Synopsis
At six feet, four inches and more than 220 pounds, Roger Clemens was literally a large figure in baseball for a quarter century. The best pitcher of his generation, his 4,672 strikeouts rank third all-time. He dominates modern statistical analysis: all-time first in base-out runs saved, situational wins saved, win probability added and base-out wins saved. Not even drafted out of high school, Clemens was almost miraculously discovered to have a fastball that was more than 15 miles an hour faster than what he was then throwing while in junior college. Given a scholarship to the University of Texas, Clemens led the Longhorns to the 1983 College World Series Baseball Championship. He was drafted in the first round by the Boston Red Sox in 1983 and in 1986 became the first pitcher in baseball history to strike out 20 batters in a nine inning game, a feat he matched in his final season in Boston in 1996. The next year Clemens returned to his dominant position as the best pitcher in the American League with the Toronto Blue Jays and won the Cy Young Award. Eleven years later Clemens' some time strength and conditioning coach, Brian McNamee, claimed that he rejuvenated Clemens' career when he was hired as a Blue Jays conditioning coach by injecting Clemens with anabolic steroids and human growth hormone. McNamee was never able to explain why Clemens's 1998 pitching statistics, which led to yet another Cy Young Award, were almost identical to his 1997 numbers, before McNamee showed up north of the border. Based on meticulous legal research of the public record, including congressional testimony and two trials, and interviews with such sources as Clemens' legendary college coach at Texas, Cliff Gustafson, the author questions the conventional wisdom that Roger Clemens cheated at the sport of baseball by taking performance enhancing drugs. It also details the quarter center quarrel between Clemens and the baseball writers which was largely responsible for the wide spread belief in Clemens' guilt. Yet this is also a fun baseball book, with entertaining stories of such baseball icons as Casey Stengel, Ted Williams, David Ortiz, Joe Torre, Rich Gedman, Marty Barrett, Oil Can Boyd, Wade Boggs, Ken Griffey, Jr., Alexander Emmanuel Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez, Barry Bonds, David Wells, and Clemens' first manager in Boston, Ralph Houk.
About the Author
Hansen Alexander is an author and attorney who is married to the poet Taube Cyrus. His published works include two novels, two biographies and two general interest works on American Law, the most recent being, "An Introduction to the Laws of the United States in the 21st Century."
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