Richard Keith “Stubby” Clapp played eleven seasons of professional baseball in the 1990s and the first decade of the 2000s.

Clapp was born on February 24, 1973 in Windsor.

Clapp attended Kennedy Collegiate before graduating from Riverside Secondary School. A product of the Windsor Selects baseball program, he earned a scholarship to Texas Tech University after playing two seasons at Paris Junior College in Paris, Texas.

In 1996, the St. Louis Cardinals selected Clapp in the 36th round of the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft. He went on to play 11 seasons of professional baseball, seven at the AA or AAA level.

Clapp finally reached the Major League level in 2001, when he spent the season with the Cardinals. He managed five hits, including two doubles, in 23 Major League games. In St. Louis, Clapp played under the Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa and alongside Mark McGuire and Albert Pujols.

Clapp is particularly well remembered in Memphis, where he enjoyed a four-year stint with the AAA Redbirds and became known as the “Mayor of Memphis.” In 2007, the team retired his number-10 jersey. It was the first ever so honoured by the team. In 2009, he was named one of the Memphis Athletes of the Decade, and, in 2010, he was honoured by an “Ode to Clapping Night,” which involved a Stubby Clapp bobble-head doll giveaway.

Clapp also played at the AAA level in the Atlanta Braves (2003) and Toronto Blue Jays (2004) organizations. In 990 minor league games, he recorded 964 hits, 49 home runs, 399 RBI, and a .275 batting average.

Clapp played for Canada at the 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg. He memorably contributed a walk-off bases-loaded single in the 11th inning of a quarterfinal against a heavily favoured American team. Clapp and Canada eventually won bronze.

Clapp also represented his country in 1991 World Junior Championships, 2004 and ’08 Summer Olympics, and ’06 and ’09 World Baseball Classics.

At the time of his induction, Clapp had been a coach and manager in the Houston Astros’ Minor League system for five years. He later moved to the Toronto Blue Jays organization.