Pitcher, New
York Yankees
Age: 39 (Aug. 4)
3rd season
with Yankees
Bats – Right,
Throws – Right
Height: 6’4” Weight: 205
Prior to 2001:
A native of
Ohio who moved to Texas in high school, Clemens attended San Jacinto Junior
College, which had a strong baseball program, before moving on to the
University of Texas, passing up a contract offer from the New York Mets, who
drafted him as an amateur in 1981. He was a power-pitching member of the Texas
squad that won the 1983 College World Series before signing with the Red Sox,
who made him a first-round draft pick that year. The highly driven Clemens
climbed readily through Boston’s minor league system and joined the parent club
in 1984. Somewhat unsteady as a rookie, Clemens compiled a 9-4 record with a
4.32 ERA and was shut down in September due to a tendon injury in his pitching
arm. Several injuries marred his 1985 season that concluded with surgery on his
right shoulder after posting a 7-5 record with 3.29 ERA in just 15 starts. “The
Rocket” broke out with a dominating season in 1986 as he compiled a 24-4 record
with an AL-leading 2.48 ERA. His 238 strikeouts included a single-game record 20
against Seattle. Clemens was the league MVP as well as Cy Young Award
recipient. He spent ten more seasons with the Red Sox, often highlighted by
controversy. He briefly walked out during spring training in 1987 over a
contract dispute and overcame a slow 4-6 start to end up with another Cy Young
Award-winning season, ultimately posting a 20-9 record with the fifth-place Red
Sox. In 1988 he was an All-Star once again and compiled an 18-12 tally and
topped the AL in complete games (18) and shutouts (7). Boston returned to the
top of the AL East. Clemens led the AL in ERA in 1990 (1.93) to go along with a
21-6 mark and 209 strikeouts. Clemens led the AL in ERA for three straight
years from 1990 to ’92 and won a third Cy Young Award in 1991. Clemens led the
AL with a 2.41 ERA in 1992, his third straight ERA title, while also compiling
an 18-11 record and 5 shutouts with 208 strikeouts. His performance slipped
thereafter as his record dropped to 11-14 with a 4.46 ERA in 1993, and after a
fair year in 1994, he slipped badly again in ’95. Clemens had another
20-strikeout single-game performance in 1996 on his way to a 10-13 record with
a league-leading 257 strikeouts. “The Rocket” signed a three-year free agent
contract worth $24.75 million with the Toronto Blue Jays in 1997 and won the AL
Cy Young Award that year, going 21-7 with a league-best 2.05 ERA and 292
strikeouts with a fifth-place team that went 76-86 and again in 1998, when he
was 20-6 and topped the circuit again in ERA (2.65) and strikeouts (271). The Blue
Jays rose to third at 88-74 and Clemens requested a trade to a contending team
and was dealt to the Yankees just prior to the 1999 season. He posted a 14-10
tally for the ’99 Yankees. At age 36 he was showing signs of wear as he
completed only one of his 30 starts while dropping to under 200 innings
pitched, and his ERA rose to 4.60. He picked up a win in the World Series
triumph over Atlanta. Clemens improved in 2000 to 13-8 with a 3.70 ERA and 188
strikeouts in 204.1 innings. The Yankees were again division champs and Clemens
pitched a one-hit shutout with 15 strikeouts against Seattle in the ALCS. In
the World Series against the cross-town Mets, he pitched 8 shutout innings in a
game better remembered for an odd altercation with Met catcher Mike Piazza who
broke his bat on a play in which Clemens threw the barrel of the broken bat at
him as he ran toward first as the ball rolled foul, infuriating Piazza and
causing the benches to clear. The Yankees won the Series and Clemens was fined $50,000
for the broken bat incident.
