Roger Clemens
William Roger Clemens (born
August 4,
1962 in
Dayton, Ohio), nicknamed "
The Rocket", is one of the preeminent
Major League baseball pitchers of the
1980s,
1990s, and
2000s, and is widely considered to be one of the greatest pitchers of all time
[Gammons, Peter, "Ample living proof of Clemens' greatness", ESPN.com, May 1, 2006]. He has won seven
Cy Young Awards -- two more than any other pitcher has received. He throws and bats
right-handed, and currently plays for the
Houston Astros.
Clemens made his debut with the
Boston Red Sox, where he played for 13 seasons, after which he was famously pronounced to be in "the twilight of his career" and signed with the
Toronto Blue Jays. In two seasons with the Blue Jays, he made a comeback as he won the pitching triple crown and the Cy Young award each year. He was traded to the
New York Yankees for the 1999 season, where he would have his first World Series success. He won his 300th game in 2003, a rare accomplishment for modern pitchers, and is one of just four pitchers to surpass 4,000 strikeouts. He currently is second on the all-time list behind only
Nolan Ryan. After retiring from the Yankees, he changed his mind and returned in 2004 with the
Houston Astros, where he has remained a top tier pitcher.
In 2006, after playing in the
World Baseball Classic and not signing with any team through late May, Clemens returned to baseball yet again, signing a 1-year contract with the Astros.
Clemens' parents separated when he was an infant. His mother soon remarried Woody Booher, whom Clemens still considers his father. Booher died when Clemens was nine years old, and Clemens has been quoted from time to time that the only time he ever felt jealous of other players is when he saw them in the clubhouse with their fathers.
[Story, Mark, "22 Things You Should Know About 'Rocket' ", Lexington Herald-Leader, June 6, 2006.] After living in
Dayton, Ohio until 1977, Clemens spent his high school years in Texas. At
Spring Woods High School in
Houston, Texas, Clemens starred in football, basketball, and baseball.
He was scouted by the
Philadelphia Phillies and
Minnesota Twins during his senior year, but opted instead to go to college.
He began his college career pitching for
San Jacinto College North in 1981, where he was 9-2. The
New York Mets selected Clemens in the 12th round of the 1981 draft, but he did not sign. He then attended the
University of Texas, compiling a 25-7 record in two All-American seasons, and was on the mound when the Longhorns won the
1983 College World Series. He became the first player to have his baseball uniform number retired at the University of Texas.
[http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/C/Clemens_Roger.stm] In 2004, the award for the best college pitcher was renamed from the
Rotary Smith Award to the
Roger Clemens Award.
[http://clemensaward.com/index.html] [http://www.baseball-almanac.com/awards/roger_clemens_award.shtml]Boston Red Sox (1984-1996)
Clemens was drafted 19th overall by the
Boston Red Sox in 1983 and quickly rose through the minor league system, 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. This was 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).
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.
In 1986, Clemens became the first pitcher in history to
strike out 20 batters in a nine-inning major league game. Only
Kerry Wood has matched the total, in 1998. (
Randy Johnson struck out 20 batters in the first nine innings of an extra-inning game, but, like
Tom Cheney's 21 strikeouts in 16 innings, his performance is catalogued separately by MLB because the game was not completed in the standard length.)
Remarkably, Clemens accomplished the feat twice, striking out 20
Seattle Mariners on
April 29,
1986 at
Fenway Park, and then doing the same more than ten years later, on
September 18,
1996 against the
Detroit Tigers at
Tiger Stadium. The latter performance occurred in his second-to-last game as a member of the
Boston Red Sox.
No Red Sox player has worn #21 since Clemens left the team in 1996.
Toronto Blue Jays (1997-1998)
Notoriously, Red Sox general manager
Dan Duquette said Clemens was in the "twilight of his career" (after four consecutive seasons, 1993-96, which were by his standards mediocre at best) and opted not to re-sign him following the 1996 season. However, the full quote from which "twilight" is excerpted was not entirely negative, and also referred to Red Sox management's stated hopes that Clemens would spend his entire career with Boston.
Nevertheless, Clemens signed with the
Toronto Blue Jays in the
1996 offseason, and won the Cy Young Award in both his seasons with the Blue Jays, also winning the pitching
Triple Crown twice. Some consider Clemens' tenure with the Blue Jays as his best individual seasons of his career, despite the lackluster records the Blue Jays had as a team.
In Clemens' first start in Fenway Park as a member of the Blue Jays (
July 12,
1997) he pitched one of the greatest games of his career, giving up only 4 hits and 1 run in 8 innings. 16 of his 24 outs were strikeouts; every batter who faced him struck out at least once.
