Houston Sports - Roger Clemens

Roger Clemens

Born: August 4, 1962

Sport: Baseball (2-time All-American, CWS Champion, 11-time All-Star, 7-time Cy Young, MVP, 2-time World Series Champion) 

With numerous sporting events going on this weekend I thought we'd turn our focus to what's happening on the college scene.  Each year the top baseball teams from universities across the country converge on Omaha, NE, for the College World Series.  Lots of kids who have impacted the Houston sports landscape have competed in this tournament over the years.  One in particular left his mark in a major way, winning the title in college before leading the local nine to the biggest stage for the first time.  In addition, since today is Father's Day, I thought it would be fun to put the spotlight on someone who not only played for the Astros but also was the dad of a player who was drafted by the club and another who just found himself on the receiving end of a Houston sweep.  Let's find out more about The Rocket, Roger Clemens. 

Spring Woods High School, where Roger Clemens played and graduated

Born in Dayton, Ohio, as the fifth child of Bill and Bess, Roger Clemens had a turbulent childhood and struggled to find a solid father figure.  Bill and Bess Clemens split up when baby Roger was just five months old, and all of the children moved out with their mother.  Roger claims he only spoke to his dad one time in his life.  Two years later Bess remarried Woody Booher, but tragically he died of a heart attack just six years later when Roger was eight.  He looked up to his mother as a model of hard work and determination, but only had his older brother as a male role model from that point on.  Randy, who was nine years older than his youngest brother, was a quality athlete that Roger idolized.  Although the older Clemens was unable to have much of a sports career due to substance abuse, he was interested in helping to guide Roger, who was by that point a 15-year-old high school sophomore.  They arranged for the youngest Clemens to move away from his mom in Ohio to live with Randy in Sugar Land, TX, where he pitched his first season with Dulles High School.  After one successful year, Roger wanted to play at a better school, and Bess' move to Houston made that possible when she got the aspiring pitcher into powerhouse Spring Woods High School.  Alongside two of the state's best pitchers young Clemens showed promise as a junior, but despite working hard to become the top pitcher during his senior year he was not considered a legitimate prospect.

After graduating in 1980, Roger Clemens wanted to attend the University of Texas, but he couldn't garner any attention.  Wayne Graham, who would eventually become a legendary college coach, had just been hired to coach San Jacinto College's baseball team and he brought Clemens on board.  In one year he had completely revamped the young pitcher's mechanics and mentality, and he was finally attractive to both college and pro scouts.  Clemens was drafted by the Mets in the 1981 draft, but he turned them down to transfer to the school he always wanted.  The Longhorns welcomed him with open arms and started the '82 season on a 33-game winning streak, but Clemens was on the mound (and attempting to pitch through an injury) when they finally lost a game to the University of Houston.  Despite missing two weeks of the season while recovering from bursitis, Clemens was named an All-American.  The team was eliminated by Wichita State in Roger's first trip to the College World Series, but 1983 was a different story.  Despite a lack of consistency, the Longhorns eventually made it to Omaha once again with Clemens leading the way during his second All-American season.  On June 6, shortly before he took the mound, he was selected in the first round of the MLB draft by the Boston Red Sox.  Texas won the game, and five days later Clemens threw a complete game in the Longhorns 4-3 win over Alabama to claim the championship.

