Vital Statistics:
Born: Aug. 4, 1962
Hometown: Houston, Texas.
Height: 6-4
Weight: 220
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
Family: Wife, Debra; Sons Koby, Kory, Kacy and Kody
Position: Pitcher
Before the Bigs:
- Clemens was born in Dayton, Ohio, and moved to Texas as a teenager.
- Clemens was drafted twice - first by the New York Mets in the 12th round in 1981, but instead he opted to go to the University of Texas, where he led the Longhorns to the College World Series championship in 1983. He was drafted in June of that year by the Boston Red Sox in the first round, 16th overall.
- He spent less than a year in the minor leagues, and made his major league debut on May 11, 1984.
Career Highlights:
- Clemens has won the Cy Young Award, honoring the best pitcher in the league, a record seven times.
- Spent his first 13 seasons with the Red Sox, and won 24 games when the Red Sox won the American League pennant in 1986.
- Became the first player to strike out 20 batters in a game (April 29, 1986, vs. Seattle). He's the only pitcher to strike out 20 batters twice (Sept. 18, 1996 vs. Detroit.)
- Clemens is second on the all-time strikeouts list, with 4,672 strikeouts. He only trails Nolan Ryan (5,714).
- On June 13, 2003, pitching for the Yankees, Clemens won his 300th game and recorded his 4,000th strikeout.
Allegations of Performance-Enhancing Drugs: Clemens' reputation took a major hit in December 2007, when he was the most noteworthy player named in the Mitchell Report on performance-enhancing drugs in baseball. He was accused by former trainer Brian McNamee of taking steroids and HGH. Clemens hotly contested the allegation. A breakdown of the arguments can be found here.