[Retrosheet complete box score]The emphasis on the 1996 "twilight" quote took on a life of its own following Clemens' post-Boston successes, and Duquette was vilified for letting the star pitcher go.
[http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1208/is_10_223/ai_54117613] As of the start of the 2006 season, Clemens' record since he left Boston is 149-61.
New York Yankees (1999-2003)
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 punctuated by a pair of notorious moments involving
New York Mets catcher
Mike Piazza. During a
July 8, 2000 game between the Mets and the Yankees, Clemens hit Piazza squarely in the head with a pitch. Piazza had previously enjoyed great success as a hitter against Clemens (including a
grand slam against Clemens one month earlier), which was widely seen as Clemens' motivation. The incident and its aftermath received intense media coverage. Piazza bitterly criticized Clemens, while the Mets were assailed for not "protecting" their star catcher (retaliating by hitting an important Yankee batter). 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.
In Piazza's first at-bat of Game 2, his bat shattered, sending a large piece of the broken bat shard flying in Clemens' direction. Clemens picked it up and threw the broken bat down toward the first base line, missing Piazza but clearing the benches of both teams. Clemens later claimed that he was "fielding" the broken bat, having mistaken it for the baseball. His explanation was widely ridiculed
[Stark, Jayson, "Clemens' bat toss adds confusion to Series", ESPN.com, October 23, 2000.], in part because pitchers fielding baseballs hit in fair territory don't typically throw them towards the home plate side of their dugout. Mets pitcher
Al Leiter said, "If he felt that way, shouldn't he have thrown it to Tino (Yankee first baseman
Tino Martinez)?"
During the subsequent faceoff, both Clemens and Piazza appeared hesitant to confront one another. Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe compared the situation to two schoolyard bullies, afraid to fight, but suddenly forced to. Clemens was not ejected from the game, although he would later be fined $50,000. Following the bizarre incident, he proceeded to shut down the Mets with 8 innings of 2-hit, no-walk, 9-strikeout pitching.
In his previous start, in Game 4 of the
2000 ALCS against the Seattle Mariners, Clemens threw a one-hit shutout while striking out 15. Many consider it to be Clemens' best and most "clutch" game as a Yankee. This contest was also marked by gamesmanship, as Clemens knocked down the Mariners' star hitter
Alex Rodriguez twice during his first at-bat. (Rodriguez would eventually walk, the only baserunner allowed by Clemens through the game's first six innings.)
In 2001, Roger Clemens became the first pitcher in history to start a season 20-1. He finished at 20-3 and won his sixth Cy Young Award.
On June 15, 2002, Clemens made his first start in
Shea Stadium since the two incidents with
Mike Piazza in 2000. With Clemens batting against the Mets for the first time, the game represented the Mets' first risk-free chance to "get even" with Clemens for his nearly two-year-old beanball. The speculation was that Clemens was certain to be plunked; the reality was more ambivalent. Mets starter
Shawn Estes threw a pitch behind Clemens' back, failing to satisfy the crowd and drawing an umpire's warning (thus preventing Estes from making another HBP attempt). However, the Mets scored four runs off Clemens, including home runs by the two Met principals Estes and Piazza, and handed Clemens the loss.
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 had blown his chance of a win in his previous two attempts. He became the 21st pitcher ever to record 300 wins and 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 300-155; his record at the end of the season was 310-160 with 4,099 strikeouts.
The end of Clemens' 2003 season became a series of public farewells in which the great righthander was met with appreciative cheering. His last games in each AL park were given extra attention, particularly his final regular season appearance in
Fenway Park (a spectacle which was repeated when the Yankees ended up playing the Red Sox in that year's ALCS and Clemens got a second "final start" in his original stadium). Clemens was permitted to manage the Yankees' last game of the regular season. Clemens made one start in the World Series against the
Florida Marlins; when he left trailing 3-1 after seven innings, even the Marlins left their dugout to give him a standing ovation.
Houston Astros (2004-)
He chose to un-retire, 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 MartÃnez, 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, $18,000,022 contract, thus avoiding arbitration. The deal gave Clemens the highest yearly salary earned by a pitcher in
MLB history. It also made him the sixth highest paid player in baseball that year.
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 30th 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 now has 327 wins to Clemens' 343 and is nearly four years younger.
In his final start of the 2005 season, Clemens got his 4,500th strikeout. On
October 9,
2005, Clemens made his first relief appearance since 1984, entering as a pinch hitter in the 15th, then 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.
After the NLCS victory, Clemens' 2005 season ended disappointingly, as he lasted only two innings in Game 1 of the
2005 World Series. The Astros went on to lose all four games of the franchise's first World Series. A hamstring pull had hampered Clemens' performance since at least September.
