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THE SPORTS JOURNAL | NEWS FILE |
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Roger Clemens - a fraud ?
AndyP | Thursday, April 15 2004 He's 2-0. He's given up 1 earned run in each of his first two starts. He's playing in Houston. Life is incredible for the 'Rocket' Roger Clemens.
Last year we were subjected to what was described as a 'farewell tour' with Clemens playing out his supposed final season as a pitcher in Major League Baseball. It was annoucned, by Clemens himself, he would enter the Hall of Fame five year from now as a Yankee. As he departed the field in the World Series having pitched for the final time he received a standing ovation from not only the fans in the stands, but the players on the field. That was it, the curtain was down... the career was over, and most importantly, this 'family' man could now spend and devote all the time he wanted with his kids and wife.
So, what happened ?
Clemens always kept the door open for a return with the normal "I'm 99.9% certain this is it" rhetoric. But was it ever really a surprise that he would show up as an Astro at Spring Training and take the mound this season ? Anytime I hear that '99.9% certain' line it's pretty clear something is happening behind the scenes that prevent it from being 100%.
So what exactly did happen ?
Clemens needed a way out of New York, but he needed to get out as a hero. Think of it as a 'velvet revolution' - something big is happening, a change is in the works but it's a celebrated move rather than opposed. Remember, Clemens had already left the hated rival Boston Red Sox in bad circumstances. He needed to leave the Yankees on good terms because he needs a hat to wear in the Hall of Fame. He can't wear the Red Sox hat. He needs to keep the Yankees sweet so he can at least sit in Cooperstown with the NY logo above his head.
Why couldn't Clemens just come clean and tell the fans "look, I'm a free agent, I want to play for the Astros and I'm leaving ? Not quite that simple. Yankee fans are loud, opinionated and they sure as heck wouldn't have accepted that. They would in fact have opposed it, and they'd have let Clemens know. This is the crowd who jeered Alex Rodriguez yesterday at Yankee Stadium when he stepped up to bat. Stardom means less in the mind of a Yankee than "what have you done for me lately ?" When a player leaves the Yankees, it's because the Yankees don't want them anymore. To imagine that a player would leave the Yankees to join another team on his own terms... geesh ! The easiest thing to do was to give the fans the usual kind of 'I need to be with my family' spiel and they'd buy it.
They did.
What was in fact a well planned maneouvre on the part of Clemens, the Astros and perhaps even the Yankees, comes across quite cleverly as an innocent change of heart. Here's a guy who just loves his buddy Andy Pettite, who loves the game of baseball and who just wants to play ball for his hometown team. And he needed to be persuaded - no kidding, he really did - but eventually he changed his mind. Yep.
In actual fact Clemens has been with the team every single day at every single game - every time the Astros are on tv (and if you have MLB TV that is every single day) they cut to Clemens at some point. So much for spending time with the family.
Clemens knew from day one where he was going... and knew he was goint to pitch for the Astros. In fact it wouldn't surprise me if the deal had been done long before the end of the season.
I don't know whether Yankee fans care whether Clemens is back in the Majors pitching again this year. I'm not sure what is going on inside the mind of a Yankee right now. But I know for sure that if he had left my team in those circumstances, like a jilted lover, I'd be angry... let down.. and opposed to him entering the Hall of Fame wearing my 'cap of convenience'.
But Clemens has a new army of fans growing in Houston, and life is great.... in Planet Roger Clemens.
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