Top Blue Jays Player #16: Roger
Clemens
Position: Pitcher
Seasons With the
Jays: 2 (1997-1998)
MLB Awards: Cy
Young (1997, 1998)
All-Star Game
Selection: 1997, 1998
Stats: Games Pitched 67 Innings Pitched 498.2
Wins/Losses 41-13 Saves
0
ERA 2.33 Strike
outs 563
Games Started 67 Games
Finished 0
Complete Games 14 Shutouts 6
No pitcher for the Toronto Blue
Jays has ever had as dominating back-to-back seasons as Roger Clemens did
during the two years he pitched with the club. And yes, there is speculation
that Clemens, as well as other players in the game at the time, were using
performance enhancing drugs. However, nothing has ever been proven and Clemens
remains one of those players who are being denied entry into the Baseball Hall
Of Fame purely on hearsay.
Clemens was drafted in the first
round (19th pick overall) by the Boston Red Sox in the June Amateur
Draft in 1983 and pitched his first game less than a year later. He pitched for
Boston for 13 years, winning three Cy Young Awards, (1986, 1987 and 1991), the
American League MVP once (1986) and was a five-time All-Star.
He signed with Toronto following
the 1996 season and left as the all-time leader in wins for Boston (192, tied
with Cy Young) as well as strike outs (2590).
His first season in Toronto was
without a doubt the best pitching performance any pitcher has put forth as a
member of the Blue Jays. He won the triple crown of pitching by leading the
American League in wins (21), ERA (2.05) and strike outs (292). He also led the
league in complete games (9), shutouts (3) and innings pitched (264) on his way
to winning the fourth Cy Young Award of his career.
In 1998, his numbers were not as
good, but impressive nonetheless. Another pitching triple crown (20 wins, 2.65
ERA and 271 strikeouts) led to another Cy Young Award. But despite all his
pitching success, the Blue Jays failed to make the playoffs and Clemens made it
clear that he wanted to be traded to a contending team.
Prior to the 1999 season, the
Jays traded Clemens to the New York Yankees for David Wells, Homer Bush and
Graeme Lloyd. He would have a sub-par 2000 season winning only 13 games but he
did help the Yankees win their third consecutive World Series Championship. A
sixth Cy Young Award would follow in 2001 when Clemens won 20 games for the
final time in his career.
He pitched for two more season
in the Bronx before signing with the Houston Astros in 2004. An unprecedented
seventh Cy Young Award came his way after that season (his first in the
National League) when he compiled an 18-4 record. Two more seasons with the
Astros and one final stint with the Yankees followed before Clemens retired
after the 2006 season at the age of 44.
Since he has retired, he has
been dogged with PED accusations that I will not get into here. But the fact
remains that Clemens is the best pitcher in all of baseball in the last 50
years, maybe more. He has 354 career wins, seven Cy Young Awards, 4672
strikeouts (third most all-time) and was an eleven-time All-Star Game
Selection.
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