Roger Clemens

Roger Clemens

Roger Clemens
Position	Starting Pitcher
Team	Free Agent
Experience	22 years
Age	43
Height	6' 4" (1.93 m)
Weight	230 lb (107 kg)
Bats	Right
Throws	Right
College	Texas
2005 Salary	$18,000,022
Place of Birth	Dayton, Ohio
Selection	1st round amateur draft, 1983
Drafted by	Boston Red Sox
Major League Debut	May 15, 1984

William Roger Clemens (born August 4, 1962 in Dayton, Ohio), nicknamed "The Rocket", is among the preeminent Major League baseball pitchers of the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s. He throws and bats right-handed.

Youth

After living in Dayton, Ohio for the first few years of his life, Clemens spent the rest of his childhood in Texas. At Spring Woods High School, Clemens starred in football, basketball, and baseball. He began his college career in 1981, pitching for the San Jacinto College North Gators, where he was 9-2 and wore No. 26. His coach was Wayne Graham. He also attended the University of Texas, compiling a career as one of the best collegiate pitchers of all time, and was on the mound when the Longhorns won the 1983 College World Series.

Pro career

Clemens was drafted in the 12th round of the 1981 draft by the New York Mets, but did not sign, opting instead to go to the University of Texas. Clemens was drafted 19th overall by the Boston Red Sox, making his major league debut on May 15, 1984. In 1986 his 24 wins helped guide the Sox to the World Series (which they lost) and earned Clemens the American League Most Valuable Player award for the regular season and the first of his seven Cy Young Awards (he also won the AL award in 1987, 1991, 1997, 1998 and 2001 and the National League award in 2004). He was also a member of the MLB All-Century team in 1999.

Hall of Fame slugger Hank Aaron angered the hurler by saying that pitchers should not be eligible for the MVP. "I wish he were still playing," Clemens responded. "I'd probably crack his head open to show him how valuable I was." Clemens remains the only starting pitcher since Vida Blue in 1971 to win a league MVP award.

Clemens is one of only two pitchers to have thrown 20 strikeouts in a 9-inning major league game (Kerry Wood is the other. Randy Johnson also struck out 20 batters in the first nine innings of a game, but since the game went into extra innings, Johnson was not awarded the record). Remarkably, Clemens accomplished the feat twice; on April 29, 1986 against the Seattle Mariners at Fenway Park, and on September 18, 1996 against the Detroit Tigers at Tiger Stadium, more than ten years later. He accomplished both as a member of the Boston Red Sox.

Controversy

Clemens has also courted his share of controversy.

In Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, Clemens was pitching while his team was winning. In those times, it wasn't unusual for a pitcher, especially a young horse like Clemens to pitch a complete game, especially in a meaningful moment. Game 6 would have clinched the World Series for the Red Sox.

According to then-Red Sox manager John McNamara, Clemens asked to be removed from the game--which, if true, would be seen by many sports fans as an event of cowardice and selfishness (similar to a player asking to be pinch-hit for in a difficult situation). Clemens has vigorously denied ever asking out, insisting McNamara wanted Calvin Schiraldi in the game to finish it. Many sports fans point out that McNamara had nothing to gain by making this claim, as he was never considered that good of a manager to begin with, and was criticized more for leaving Bill Buckner in the game; Clemens, meanwhile, has a reputation to lose if he admitted to asking out. Clemens's later lack of success in pressure situations revived the McNamara story, as some whispered he wasn't a gamer. Nevertheless, neither McNamara nor Clemens has ever been proven "right"; ultimately, everyone agrees it was not the deciding factor in the game, but may have contributed to the Red Sox eventual dramatic loss.

Clemens often has complained of injuries following losing streaks. Some sports reporters have dubbed these injuries phantom and insist Clemens is unable to bear responsibility for his poor performances, choosing instead to foister it upon something out of his control. No one has ever been able to confirm these claims.

One could also argue that Clemens has performed well in high pressure games as he was set to be the winning pitcher in Game 7 of the 2001 World Series having outpitched Arizona pitcher Curt Schilling and handing a 2-1 lead over to Mariano Rivera prior to the 9th inning meltdown. One can only wonder if Clemens' rep as "not a 'gamer'" would have been lifted had the Yankees won because this the fact that he outpitched Schilling, a respected "gamer" is his own right, is mostly forgotten because of the Diamondback's miraculous comeback.

As for the claims that Clemens invents injuries...ask any 40+ year old man and he'll tell you that his body isn't what it used to be and there's a reason most pitchers don't last into their 40s. Roger Clemens has pitched for over 20 years and has won 341 games (9th all time), struck out 20 players in a game twice (ten years apart), collected 4,502 strikeouts (2nd all time to only Nolan Ryan), and a career winning percentage of .665 (18th all time), won 7 Cy Youngs, an MVP award, and 2 World Series rings, not to mention a 3.12 career ERA which is amazing considering he played in the highest offensive era in Major League history. He is a definite first ballot Hall of Famer and has nothing to prove to anyone as he is arguably the greatest pitcher of all time.