The Astros declined arbitration to Clemens on
December 7,
2005, which prevented them from re-signing him before
May 1,
2006. The Astros, Rangers, Red Sox, and Yankees expressed an interest in signing him, but Clemens implied that he was finally retiring after his Team USA was eliminated by Mexico in the second round from the 2006 World Baseball Classic on
March 16, 2006.[
1] However, there was no formal retirement announcement.
On
May 31,
2006, following another extended period of speculation, it was announced that Roger Clemens was coming out of retirement for the third time to pitch for the Astros for the remainder of the 2006 season. Clemens signed a one-year contract worth $22,000,022 (his uniform number is #22), which would've been the highest one-year salary in MLB history. Since Clemens won't be playing a full season, he got a prorated percentage of that: approximately $12.25 million. Clemens made his return on
June 22,
2006 against the
Minnesota Twins, losing to their
rookie phenom,
Francisco Liriano, 4-2.
In the
1986 ALCS, Clemens pitched poorly in the opening game, watched the Boston bullpen blow his 3-0 lead in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game Four, and then pitched a strong Game Seven to wrap up the series for Boston. The 1986 ALCS clincher was Clemens' first postseason career victory. He would not win his second until 13 years later.
After a bad start in Game 3 of the
1986 World Series, Clemens returned to the mound for Game 6, which would have clinched the World Series for the
Boston Red Sox. Clemens left the game after 7 innings leading 3-2, but the Red Sox infamously went on to lose the game in the 10th inning, and subsequently, the championship. Clemens' departure was highly debated and remains a bone of contention among the participants. Red Sox manager
John McNamara claimed Clemens took himself out due to a blister, though Clemens strongly denies that.
[Nocera, Joseph, "Roger Clemens, Choke Artist", Slate.com, October 10, 2000.]Clemens' most explosive postseason failure came in the second inning of the final game of the 1990
ALCS against the
Oakland Athletics, when he was ejected for arguing with an umpire, putting a dismal stamp on an A's sweep
. He was suspended for the first 5 games of the
1991 season and fined $10,000
.
Clemens had two other playoff no-decisions, in 1988 and 1995, both occurring while Boston was being swept. These games did no favors for Clemens' reputation as the Red Sox ace between April and September. Clemens' overall postseason record with Boston was 1-2 with a 3.88 ERA, and 45 strikeouts and 19 walks in 56 innings.
Roger Clemens began improving his postseason numbers as a New York Yankee, pitching more effective October ball between 1999 and 2003. His 3-0 record in the World Series includes a must-win performance with New York down 2-0 in the 2001 series
[Buscema, Dave, "Rocket's long, magic journey", Times Herald-Record (Middletown, New York), October 23, 2003.]; then, in Game Seven, it was Clemens who matched
Curt Schilling; his start (6 innings, 1 run, 10 strikeouts) was forgotten in the wake of the Diamondbacks' famous ninth-inning comeback.
Clemens' most spectacular game as a Yankee was his 2000 ALCS start against the
Seattle Mariners, in which he threw a complete game one-hitter with 15 strikeouts. Clemens' overall postseason record with New York shows a 7-4 record with a 3.17 ERA, and 98 strikeouts and 35 walks in 102 innings.
In 2004, Clemens was the losing pitcher in game 7 of the NLCS against the St. Louis Cardinals.
Clemens' 2005 postseason was marked by highs and lows. He made a dramatic 3-inning emergency relief appearance in Game 4 of the NLDS against the Atlanta Braves, pitching the 16th through 18th innings and collecting the series-ending win. However, during the
2005 World Series, a hamstring pull ended Clemens' start after two innings, as his hometown team lost 5-3. It was Clemens' only World Series appearance for the Astros
[Associated Press, "Crede keys Chicago win with bat, glove", ESPN.com, October 22, 2005]. Clemens' overall postseason record with Houston is 4-2 with a 4.60 ERA, and 29 strikeouts and 15 walks in 41 innings.
For the duration of his career, Roger Clemens has been the focal point of several controversies. His overwhelming regular-season successes never translated to Boston's postseason play, from his departure in the infamous Game Six of the
1986 World Series to his out-of-control ejection in the 1990
ALCS against the
Oakland Athletics. His two-inning stint in the
2005 World Series was also a major disappointment. Between 1999 and 2000, the only three Yankee postseason losses came in Clemens starts. The two-year soap opera that followed his beaning of
Mike Piazza cemented Clemens' surly, unapologetic image in the minds of many detractors. The annual angst over his "retirements" became harder to take seriously.