After a rapid rise through Boston's minor league system, Roger Clemens made his major league debut after one year.  He got married six months later to Debra Lynn Godfrey, whom he had met in high school and began dating after being drafted, but took a couple of seasons to figure out the major league game while also dealing with injury issues.  Although he was considered arrogant by some and a head-hunter by others, due to his tendency to pitch inside, his skills were obvious once his physical ailments were addressed.  In 1986, he led the AL in ERA and all of baseball in wins, including a record-setting 20 strikeout performance against Seattle, en route to claiming his first All-Star appearance as well as the the Cy Young and MVP awards.  The Red Sox looked poised to win their first World Series since 1918 that year, leading the New York Mets 3-2 in the series with Clemens guiding Boston to a 3-2 lead in the 8th inning of game 6 before he exited.  But the Mets came from behind due in part to the the infamous Bill Buckner error to win in 10 innings, followed by a game 7 victory that kept Boston from winning the title.  That offseason, however, the Clemens family celebrated the birth of their first son, Koby.  Although Clemens remained in Boston for another 10 seasons, during which time he added two additional Cy Young awards and four more trips to the All-Star game as well as having three more sons (Kory, Kacy, and Kody), the Red Sox would fail to reach the World Series for the rest of his time there.  The team was unable to sign him to a new contract after the 1996 season, despite the general manager being quoted as saying he wanted to keep Clemens around for the "twilight of his career" - a perceived slight that the competitive pitcher would use as motivation for years.

As a free agent, Roger Clemens signed with the division rival Toronto Blue Jays and was both an All-Star and Cy Young winner for both of his seasons there.  Despite the type of individual success that saw him become the first pitcher to have his number retired by the University of Texas in 1994 and then be named to the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in 1998, the Blue Jays were not championship contenders and Clemens was traded on the first day of spring training in 1999 to his third AL East team - the New York Yankees.  Despite having two mediocre seasons by his lofty standards, Clemens was finally able to add the top team award to his resume, as the Yankees won consecutive World Series titles in 1999 and 2000.  Resigning with New York at the age of 38, Clemens once again climbed to the peak of the sport and claimed two more All-Star appearances and his unprecedented sixth Cy Young award over the following three seasons.  After Clemens announced that he would retire at the end of the season, the Yankees lost the 2003 World Series to the Florida Marlins.  But when fellow Houstonian and Yankee teammate Andy Pettitte signed with the Astros during the offseason, Clemens saw an opportunity for one more shot.  He joined Pettitte alongside a stacked Houston roster that included Jeff Bagwell, Craig Biggio, Lance Berkman, Jeff Kent, Roy Oswalt, and Brad Lidge.  In his first season in the National League, Clemens once again made the All-Star team and won the Cy Young, becoming just the fourth pitcher to win in both leagues.  The Astros won their first playoff series as a franchise that year against Atlanta, but Clemens took the lost in the seventh game of the 2004 NLCS to St. Louis.  The following season was very similar, including the final All-Star appearance for Clemens, and this time the team beat both the Braves and the Cardinals to earn their very first World Series appearance.  Unfortunately the team's offense went cold and they were swept.  The aging core of the team began to fall apart, led by the retirement of injury-plagued Jeff Bagwell, and the 2006 season was the last for Clemens in Houston.  He signed a one year contract to finish his career with the Yankees and retired following the 2007 season.

While it was assumed that Roger Clemens would be an easy pick for induction in the Hall of Fame, he has been unable to garner enough support due to claims in the explosive Mitchell Report that he used various performance-enhancing drugs to sustain and improve his career.  Although his 7 Cy Young awards is a record and he currently holds the third spot for all-time strikeouts, he has been unable to shake suspicion of his participation in one of baseball's dirtiest eras.  Although he maintained his innocence and filed numerous defamation suits, his eligibility for Cooperstown ended in 2022 with a vote total of 65.2% - well shy of the 75% required.  That same year, however, the Clemens family did have reason to celebrate as Kody Clemens made his major league debut.  Although all four sons had played baseball in college and the minor leagues, including oldest son Koby who played numerous seasons in the Houston farm system, Kody was the first to make the big leagues.  So far he has played for Detroit, Philadelphia, and Minnesota.  Roger, meanwhile, was inducted into the Red Sox Hall of Fame in 2014, and spent time in an advisory role for the Astros for a number of years while also being involved with the broadcasting side of baseball, both college and professional.  He had his wife, despite having dealt with years of negative press, have remained together in the Houston area and still operate the Roger Clemens Foundation to support children's charities.  Although he is one of the most accomplished players in baseball history, if Roger Clemens is ever to make it into the Hall of Fame it will have to be through the work of the Veterans Committee.

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