This article celebrates the birthdays of four former Blue Jays players: Jim Clancy, Roy Howell, Jeremy Accardo, and Willie Blair. It focuses on Clancy's impressive 12-season career with the team, highlighting his pitching dominance and lasting impact on the franchise.
We have a quartet of Blue Jays ’ birthdays today. Jim Clancy turns 69, Roy Howell turns 71, Jeremy Accardo turns 43, and Willie Blair turns 59. Clancy was an original Jay, picked up in the expansion draft in 1976. The Jays called him up in July 1977, our first season. He would be a Blue Jay for 12 seasons, battling Dave Stieb for the franchise lead in wins for much of that time.
His best season was in 1982 when he made 40 starts, had a 16-14 record (for a team that finished tied for last in the AL East), threw 266.2 innings with a 3.71 ERA, and 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 (behind Stieb and Halladay), 2nd in innings (2204.2, and will likely stay second in innings for my lifetime), and 3rd in strikeouts. After the 1988 season, he left as a free agent, and the Astros signed him, but the 2200 innings he threw for us used up his arm. He had an excellent half-season pitching out of their bullpen in 1991, and then he was traded to the Braves at the deadline. Howell was the Texas Rangers’ first-round (number 4 overall) pick in the 1972 draft (Hall of Famers Dennis Eckersley and Gary Carter were third-round picks that year). On May 9, 1977, the Rangers traded Roy to the Jays for Steve Hargan (a pitcher whose best days were behind him), Jim Mason (a shortstop who flirted with the Mendoza line in his good seasons), and $200,000. Roy played four 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 (mainly 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 four seasons, mainly in a DH platoon, with Don Money (I bought a Don Money model bat when I was a teenager; I still have it)
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