Clemens has been claimed to be a pitcher who often comes up short in pressure situations. He never documented a win during the 1986 World Series, was ejected during the 1990 playoffs against the Oakland Athletics, and generally lost against the Athletics during the late 80s/early 90s in the playoffs (especially to Dave Stewart). In his first return to Fenway as a rival Yankee, in a game marked by the fans' intensity, he was defeated while the new Boston ace, Pedro Martinez, dominated the Yankees lineup. However, Clemens did pitch up to his reputation as an "Ace" for the Yankees during the Post Season. During the 2005 World Series, while playing for his hometown Houston Astros, Clemens suffered an embarassment, not able to make it past the third inning of Game 1 as his hometown team was routed. It was Clemens's only World Series appearance for the Astros.

Finally, in later years with the Yankees, Clemens's reputation began to become that of a headhunter, or at least a pitcher unafraid to throw close to batters. Clemens's previous stints with the Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays had never included such a reputation, and it was speculated that he only began to shave batters when his status as a legend and Hall-of-Famer were secure--hence, batters were less likely to attack him as a living legend. Indeed, when Clemens joined the Astros in 2004, his headhunting reputation vanished; some speculated that, now having to bat without the help of a DH, Clemens's lost his nerve. Of course, few statistitcs are kept on the subject, so nothing can be proven; it must be noted that such claims of Clemens's cowardice came from distraught Red Sox's and New York Mets's fans, both of whom disliked Clemens for other reasons.

"Twilight of his career"

After Red Sox general manager Dan Duquette infamously claimed Clemens was in the "twilight of his career" and opted not to re-sign him following the '96 season, Clemens signed with the Toronto Blue Jays. In his two seasons there, he won the Cy Young award both years. Clemens was traded to the New York Yankees before the 1999 season for David Wells, Homer Bush and Graeme Lloyd. In 1999 and 2000, he won World Series titles with the Yankees.

Clemens' 2000 season was marred by a pair of ugly moments involving New York Mets catcher Mike Piazza. During a July 8, 2000 game between the Mets and the Yankees, Clemens threw at and hit Piazza in the head with a pitched ball. Piazza had enjoyed great success as a hitter against Clemens (including a grand slam against Clemens one month earlier), which was seen as Clemens' motivation. The incident received intense media coverage, and when both the Yankees and the Mets reached that year's World Series, there was great anticipation regarding the two men's first confrontation since the beaning. Astoundingly, in that first at-bat (in the 1st inning of Game 2 of the 2000 World Series), Piazza's bat shattered, sending a large piece of the broken bat shard flying in Clemens' direction. Clemens picked it up and threw down toward the first base line, narrowly missing Piazza, clearing the benches of both teams. Clemens, surprisingly, was not ejected from the game, although he would later be fined $50,000.

In 2001, he became the first pitcher in history to start a year 20–1. He finished the season at 20-3 and added another Cy Young Award to his resume.

Early in 2003, he announced his retirement, effective at the end of that season. On June 13, 2003, pitching against the St. Louis Cardinals in Yankee Stadium, Clemens recorded his 300th career win and 4,000th career strikeout, the only player in history to record both milestones in the same game. The 300th win came on his fourth try; the Yankee bullpen blew his chance of a win in his previous two attempts. He became the 21st pitcher ever to record 300 wins and just the third ever to record 4,000 strikeouts, joining Nolan Ryan (5,714) and Steve Carlton (4,136). His career record upon reaching the milestones was an impressive 300-155; his record at the end of the season was 310-160 with 4,099 strikeouts.

Houston Astros

He chose to put off his retirement, signing a one-year deal with his adopted hometown Houston Astros on January 12, 2004, joining close friend and former Yankees teammate Andy Pettitte. On May 5 2004, Clemens recorded his 4,137th career strikeout to place him second on the all-time list behind Nolan Ryan. He finished the season with 4,317 strikeouts and an 18-4 record, giving him a career record of 328-164. After the season, he won his seventh Cy Young Award, extending his record number of awards. He became the oldest player ever to win this award, at age 42. This also made him the fourth pitcher to win the award in both leagues, after Gaylord Perry, Pedro Martínez, and Randy Johnson.

Clemens again decided to put off retirement before the 2005 season after the Houston Astros offered salary arbitration. The Astros submitted an offer of $13.5 million and Clemens countered with a record $22 million demand. On January 21 2005, both sides agreed on a one-year, $18 million contract, thus avoiding arbitration. The deal gave Clemens the highest yearly salary earned by a pitcher in MLB history.

