Boston Red Sox: 50 greatest players of all-time
By Phil Watson
Roger Clemens achieved something as a member of the Red Sox that no one else in baseball history has done.
Of the four games in which a pitcher struck out 20 batters in a nine-inning game, only Clemens did it twice — setting the record with 20 Ks against the Seattle Mariners on April 29, 1986, and then matching the feat more than 10 years later, on Sept, 18, 1996, against the Detroit Tigers.
Since then, Kerry Wood of the Chicago Cubs joined the club in 1998 and Max Scherzer of the Washington Nationals achieved the feat in 2016.
It was that sort of power potential that prompted the Red Sox to select the University of Texas ace with the 19th overall pick in the 1983 June Amateur Draft.
He was in the majors less than a year later, in May 1984, and after missing half of the 1985 season with shoulder problems, turned in one of the most dominant seasons in the modern era in 1986.
Clemens doubled as the Cy Young and MVP winner in 1986, going 24-4 while leading the American League in ERA and WHIP.
He added a second Cy Young the next season and a third in 1991, while finishing second in the voting in 1990 and third in 1992. Clemens added a third-place finish in the MVP voting in 1990 as well.
But the Red Sox let Clemens walk after four relatively mediocre seasons and he signed as a free agent with the Toronto Blue Jays in December 1996.
What Clemens did after leaving Boston is still subject to serious scrutiny as he has been dogged by accusations of performance-enhancing drug use, including being tried on charges of making false statements to Congress on the subject.
His first trial in 2011 was declared a mistrial before he was acquitted in July 2012.
The repercussions of the accusations have hampered his Hall of Fame candidacy despite 354 wins and 4,672 strikeouts in a 24-year career, while winning seven Cy Young awards.
With the Red Sox over parts of 13 seasons, Clemens was 192-111 with a 3.06 ERA and 1.158 WHIP, an ERA+ of 144, with 2,590 strikeouts in 2,776 innings, completing 100 games with 38 shutouts.
In four postseasons with the Red Sox, Clemens did not fare as well, going just 1-2 in nine starts with a 3.88 ERA and 1.222 WHIP in 55.2 innings, striking out 45.