The Texas Rangers on Tuesday will honor David Clyde, a former pitcher who took Major League Baseball by storm when he went from high school to the pros back in 1973.
The June 5 anniversary of his becoming the No. 1 pick of the 1973 MLB draft came and went without David Clyde realizing it.
He says that is because the far more indelible date in his mind is June 27, 1973, the night he nervously strode to the pitcher’s mound in Arlington Stadium and made his Texas Rangers and professional debut, 36 days after his 18th birthday.
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“The culmination of getting to live your dream,” Clyde said. “I can’t believe it’s been 50 years.”
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SIGN UP In front of 35,698 fans, the first sellout in the Rangers’ two-year history, Clyde walked the first two Minnesota Twins hitters, then struck out the next three en route to a five-inning, eight-strikeout performance in which he earned the 4-3 victory.
To commemorate the anniversary, the Rangers will honor Clyde on Tuesday night when they host Detroit at Globe Life Field.
A half-century later, seemingly every aspect of his cautionary tale has been written and uttered, but Tuesday’s anniversary has a plot twist.
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For more than two decades, a screenplay and feature-length movie about Clyde’s life and career has languished through false starts, multiple directors and broken promises, but just last week Dallas native and Emmy and Peabody award winner Thaddeus Matula was retained to direct the project.
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