Roger, we have lift off

By Shane McKiness Sports Central Columnist

Roger Clemens was born in Dayton, Ohio and shortly thereafter, his family moved to Houston, Texas, where he grew up. In high school, Roger helped his team to become the American Legion State Champions, and he was subsequently scouted by the Twins and the Phillies. Instead of signing of either team, he decided to attend college.

Roger first attended San Jacinto Junior College in Pasadena, Texas, where he earned All-American Honors in 1981. That year, the Mets drafted Clemens, but again, he decided to opt-out; instead, he transferred to the University of Texas as a Business/Liberal Arts major. It was there that Roger won his team the College World Series. In fact, it was his pitching that won the seventh and final game of the series.

Already having declined signing options before, Roger was becoming more sought after. Following his CWS championship, Roger was drafted by, and finally signed with, the Red Sox as the 19th pick in the 1983 draft.

For the first 19 years of his illustrious career, Roger Clemens was an American League pitcher, and in that time, he amassed one of the most spectacular collections of hardware ever earned by a pitcher:

Six-time Cy-Young recipient, '86, '87, '91, '97, '98, '01; three-time Players Choice Outstanding Pitcher recipient, '97, '98, '01; All-Star Game MVP, '86; and even an American League MVP in '86.

These awards are utterly astounding, and no matter how much many of us who hated him for becoming a Yankee for a few years, the hardware stands for itself.

Let's have some fun here. In the six seasons Roger Clemens won the Cy-Young Award, what do you think his totals were? In those six years, Roger won 123 games in 1,526 innings and with 1,522 strikeouts. His six-year average would be 20.5 wins, 254.1 IP, ~252 strikeouts, and an ERA of about 2.70!

The only other pitcher that I could think of that has been as dominating for such a long period as Roger is Greg Maddux, and Greg Maddux has only two career 20-win seasons!

So what? Yes, everyone knows Roger Clemens is a great pitcher. What is it that is so important about Roger now?

As we all know, Roger Clemens was supposed to have retired after the 2003 season. Amongst great pressure, he complied and laid down his mitt. Luckily, a buddy of Roger's in the name of Andy Pettitte, who Roger met and became friends with during his stint with NY, was being rejected by the Yankees.

With his new freedom, Andy signed with Houston, which, as I pointed out earlier, was Roger Clemens' hometown growing up, so Andy had the bright idea to beg the old man out of his very short, and truthfully nonexistent, retirement. Somehow, news had got out that Andy was trying to coax Roger to stay in the game, and the new spread like wildfire. In the end, Roger never retired.

Nobody knew what to expect. Roger spent 19 years in the American League, and now he was over 40 and changing leagues at that!

The only possible good thing out of this was seemingly the fact that the National League doesn't have a designated hitter. What came of Roger's return was something that none of us expected:

April 7th, 0 ER and 9 strikeouts; April 13th, 1 ER in 7 IP; April 18th, 1 ER and 7 strikeouts; April 24th, a win at Colorado; April 30th, 1 ER and 6 strikeouts; May 5th, 2 ER and 9 strikeouts; and finally, May 11th, 1 ER and 11k. 2004 record so far, 7 wins, 0 losses.

These numbers are from a man inching towards his 42nd birthday. In this incredible streak of seven wins, Roger Clemens has also surpassed Steve Carlton in career strikeouts. Roger now holds the honorable position of No. 2 of the career strikeout list at 4,151 (at the time of the article), second only to Nolan Ryan's 5,714.

With such a spectacular start, Roger has helped Houston to tie their best start in club history through 23 games at 21-11.

In all, it appears that Roger Clemens is off to another Cy Young-type season and that we should never discount an old man, especially when he moves to the NL. With Houston being in possibly the most competitive division in baseball, this won't be the last time we hear about Roger.

I don't know about you, but I know that I am waiting for the next classic Kerry Wood vs. Clemens matchup.

Article courtesy of Sports Central.