I have Will Clark and Rafael together for a few reasons. Clark came out strong against steroids. Palmeiro was accused of using steroids and failed a test for suspension once. Also, he hit 38 or more home runs for nine years in a row starting at age 31. The interesting thing is he had a career high before this with 37 and that was the only year, he hit more that 30. They started their careers in 1986. They are also close to the same age.
So Palmeiro did receive my 10 percent penalty. I also gave Will Clark some extra points to go past Palmeiro just to give Clark a little justice. Clark retired early in at least in part to take care of his 5-year-old son autistic son Trey. That should give him a lot of credit, not for the hall of fame, but in the game of life.
Looking at their career as a whole, Palmeiro is definitely has the better career numbers. However, Clark had the better peak which helped him catch up to Palmeiro in my formula.
There are other reasons I feel justified putting Clark ahead of Palmeiro. Palmeiro led the league in runs once, hits once and doubles once. Despite having some great homerun totals he never led the league in that category. There were other probable steroid users in that era. Clark also led the league once in runs, once in RBIs and once in walks. He also led once in slugging and once in total bases. I give Clark a slight edge in black ink for leading the league.
Will Clark was in the top 5 in the MVP voting 5 times. Palmeiro once. He was in the top 3 three times. Another victory for Clark.
Clark hit better in the post season and his team made the post season more. Palmeiro had an OPS of .784 and Clark had one of .956.
In championship WPA Clark had 42.31 in his career or 78th of all time. Palmeiro was at 22.07 or 228th of all time. Will Clark had overall WPA of 45.98 or 55th of all time and Palmeiro was at 43.13 or 61st of all time. Another edge for Clark. That is why I chose Clark although both had hall of fame careers.
