Fred Clarke (sic) Clark

Fred Clifford Clarke (1872–1960) shows up here on the E125 American Caramel Die Cuts issue with his surname misprinted as "Clark" — the (sic) tag in collector shorthand acknowledging the typographical error baked into the candy-card lithograph. The left-handed hitter, right-handed thrower was the player-manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates, where he had been since 1900 and would remain through 1915, accumulating the kind of dual-role tenure that became increasingly rare as the deadball era progressed. By the 1909–1911 American Caramel die-cut cycle, Clarke had just managed the Pirates to the 1909 World Series title — defeating Ty Cobb's Detroit Tigers in seven games — while still patrolling left field as a productive starter at age 36. The E125 American Caramel Die Cuts are among the most distinctive of all 1909-era candy issues: the cards were printed for kids to cut out along the dashed perimeter, with the result that ungutted survivors carry a substantial premium today over the trimmed examples that constitute the bulk of the surviving population. Clarke retired from playing after 1915 but came back briefly as a coach-player in 1917 and 1928. He died August 14, 1960 in Winfield, Kansas. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1945 by the Old Timers Committee, recognized for both his playing achievements and his managerial run with the Pirates.