This one is probably going to be the most polarizing on the list because with Roger Clemens, you either love him or you hate him. Growing up in the 1980s and early 1990s, he was my favorite pitcher and one of my favorite Red Sox players. We all know about the PED accusations that have followed him around since the end of his career, so for the sake of this article let’s look solely at what he did in a Red Sox uniform.
Clemens spent twelve seasons pitching for the Red Sox and during that time was the premiere power pitcher of his era. In his Red Sox career, he won 192 games (a franchise record) with 2,590 strikeouts (also a franchise record) and an ERA of 3.17. He won both the American League Cy Young and MVP awards in 1986 and has a list of accomplishments in Boston too long to list here (plus, I already covered them in a previous article on his Hall of Fame candidacy).
Clemens was coming off a relatively poor stretch in his last four seasons in Boston, only going 40-39, when he became a free agent after the 1996 season. Then-General Manager Dan Duquette offered Clemens the largest contract to that point in the history of the Red Sox and said, in a widely misquoted statement, that the team “hoped to keep him in Boston in the twilight of his career.” Citing a wish to pitch closer to his Texas home, Clemens ended up signing with…the Toronto Blue Jays?
After Toronto, Clemens went on to pitch for the New York Yankees and Houston Astros and, upon winning two World Series with the Yankees, became a villain to Red Sox Nation. Fans have softened a bit on Clemens in his retirement, but he’s still a polarizing figure. What can’t be denied is that even after leaving in 1996, he was one of the greatest pitchers in franchise history (and in league history when the totality of his career is taken into account). It’s a shame he wasn’t able to do all of what he did in a Red Sox uniform (and without the taint of PEDs).