2001 Season Summary
Appeared in 33
games
[Bracketed
numbers indicate AL rank in Top 20]
Pitching
Games – 33
Games Started –
33 [12, tied with seven others]
Complete Games
– 0
Wins – 20 [2,
tied with Jamie Moyer]
Losses – 3
PCT - .870 [1]
Saves – 0
Shutouts – 0
Innings Pitched
– 220.1 [12]
Hits – 205 [18,
tied with Joe Mays]
Runs – 94
Earned Runs – 86
Home Runs – 19
Bases on Balls
– 72 [14]
Strikeouts – 213
[3]
ERA – 3.51 [9]
Hit Batters – 5
Balks – 0
Wild Pitches – 14
[1, tied with Kip Wells]
League-leading
win percentage was +.060 ahead of runner-up Paul Abbott
Midseason
Snapshot: 12-1, ERA - 3.55, SO - 122 in 124.1 IP
Most
strikeouts, game – 10 (in 8 IP) vs. Baltimore 6/7, (in 7 IP) at Boston 8/31
10+ strikeout
games – 2
Fewest hits
allowed, game (min. 7 IP) – 3 (in 8 IP) vs. Baltimore 6/7
Batting
PA – 2, AB – 2,
R – 0, H – 0, 2B – 0, 3B – 0, HR – 0, RBI – 0, BB – 0, SO – 2, SB – 0, CS – 0,
AVG - .000, GDP – 0, HBP – 0, SH – 0, SF – 0
Fielding
Chances – 46
Put Outs – 11
Assists – 33
Errors – 2
DP – 3
Pct. - .957
Postseason
Pitching: G – 5 (ALDS vs. Oakland – 2; ALCS vs. Seattle – 1; World Series vs.
Arizona – 2 G)
GS – 5, CG – 0,
Record – 1-1, PCT – .500, SV – 0, ShO – 0, IP – 26.2, H – 20, R – 7, ER – 7, HR
– 1, BB – 12, SO – 32, ERA – 2.36, HB – 3, BLK – 0, WP – 2
Awards & Honors:
AL Cy Young
Award: BBWAA
AL Pitcher of
the Year: Sporting News
All-Star (Started
for AL)
8th in AL MVP voting (67 points, 17% share)
AL Cy Young
voting (Top 4):
Roger Clemens, NYY:
122 points – 21 of 28 first place votes, 87% share
Mark Mulder,
Oak.: 60 points – 2 first place votes, 43% share
Freddy Garcia,
Sea.: 55 points – 4 first place votes, 39% share
Jamie Moyer, Sea.: 12 points – 1 first place vote, 9% share
---
Yankees went
95-65 to finish first in the AL Eastern Division by 13.5 games over the Boston
Red Sox. The pitching staff led the league in saves (57) and strikeouts (1266).
With Clemens sparking the pitching staff, the Yankees were 52-34 over the first
half. A three-game sweep of the Red Sox to start September effectively sealed
the AL East title. Won ALDS over the Oakland Athletics, 3 games to 2. Won ALCS
over the Seattle Mariners, 4 games to 1. Lost World Series to the Arizona
Diamondbacks, 4 games to 3. In a Series played in the shadow of the September
11 terrorist attacks, Clemens pitched 7 innings of 3-hit ball to win Game 3 as
the Yankees built up a 3-games-to-2 lead.
In Game 7, in which Clemens started, the Diamondbacks overcame a 2-1 ninth
inning deficit as New York’s star closer Mariano Rivera gave up 2 runs and Arizona
LHP Randy Johnson, who relieved Series co-MVP Curt Schilling a day after
starting and winning Game 6, came away with a 3-2 Series-clinching win.
Aftermath of 2001:
Clemens followed up with a 13-6 record in 2002 with a 4.35 ERA and 192 strikeouts while pitching 180 innings. Hinting at retirement in 2003, in which he went 17-9 with a 3.91 ERA, he followed LHP Andy Pettitte, a teammate and friend with the Yankees, to the Houston Astros as a free agent in 2004 and had an 18-4 record with a 2.98 ERA and received a seventh Cy Young Award. At age 43 in 2005, he led the NL with a 1.87 ERA as the Astros won the league pennant for the first time in franchise history. Clemens re-signed with Houston in ’06 and ended up with a 7-6 record and 2.30 ERA while the club failed to reach the postseason. Clemens returned to the Yankees for one final year in 2007. He later returned to organized baseball in 2012 at the age of 50, appearing with the Sugar Land Skeeters of the independent Atlantic League. He started two games and had no decisions. Overall, in the major leagues, he compiled a 354-184 record and 3.12 ERA with 4672 strikeouts over the course of 4916.2 innings. In the postseason he was 12-8 with a 3.75 ERA and 173 strikeouts. His numbers with Yankees were 83-42 with a 4.01 ERA and 1014 strikeouts. Controversy erupted over his alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs during the later stages of his career, thus far keeping him from achieving election to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
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Cy Young Profiles feature pitchers who were recipients of
the Cy Young Award by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (1956 to
present). The award was presented to a single major league winner from its
inception through 1966 and from 1967 on to one recipient from each major
league.
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