Happy # 56 Roger Clemens

We say happy birthday to Roger Clemens.    He was born in Dayton, Ohio on this day in 1962.  Later the family moved to Texas, as I understand.

Roger was a high school star in Houston and then won the national title with The University of Texas in 1983.   In fact, I remember watching Texas win the title on ESPN.  

His major league career was legendary, as Richard Baehr wrote in 2007:   

Some sportswriters have argued, prior to the release of the Mitchell report, that he was the best pitcher in baseball history. 
A career won lost record of 354-184 over 24 seasons, and a career ERA of 3.12, more than one earned run per nine innings below the League Average for the years he pitched of 4.46, make for a  pretty strong case for Clemens to be considered among the best ever.  
Clemens posted his career low ERA in 2005, 1.87, less than half the National League average at age 42.  His ERA was also below 3 in 2004 and 2006.   

On paper, Roger Clemens should be a Hall of Famer.   Unfortunately, the allegations about steroids will haunt him for a while.    It may take a few years before writers take a second look at his career.  Or maybe they never will.

In the meantime, we are left with some incredible memories of watching Roger Clemens pitch against the Rangers in Arlington.    He was awesome, specially those years with Boston and the two seasons in Toronto when he was 41-13 with a 2.33 ERA.