Clark had been scheduled to appear as an analyst last Monday on FSM's Cards postgame show, a role he has filled on a part-time basis the past two seasons. But FSM general manager Jack Donovan said Clark decided not to participate in that program or to make the handful of other appearances for which he had been scheduled as the Cardinals play out the string.

"He surprised us," Donovan said Thursday. "I like Jack Clark, we were planning on using him for the rest of the season, but he decided he was through."

Clark said the move wasn't tied to any fallout from his strong comments. He said that because he is used sparingly, an average of about 40 times each of the past two years, he is involved in other ventures. He said conflicts sometimes arise, and that's the case now.

The Cards' game Monday in Florida was a makeup from a rainout, and Clark said because his FSM assignments are "few and far between," he had made other plans for that day. He also said he couldn't guarantee FSM that he would be available for the other shows he had been penciled in to do in the waning stages of the season.

He said he has been called in to work on the day of a game before, and is glad to work under such circumstances if he's available.

"Sometimes you can, sometimes you can't," he said. "You do the best you can."

THE BACKGROUND

Clark, a former Cards first baseman, also is a part-time baseball analyst on WXOS (101.1 FM) and ripped the team last week on that station after the Redbirds were swept by the Chicago Cubs.

He said in part, "I'm not seeing a lack of (effort), I'm seeing a pathetic effort. These Cards fans deserve much better. That's just awful. They won't admit it, that they're quitters. If you can't put a better effort out there on the field, take 'em all out, back up the truck, ship 'em all out and get somebody in here that wants to play baseball."

That riled Cardinals manager Tony La Russa who said, among other things, that he took it as "a real personal (criticism). ... It's a very offensive quote to make. ... I respect Jack a lot because he did a good job of pulling his career together. But he had times where there were evaluations from his peers - and I wasn't his peer - but his peers and his bosses were less than the best."

Clark brushed off La Russa's stance.

"I didn't really pay that much attention to it," he said Thursday. "I was watching that Chicago series and that's what I saw. I didn't mention Tony, I didn't name any players. That Chicago series was frustrating for everybody to watch."

FSM pays the team to televise the games, unlike the radio broadcasts that are run by the club. Although that effectively makes FSM the boss and the Cards the employee, the relationship realistically isn't that way because they consider themselves to be partners.

Donovan reiterated that the mini-brouhaha had nothing to do with Clark's departure.

"I got no call from the Cardinals to pull him," Donovan said. "Nobody from the Cardinals asked for anything.

"I like Jack Clark. He's a guy I like to listen to. I think he's a good analyst, a charismatic guy."

Clark also was involved in controversy last winter when he ripped the Cards' hiring of admitted steroids-user Mark McGwire as hitting instructor, but there were no known repercussions then from FSM.

"They stuck by me, they always have," Clark said. "They've been great to me. I like working with everybody."

ON THE HORIZON

Clark said he hopes to be back next year, and with Fox Sports Midwest adding approximately 20 games that have been on KSDK (Channel 5) in recent seasons, there will be more work available for FSM's stable of analysts.

"If there's enough to make it worth the while for everybody, I'd like it," he said. "I like them, I think they like me."

Donovan said it's too soon to focus on next season.

"We have not thought that far ahead," he said. "We'll put our heads together in the offseason and decide who our crew will be."