Clutch

In American sports terms, "clutch" means performing well under extreme pressure. Often this is referring to high levels of production in a critical game (such as Game 7 of a best-of-seven series), the last hole of a Major Championship golf tournament, or the final minute(s) in a close match. Being "clutch" is often (perhaps erroneously) seen by sportswriters and fans as an innate skill to be possessed -- some players have it, some players don't.

Usage

A "clutch" athlete is one who performs well in pivotal or high pressure situations. This includes many instances where a good performance means the difference between a win and a loss. Being on many championship teams (preferably with different franchises, or in different seasons with different teammates) seems to help a player's reputation for being clutch, but it is no guarantee in and of itself. Seizing upon one's opportunities in pressure situations is the common thread among all "clutch" players, though, as a player's poor past performance will be forgotten if he/she can make one big play under pressure. Of course, the opposite of being "clutch" is being a "Choker," or one who is, by definition, never clutch, a player doomed to fail in any and all pressure-packed situations.

Skeptics

Some sports analysts have presented evidence that while individual plays and moments may resonate as "clutch" because of their importance, there is no such thing as "clutch ability" or an inherently clutch player. One example of such an argument is presented in the 2006 book Baseball Between the Numbers published by Baseball Prospectus, which in chapter 1-2 compiles evidence that no baseball players are demonstrably consistently clutch over the course of a career, and that the numbers of allegedly clutch players in clutch situations are in fact no different from players reputed to be "chokers."

The Baseball Prospectus team is hardly alone in their skepticism: various baseball analysts, including Bill James, Pete Palmer, and Dick Cramer, have similarly found so-called "clutch hitting" ability to be a myth. This is not to say that clutch hits, like those listed below, do not exist, but rather that any innate ability to perform well in high-pressure situations is an illusion. In his 1984 Baseball Abstract, James framed the problem with clutch hitting thusly: "How is it that a player who possesses the reflexes and the batting stroke and the knowledge and the experience to be a .260 hitter in other circumstances magically becomes a .300 hitter when the game is on the line? How does that happen? What is the process? What are the effects? Until we can answer those questions, I see little point in talking about clutch ability." Most studies on the matter involved comparing performance in the "clutch" category of statistics (production with runners in scoring position, performance late in close games, etc.) between seasons; if clutch hitting were an actual skill, it would follow that the same players would do well in the clutch statistics year in and year out (the correlation coefficient between players' performances over multiple seasons would be high). Cramer's study was the first of its kind, and it found that clutch hitting numbers between seasons for the same player varied wildly; in fact, the variance was the kind one would expect if the numbers had been selected randomly. Since Cramer published his results, many others have tried to find some evidence that clutch hitting is a skill, but almost every study has confirmed Cramer's initial findings: that "clutch hitting," in terms of certain players being able to "rise to the occasion" under pressure, is an illusion.

The explanation offered by most skeptics is that players who have several memorable hits in big games, especially early in their careers, acquire the mantle of "clutch hitter," and fans then unconsciously watch for such hits in the future from those players in particular, falsely reinforcing their beliefs over time. Despite the evidence, many people in baseball steadfastly believe in the idea of the clutch hitter. "You can take those stat guys," Derek Jeter once told Sports Illustrated after SI informed the Yankees shortstop that many analysts deny clutch hitting as a skill, "and throw them out the window."

Profiles in clutchness

While a select group of players carry the "clutch" label, the label is often the only thing they have in common. Instead of all clutch players being created equal, then, there seems to be a variety of different profiles that a player can fit, all while still being considered clutch:

The Great Ones

Some athletes with alleged great focus and mental strength are notable for their clutch performances, even though their "regular season" (or the equivalent thereof) performance is equally good; for example, Tiger Woods in golf; Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Dwyane Wade, and Reggie Miller in basketball; Derek Jeter, David Ortiz and Reggie Jackson in baseball; and Pete Sampras (and, more recently, Serena Williams and Roger Federer) in tennis have all been labelled "clutch" during their careers for performing at a high level in pressure situations, despite the fact that they (basically) always played that way. Former NBA great Jerry West had such a high reputation as a clutch player that he was given the nickname, "Mr. Clutch."

The Good Ones Who "Step Up" Slightly

Other players are known as solid performers during the regular-season who "step up" in the playoffs: Reggie Jackson (known as "Mr. October" for his playoff feats) and Eddie Murray always seemed to go from being very good (but not outstanding) regular-season baseball players to superhuman players in the playoffs. Kirk Gibson, another noted "clutch hitter," forged one of the most indelible clutch moments in baseball history in the 1988 World Series, when he hobbled to the plate with the Dodgers trailing late in Game 1 and practically willed a 3-2 pitch from Dennis Eckersley over the right-field wall, winning the game (and ultimately sparking the Dodgers to win the series). Football players like Joe Montana and Tom Brady (whose idol is Montana), neither blessed with the athleticism and arm strength of "prototype" quarterbacks like Dan Marino, came up big when their respective teams, the San Francisco 49ers and New England Patriots needed them in the Super Bowl or in any other big game. Neither Brady or Montana have put up the stats Marino (who lost his only Super Bowl appearance) did in his career, but they have 7 Super Bowl wins among them (Montana 4, Brady 3). Kickers are commonly exalted for their clutch play as well: Ex-Patriot Adam Vinatieri has been called the "greatest clutch kicker ever" on the basis of (basically) four kicks: game-winning field goals in Super Bowl XXXVI and Super Bowl XXXVIII, and two more in the 2002 Divisional Playoffs against the Oakland Raiders (in a huge snowstorm, no less): one which tied the game, and another in overtime to seal a victory. Not that those were his only clutch kicks, though; Vinatieri kicked 19 game-winners for New England in his career.

The Run-of-the-Mill Ones Who "Raise Their Games" Dramatically in the Clutch

Still others have based their entire careers around the perception of being "clutch". "Big Shot" Robert Horry has practically admitted to coasting during the NBA's regular season, but always ends up doing something amazing in the playoffs: In 2002, while with the Los Angeles Lakers, Horry helped bury the Sacramento Kings by nailing an improbable buzzer-beater to win Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals; in 2005, he drilled a 3-pointer with 5.8 seconds left in overtime of Game 5 of the NBA Finals, giving the San Antonio Spurs a crucial win over the Detroit Pistons. Claude Lemieux seems to be hockey's version of Horry, winning four Stanley Cups with three different teams in the 1990s and early 2000s (including one Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP). Golfer Andy North (at best a mediocre PGA Tour player) won only three career tournaments, but two of them were U.S. Opens. In 2003, two golfers, Ben Curtis and Shaun Micheel, made Major Championships the site of their first PGA Tour win. Which all goes to prove that, when it comes to being clutch, it's only when you are brilliant that matters, not how often.