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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.
Clemens spent most of his
childhood in Texas. He attended Spring Woods High School in Houston, and
was on the mound when the University of Texas won the 1983 College World
Series. He 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).
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 9 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, and on September 18, 1996 against the Detroit Tigers, more
than 10 years later.
After Boston opted not to
re-sign him following the '96 season, Clemens signed with the Toronto
Blue Jays. In his 2 seasons there, he won the Cy Young 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. 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 first
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.
He chose to put off his
retirement, signing a one-year deal with his 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, and finished
the season with 4,317 strikeouts. Clemens had an 18-4 record in 2004,
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 $13.5m and
Clemens countered with a record $22m demand. However, on January 21,
2005 both sides agreed on a one-year, $18m contract, thus avoiding
arbitration. The deal gave Clemens the highest yearly salary earned by a
pitcher in MLB history.
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. 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.
His storied temper has
gotten him into hot water more than once. On October 10, 1990 he was
ejected in the 2nd inning of an ALCS game for cursing at home plate
umpire Terry Cooney. Clemens was suspended for the first 5 games of the
1991 season and fined $10,000. (Ironically, he was only one of two major
leaguers who refused to cross the picket line when the umpires later
went on strike.) In the 1st inning of Game 2 of the 2000 World Series,
Clemens threw a piece of a shattered bat at the New York Mets' Mike
Piazza, clearing both benches. Clemens was fined $50,000.
Clemens married Debra
Godfrey on November 24, 1984. They have 4 sons: Koby Clemens, Kory, Kacy,
and Kody ("K" is a baseball scorer's notation for "strikeout").
Salary
During the 2005 season,
Roger Clemens is the 6th highest paid player in Major League Baseball at
$18,000,022.00.
* * * *
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URL of Original Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Clemens
Date Article Copied:
July 11, 2005
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