Clemens's reputation has always been that of a pitcher unafraid to throw close to batters. Clemens only led his league in HBP once, in 1995, but he was among the leaders in several other seasons. This tendency was more pronounced during his earlier career, and has since tapered off. Still, Clemens' reputation precedes him. After an ALCS game against the Mariners where he knocked down
Alex Rodriguez and then argued with him, Mariners manager
Lou Piniella called Clemens a "headhunter"
[http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/2000/world_series/news/2000/10/22/mets_yankees_game2_ap/]. Clemens was 13th all time in hit batsmen after the 2005 season
[http://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/HBP_p_career.shtml], but it is also pointed out that this is consistent with a long-time pitcher with a reputation for pitching inside. Clemens' HBP-per-inning rate is actually lower than virtually all of his pitching contemporaries, and in many cases, far lower.
Nevertheless, before his signing with the Astros, Clemens had long been accused of hitting batters because he had the luxury of being an American League pitcher who rarely went to bat himself.
[http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bb/2471241.html]. In 2004-05, Clemens hit 9 batters in 426 innings, a notable reduction in his HBP rate. Clemens has been hit by a pitch once in his career, in 2005 by
Kip Wells.
Clemens has attracted various controversy over the years for his outspoken comments, such as complaining about having to carry his own luggage through an airport or criticizing the
Fenway Park of the 1980s for being vastly sub-par
[http://www.slate.com/id/2083648/]. On
April 4 2006, Clemens made a racially insensitive remark when asked about the devotion of Japanese and South Korean fans during the World Baseball Classic: "None of the dry cleaners were open, they were all at the game, Japan and Korea."
["Anna Benson withdraws divorce papers", Philadelphia Daily News, April 5, 2006.]Clemens has appeared as himself in several movies in television episodes. Perhaps best known was his appearance in the season three episode of
The Simpsons,
Homer at the Bat, where he is hypnotized into thinking he is a chicken. Clemens has also made guest appearances as himself on the TV shows
Hope and Faith,
Spin City,
Arli$$,
Saturday Night Live as well as in the movies Kingpin and
Anger Management [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0166048/]. He appeared in the 1994 movie
Cobb as an unidentified pitcher for the Philadelphia A's.
[http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Roger_Clemens]. In 2003, he was part of an advertising campaign for
Armour hot dogs with MLB players
Ken Griffey Jr.,
Derek Jeter, and
Sammy Sosa. Since 2005, Clemens has also appeared in many commercials for Texas-based supermarket chain
H-E-B.
He released an early autobiography,
Rocket Man: The Roger Clemens Story (ISBN 0140109498), written with
Peter Gammons, in 1988
[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0140109498/qid=1146162366/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-5230924-9607958?s=books&v=glance&n=283155].
While he has two championship rings with the 1999-2000 Yankees, 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 (who were both on the Braves when they lost the '91, '92, '96 and '99 World Series) for most among active players.
In
1999, while many of his 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.
By the end of the 2005 season, Clemens had won seven Cy Young Awards, an MVP and two pitching triple crowns. He has also won
The Sporting News Pitcher of the Year Award five times, was named an All-Star 11 times, and won the All-Star MVP in 1986.
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 was drafted by the Astros as a third baseman and signed on
July 14 2005, at the age of eighteen.
Debra once left a Red Sox game, when Clemens pitched for another team, in tears from the heckling she received. She claimed that the bad attitudes of Boston fans was the reason they never won the World Series. This is documented in an updated
later edition to
Dan Shaughnessy's best-selling book,
Curse of the Bambino. The Red Sox won the
2004 World Series.
Debra posed in a
bikini with her husband for a
Sports Illustrated pictorial regarding athletes and their wives. This appeared in the annual
Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition for 2003. Clemens was completely clothed, though his uniform jersey was open.
[http://www.debbieclemens.com/bio.htm]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. Koby laughed afterwards in an interview of the game about the incident.
* Gave up
Sammy Sosa's first career home run. [
2]
* Has won seven Cy Young Awards, more than any other player.
* With his seventh Cy Young Award in 2004, joined
Gaylord Perry,
Randy Johnson and
Pedro Martinez as the fourth pitcher to win the award in both leagues.
* Became the oldest pitcher to win the Cy Young Award, at age 42 in 2004.
* In 2004, became the third pitcher to start the
All-Star Game for both leagues, after starting in 1986 and 2001 for the
American League (the
Red Sox and
Yankees, respectively). Pitchers to previously start for both leagues were
Vida Blue and
Randy Johnson.
*
Yahoo! Sports*
The Baseball Cube Statistics*
Biography from the Roger Clemens Foundation*
Roger Clemens at
The Internet Movie Database
