Roger Clemens

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William Roger Clemens (Rocket)




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[edit] Biographical Information

Roger "The Rocket" Clemens is considered by many to be the greatest pitcher of all time, having notched over 300 wins and 4000 strikeouts and winning an unprecedented seven Cy Young Awards for four different teams. He made his debut with the Boston Red Sox in 1984, and went on to win 20 games for them three times and help them to the World Series in 1986. In 1996, after four subpar seasons, the Red Sox let Clemens become a free agent. He signed with the Toronto Blue Jays and won Cy Young Awards in both his seasons there, 1997 and 1998. Prior to the 1999 season, he was traded to the New York Yankees, whom he led to four World Series appearances in five seasons. He also won two other Cy Young Awards, in 2001 and 2004.

His career has also been marked with some blemishes. He was ejected from a playoff game in 1990 for arguing balls and strikes and his behavior was erratic as he started the game with eye black on and also wore high socks. He once beaned Mike Piazza, an act that some suspected was intentional because Piazza had previously hit very well against Clemens. Later that same year, in the World Series, Clemens threw a jagged piece of a bat--which Piazza had just broken in fouling off a pitch--in Piazza's general direction. In trying to win his 300th game against the Red Sox, Clemens used a specially logoed glove, an act that rankled the Red Sox, causing manager Grady Little to ask it be removed. The umpire consented and Clemens, who lost the game, was forced to use his normal glove. He's also been alleged to have used steroids by former major league players Jose Canseco and Jason Grimsley. He, as well as his personal strength coach, Brian Mcnamee, who allegedly dealt steroids to Grimsley, have denied the allegations.

Clemens, a Texan, planned to retire following the 2003 season, but when the Houston Astros wanted to sign him, he jumped at the chance to play close to home. He went on to win his first National League Cy Young Award with the Astros in 2004. On May 9, 2005, Clemens became the winningest living pitcher when he passed Steve Carlton on the all-time wins list. He has 341 career wins at the close of the 2005 season.

The Astros non-tendered to offer Clemens on December 7, 2005, which prevented them from re-signing him before May 1 of the 2006 season. The Texas Rangers, Boston Red Sox, and New York Yankees expressed an interest in signing him, but Clemens implied that he was leaning toward retiring after the United States was eliminated by Mexico in the second round of the 2006 World Baseball Classic.

On May 31, 2006 it was announced that Clemens was coming out of retirement to rejoin the Astros for the remainder of the season. He signed a one-year contract worth $22,000,022, which was prorated to approximately $12.25 million for the final 3+ months of the season. Clemens made his first apperance of the season on June 22 against the Minnesota Twins, losing to rookie Francisco Liriano, 4-2. He ended the season with a 7-6 record, and a 2.30 ERA.

On May 6, 2007 Roger Clemens announced that he would be pitching for the New York Yankees who desperately needed starting pitching. When Clemens faced Julio Franco on June 15, it was the oldest pitcher-batter match-up since Rube Walberg pitched to Nick Altrock in 1933. With the Yankee bullpen worn out, Clemens volunteered to relieve on June 24 against the Giants. He had not pitched out of the bullpen since July 18, 1984, as a rookie. It was a MLB-record 22 years, 341 days between relief stints, easily shattering the 15 years, 343 days set by Steve Carlton from 1971-1987. On July 2, he pitched eight innings of two-hit ball against the Minnesota Twins to pick up his 350th career victory, becoming the first pitcher since Warren Spahn in 1963 to reach this milestone. On August 18, Clemens became the first pitcher to allow a home run to a hitter who was not yet born at the time the pitcher first won a Cy Young Award; Cameron Maybin was the batsmen.

During his career, Clemens has twice struck out 20 batters in a single nine-inning game: Against the Seattle Mariners on April 29, 1986 and against the Detroit Tigers on September 18, 1996.

Clemens' oldest son Koby Clemens was selected by the Astros in the eighth round of the 2005 amateur draft.

In a match-up of 300-game winners, he has faced Greg Maddux twice since they each passed the 300-game mark. His record in these match-ups is 1-1.

  • Appeared in The Simpsons episode "Homer at the Bat".
  • Appeared in the movie Anger Management as himself.
  • Appeared in the movie Cobb as a pitcher for the Philadelphia Athletics.
  • Appeared in the movie Kingpin as Skidmark.

On December 13, 2007, Clemens was one of the players named in the Mitchell Report as using performance-enhancing drugs. Clemens denied the claims and appeared on 60 Minutes to try to clear his name. He also filed a defamation lawsuit against trainer Brian McNamee. Clemens and McNamee testified before the House oversight committee on February 13, 2008. Both held to their past positions and were caught in contradictions by the Congressmen. Andy Pettitte, Clemens' former teammate, said that Clemens had told Pettitte that he used Human Growth Hormone. Clemens claimed that Pettitte did not correctly recall the conversations.