Clemens' 2005 season ended as one of the finest he had ever posted. His 1.87 ERA was the lowest in the major leagues, the lowest of his 22-season career, and the lowest by any National Leaguer since pitching great and contemporary rival Greg Maddux in 1995. He finished with a 13-8 record despite ranking near 100th in run support, with the Astros scoring an average of only about 3.5 runs per game in games in which he was the pitcher of record. The Astros were shut out eight times in Clemens' starts.

He has more career wins than any other right-handed pitcher of the live-ball era. On April 8 2005, Clemens won his first start of the season against the Cincinnati Reds, which tied him with Steve Carlton for second in wins for live-ball pitchers, and first among pitchers whose career began after World War II. However, it took him a month to surpass Carlton, as he was victimized by horrendous run support in a string of five starts that produced one loss and four no-decisions. On May 9, he finally got his second win of the season against the Florida Marlins, giving him 330 for his career. Only left-hander Warren Spahn is ahead of Clemens in wins among live-ball pitchers. Passing Carlton also gave Clemens more wins than any pitcher alive. As long as the era of five-man pitching rotations continues, it will be difficult for future pitchers to pass Clemens on the career wins list. The only current pitcher with a reasonable chance of passing Clemens is Maddux, who has 318 wins to Clemens' 341 and is nearly four years younger. On October 1, in his final start of the season, he got his 4,500th strikeout. He ended 2005 with 4,502 strikeouts.

On October 9 2005, Clemens made his first relief appearance since 1984, entering as a pinch hitter in the 15th, and pitching three innings to help the Astros defeat the Atlanta Braves in the longest postseason game in MLB history. The game ran 18 innings, and Clemens was awarded the win.

On October 22 2005, his last performance of the 2005 season, he lasted only two innings in Game 1 of the 2005 World Series. He continued to be hampered by a hamstring pull he had been battling since at least September.

The Astros declined arbitration to Clemens on December 7 2005, meaning the team cannot re-sign him before May 1 2006. As of March 2006, there were a number of teams that have expressed an interest in him, however Clemens implied that he was retiring after Team USA was eliminated from the 2006 World Baseball Classic on March 16, 2006.[1] However, there was no formal announcement to confirm if Clemens had indeed retired or not. Irrespective of this, Clemens and the Astros have already agreed to a ten-year personal services contract that will go into effect when he retires.

On April 3, 2006, He arrived at Arlington, Texas with his agent to meet with Boston Red Sox General Manager Theo Epstein, igniting rumors that he might rejoin the Red Sox.

On April 4th, he recieved his National League Championship ring with his old team, the Houston Astros.

Teams

• Boston Red Sox: 1984-1996
• Toronto Blue Jays: 1997-1998
• New York Yankees: 1999-2003
• Houston Astros: 2004-2005

Trivia

• On October 10, 1990 Clemens was ejected in the 2nd inning of an ALCS game for cursing at home plate umpire Terry Cooney. He was suspended for the first 5 games of the 1991 season and fined $10,000.
• Clemens made some TV appearances on The Simpsons (while with the Boston Red Sox) and Hope and Faith (Retired from baseball at that time when the episode was aired).
• During the 2005 season, Roger Clemens was the 6th highest paid player in Major League Baseball at $18,000,022.00.
• While he has two championship rings, Clemens has also been on the losing end of four World Series (1986 Red Sox, 2001 and 2003 Yankees and 2005 Astros) which is tied with Tom Glavine and John Smoltz for most among active players.
• In 1999, while many of his more amazing (due to his age) performances and milestones were yet to come, he ranked number 53 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and was elected by the fans to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. In 2005, the updated Sporting News list moved Clemens up to #15.
• No Red Sox player has worn #21 since Clemens left the team in 1996

Personal

Clemens married Debra Godfrey on November 24, 1984. They have four sons: Koby, Kory, Kacy, and Kody. ("K" is a baseball scorer's notation for "strikeout.") Koby, then eighteen, was drafted by the Astros as a third baseman and signed on July 14 2005.

On February 27, 2006, to train for the World Baseball Classic, Roger pitched an exhibition game between the Astros and his son's minor league team. In his first at-bat, Koby hit a home run off his father. Then in his next at-bat, Roger threw an inside pitch that almost hit Koby. Both claim it was just "training" and not sort of competitive grudge.

External links

• Template:Espn mlb
• Career statistics and player information from Baseball Reference
• Yahoo! Sports
• The Baseball Cube Statistics
• Biography from the Roger Clemens Foundation
• Come Back Clemens - The effort to bring Roger Clemens to retire with the Red Sox