Happy Birthday Jim Clancy and Roy Howell

We have a pair of Blue Jays birthdays today. Jim Clancy turns 59 and Roy Howell turns 61.

Clancy was an original Jay, picked up in the expansion draft in 1976. He was called up to the Jays in July of 1977, our first season.  He would be a Blue Jay for 12 seasons, battling it out with Dave Stieb for the franchise lead in wins for much of that time.

His best season as 1982 when he made 40 starts, had a 16-14 record (for a team that finished tied for last in the AL East), throwing 266.2 innings with a 3.71 ERA and he made the All-Star team for the only time in his career.

As a Jay he had a 128-140 record, in 352 games, 345 starts, 73 complete games and 1 save. He is still 3rd on the team list for wins, 2nd in innings (2204.2) and 3rd in strikeouts.

After the 1988 season he left as a free agent and was signed by the Astros, but his arm was pretty much used up by then. He did have a good half season pitching out of their bullpen in 1991 and then he was traded to the Braves at the deadline.

Howell was a first round (number 4 overall) pick by the Texas Rangers in in the 1972 draft (Hall of Famers Dennis Eckersley and Gary Carter were 3rd round pick that year). On May 9th of 1977 he was traded to the Jays for Steve Hargan (a pitcher whose best days were behind him), Jim Mason (a SS who in his good seasons flirted with the Mendoza line) and $200,000.

Roy played 4 seasons with the Jays, mostly at third base, hitting .272/.335/.407, with 43 home runs and 234 RBI in 516 games. He made the AL All-Star team in 1978 (mostly because they had to have one player from each team). After the 1980 season he signed as a free agent with the Brewers, playing with them for 4 seasons, mostly in a platoon at DH.

When he left the Blue Jays he held the team records for career hits, RBI and strikeouts, but then it was a very young franchise at the time. Roy also has the team record for RBI in a game driving in 9 against the Yankees at Yankee Stadium September 10, 1977. He hit .272/.335/.407 in his career with the Jays.

Happy birthday to you both. I hope it is a good one.