[edit] Notable Achievements

  • 11-time All-Star (1986, 1988, 1990-1992, 1997-1998, 2001 & 2003-2005)
  • AL MVP (1986)
  • 7-time Cy Young Award Winner (1986/AL, 1987/AL, 1991/AL, 1997/AL, 1998/AL, 2001/AL & 2004/NL)
  • 1986 All-Star Game MVP
  • 2-time AL Pitcher's Triple Crown (1997 & 1998)
  • 7-time League ERA Leader (1986/AL, 1990-1992/AL, 1997/AL, 1998/AL & 2005/NL)
  • 4-time AL Wins Leader (1986, 1987, 1997 & 1998)
  • 3-time League Winning Percentage Leader (1986/AL, 2001/AL & 2004/NL)
  • 2-time AL Innings Pitched Leader (1991 & 1997)
  • 5-time AL Strikeouts Leader (1988, 1991 & 1996-1998)
  • 3-time AL Complete Games Leader (1987, 1988 & 1997)
  • 6-time AL Shutouts Leader (1987, 1988, 1990-1992 & 1997)
  • 15 Wins Seasons: 12 (1986-1992, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2003 & 2004)
  • 20 Wins Seasons: 6 (1986, 1987, 1990, 1997, 1998 & 2001)
  • 200 Innings Pitched Seasons: 15 (1986-1992, 1996-1998, 2000, 2001 & 2003-2005)
  • 200 Strikeouts Seasons: 12 (1986-1992, 1996-1998, 2001 & 2004)
  • Won two World Series with the New York Yankees (1999 & 2000)


AL MVP
1985 1986 1987
Don Mattingly Roger Clemens George Bell


AL Cy Young Award
1985 1986 1987
Bret Saberhagen Roger Clemens Roger Clemens
1986 1987 1988
Roger Clemens Roger Clemens Frank Viola
1990 1991 1992
Bob Welch Roger Clemens Dennis Eckersley
1996 1997 1998
Pat Hentgen Roger Clemens Roger Clemens
1997 1998 1999
Roger Clemens Roger Clemens Pedro Martinez
2000 2001 2002
Pedro Martinez Roger Clemens Barry Zito


NL Cy Young Award
2003 2004 2005
Eric Gagne Roger Clemens Chris Carpenter

[edit] Career Statistics

Year Age Team Lg W L G GS CG SHO IP H R ER HR BB SO HBP ERA WHIP
1984 21 BOS AL 9 4 21 20 5 1 133.3 146 67 64 13 29 126 2 4.32 1.313
1985 22 BOSAL 7 5 15 15 3 1 98.3 83 38 36 5 37 74 3 3.29 1.22
1986 23 BOSAL 24 4 33 33 10 1 254 179 77 70 21 67 238 4 2.48 0.969
1987 24 BOSAL 20 9 36 36 18 7 281.7 248 100 93 19 83 256 9 2.97 1.175
1988 25 BOSAL 18 12 35 35 14 8 264 217 93 86 17 62 291 6 2.93 1.057
1989 26 BOSAL 17 11 35 35 8 3 253.3 215 101 88 20 93 230 8 3.13 1.216
1990 27 BOSAL 21 6 31 31 7 4 228.3 193 59 49 7 54 209 7 1.93 1.082
1991 28 BOSAL 18 10 35 35 13 4 271.3 219 93 79 15 65 241 5 2.62 1.047
1992 29 BOSAL 18 11 32 32 11 5 246.7 203 80 66 11 62 208 9 2.41 1.074
1993 30 BOSAL 11 14 29 29 2 1 191.7 175 99 95 17 67 160 11 4.46 1.263
1994 31 BOSAL 9 7 24 24 3 1 170.7 124 62 54 15 71 168 4 2.85 1.143
1995 32 BOSAL 10 5 23 23 0 0 140 141 70 65 15 60 132 14 4.18 1.436
1996 33 BOSAL 10 13 34 34 6 2 242.7 216 106 98 19 106 257 4 3.63 1.327
1997 34 TOR AL 21 7 34 34 9 3 264 204 65 60 9 68 292 12 2.05 1.03
1998 35 TORAL 20 6 33 33 5 3 234.7 169 78 69 11 88 271 7 2.65 1.095
1999 36 NYY AL 14 10 30 30 1 1 187.7 185 101 96 20 90 163 9 4.6 1.465
2000 37 NYY AL 13 8 32 32 1 0 204.3 184 96 84 26 84 188 10 3.7 1.312
2001 38 NYYAL 20 3 33 33 0 0 220.3 205 94 86 19 72 213 5 3.51 1.257
2002 39 NYYAL 13 6 29 29 0 0 180 172 94 87 18 63 192 7 4.35 1.306
2003 40 NYYAL 17 9 33 33 1 1 211.7 199 99 92 24 58 190 5 3.91 1.214
2004 41 HOUNL 18 4 33 33 0 0 214.3 169 76 71 15 79 218 6 2.98 1.157
2005 42 HOUNL 13 8 32 32 1 0 211.3 151 51 44 11 62 185 3 1.87 1.008
2006 43 HOUNL 7 6 19 19 0 0 113.3 89 34 29 7 29 102 4 2.3 1.041
2007 44 NYYAL 5 5 15 14 0 0 83 87 45 40 7 22 60 3 4.34 1.313
24 Yr W /L% .659 353 183 706 704 118 46 4900.7 4173 1878 1701 361 1571 4664 157 3.12 1.172

[edit] Records Held

  • Strikeouts, game (9 innings), 20, April 29, 1986 and September 18, 1996 (tied)

[edit] Further Reading

  • Joseph Janczak: The Rocket: Baseball Legend Roger Clemens, Potomac Books, Inc., Dulles, VA, 2007.

[edit] Related Sites

Retrieved from "http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Roger_Clemens"
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