clark hit .650 with two home runs and was named series MVP. It was the kind of postseason performance that turns a very good player into a legend. Giants fans still talk about it like it happened yesterday.

After San Francisco, Clark played for the Texas Rangers, the Baltimore Orioles, and the St. Louis Cardinals before retiring in 2000. The Giants eventually retired his number 22 in 2022, and he's remained with the organization as a Special Assistant — the kid from New Orleans who became a San Francisco institution.

Off the field, Clark became an advocate for autism awareness after his son Trey was diagnosed at age two. He's used the platform that baseball gave him to raise awareness and support for families navigating the same challenges.

New Orleans has produced its share of athletes who dominated on the national stage. Will Clark was one of the first — a pure hitter from Uptown who showed the baseball world what New Orleans kids are made of.