The Chris Moeller Archives

Roger & Me

I've got a date with a little personal history this weekend. I'll be in Milwaukee for a couple Brewers games and will have the chance to see 44-year-old Roger Clemens take the hill for Houston.

It's no big deal to say you've seen Clemens pitch when you consider that he's made nearly 700 career starts in the big leagues. But I believe my brother-- who'll be on this trip-- and me possess a unique timeline with "the Rocket." In July of 1984, at the age of nine, we were on a family trip to California, and following a day of fun and frolic at Disneyland, returned to find the Boston Red Sox, in town to play the Angels, staying at our hotel. Along with our cousins, we attacked the lobby with pen and hotel stationary, collecting as many autographs as we could as the team prepared to depart. I wound up securing the autographs of Dwight Evans, Al Nipper, Reid Nichols, Bruce Hurst, the pre-infamous Bill Buckner, and-- while riding alone with him on one of the hotel elevators-- Roger Clemens.

In retrospect, that ride was more significant than "Pirates of the Caribbean," "Space Mountain," or any other that day. Clemens was exactly half the age he is now, fresh from the University of Texas, and had thus far won only three games in his big league career. Two years later, he would win his first Cy Young Award, finishing 24-4 for the Series-bound Sox. In 1987, we made our one and only trip to Fenway Park in Boston, and fortune would again flash her flirtatious grin. If you're going to see only one game at Fenway in your life, as Ray Kinsella also did (in "Field of Dreams,") you can do a lot worse than to catch Roger Clemens' spot in the Boston rotation in the mid-1980s, but that's what we did. En route to his second of seven Cy Young awards that September night, Clemens beat the Indians for his 15th win of the season and his 55th career victory. Needless to say, it was a pretty memorable night at the ballpark for two Iowa farm boys and their Dad.

Now 19 years later, the pitching schedule has fallen into place again, and we'll get to see Clemens go for his 346th career win, with his 345 already good for 8th on the all-time list and the highest total since Warren Spahn's retirement in 1965. When last we saw Roger in person, not only was he still in the American League, but so were the Brewers.

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I can't remember, was it "Seinfeld" or "Curb Your Enthusiasm" that did the bit on how your rotation of clothing is like a starting pitching rotation in baseball? In either case, my current clothing rotation sucks. It's gone downhill faster than the Cardinals' starting circuit. Tomorrow, on my day off, I'm going to hit the stores and turn my fortunes around. Walt Jocketty will be put to shame by comparison for his failure to upgrade the Cardinals' starting staff with such ruthless cunning. Next time you see me, you'll say to yourself, "Hey, is that Daniel Craig?"

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We'll end with another charming recollection of a time when the city of Boston and its sports teams were much less objectionable than they are today: "King of all Bloggers" Ken Levine recalls some of my favorite "Cheers" episodes-- in particular the two starring Kevin McHale.

posted by CM @ 8:26 PM