David Eugene Clyde (born April 22, 1955) is an American former left-handed Major League Baseball pitcher who played for five seasons with the Texas Rangers (1973–1975) and Cleveland Indians (1978–1979).

Journalists criticized the Rangers for promoting Clyde too soon, and after an uneventful 1974 campaign, he developed shoulder trouble and was sent down to the minor leagues in 1975, where he pitched three seasons.

He is considered by many as a savior of the Texas Rangers franchise because of the significant attendance boost that Clyde's hype brought to the team, preventing it from a possible bankruptcy or American League takeover.

[2] His dominance at the high school level attracted the attention of many MLB team scouts, many of whom billed Clyde as the "next Sandy Koufax" and others called him the "best pitching prospect they had ever seen".

[3] Prior to the draft, the Texas Rangers held the second lowest attendance in the American League, ahead of only the Cleveland Indians despite having Baseball Hall of Famer Ted Williams as manager at one point.

[2] When Clyde agreed to sign his rookie contract, part of the deal was to make his first two professional starts with the Rangers at their home field before heading to the minors to develop.

[8] Questioned about the difference between high school or professional baseball, Clyde stated that MLB hitters "see the ball better, thus they make contact more often".

The Rangers organization lost so much faith in Clyde's ability that he was left unprotected in the 1976 Major League Baseball expansion draft, but was not chosen.

When the season ended, the Rangers traded Clyde and veteran Willie Horton to the Cleveland Indians for Tom Buskey and John Lowenstein on February 28, 1978.

[8] Named a "sensation",[5][11] "phenomenon",[3] or other hyped up words in his first two years in the league, most of Clyde's troubles were attributed to the rush to get him into the majors before he was ready.

[2] Longtime Rangers coach Jackie Moore agreed with Galloway, stating that Clyde and Corbett buying the team "went a long way toward saving the franchise".

[1] Using Clyde success of bringing attendance up as an example, Short sold the Rangers to Brad Corbett in 1974, which prevented the American League from taking over the team, thus potentially saving the franchise.

[2] In his autobiography White Rat his first big league manager, future Baseball Hall of Famer Whitey Herzog stated that he was often forced to leave Clyde in the game much longer than usual because fans wanted to see the 18-year-old "phenom" pitch.

[2][6] He worked in his father-in-law's lumber business in Tomball, Texas for 20 years, which he called one of the best periods of his life, giving him a "peace of mind".