By the Heckler
BASEBALL BIG MOUTH
baseball blog

Sometimes you walk into a ballpark and just hope the home team doesn’t get blown out – again. Believe me, as a lifelong Detroit Tigers fan, more times than not lately, avoiding a five-run defeat was all the Heckler hoped for on many occasions. Sometimes you walk into a ballpark and hope to see a member of your team do something special. Again, even as brutal as the Tigers have been before this year, I was there to see Cecil Fielder hit his 49th homerun off the Boston Red Sox Dennis Lamp in 1990 (back when 50 homeruns was still a big deal). Heck, sometimes you walk into a ballpark just looking to kill a few hours, down a dog and a cold drink and soak up the sun for a few hours. That’s cool, too.

Sometimes, however, you walk into a ballpark just to get a glimpse of a living legend. No disrespect to Alan Trammell, Lou Whitaker, Jack Morris and other Tiger greats I was fortunate enough to see many a time in my lifetime, but Roger Clemens most-assuredly fits that description, by anyone’s definition. On June 27, 2006, I finally got a chance to see this sure-fire Hall-of-Famer strut his stuff – before a packed-house, the majority of which were there to see the same, despite the fact that the Tigers currently have the best record in baseball.

The buzz began early for the crowd as Clemens was spied taking the rubber in the visiting Comerica Park bullpen, his number 22 stretched across his broad, crimson-colored uniform back. Cameras clicked, people clapped in appreciation, and memories were cemented before he even took the hill to begin the actual game. Slowly, he strode out the gate, through the spacious centerfield, onto the infield and finally to the mound. Grabbing the rosin bag, he looked around slowly, tossed it down, and strode to the center of diamond to begin his latest command performance.

On this night, like many other in his legendary career that has taken him to Boston, Toronto, New York and finally Houston, he was masterful. Even the league-leading Tigers could muster only a mere three hits off of him (all of them weak) during Clemens’ 6-1/3 innings, all the while striking out three while walking only two – both of which would eventually score and be charged to the Rocket, thanks to Astros’ reliever Dan Wheeler who promptly dished up a double to Craig Monroe. On this night, he would actually be out-dueled by Detroit’s Nate Robertson. Nonetheless, also on this night, he once again showed why this 43-year-old Rocket is nowhere close to being permanently confined to the NASA graveyard, at least not yet. Saddled with the ‘L’ thanks to another start with zero run support from his mates, Clemens sent notice to all National League foes that he is back – with all boosters firing.

“I tip my hat to the fans, they were great when I came off,” Clemens said afterward. “It’s fun to see great crowds here again, rooting their Tigers on.”

Indeed. Even if a great percentage of them were rooting, silently perhaps, to see the man originally from Dayton, OH – the same pitcher with 341 winds, a record seven Cy Young awards and more than 4,500 career strikeouts – do something special against their favorite team. In the end, he still pitched great, the Tigers still won, and everyone went home happy. Sometimes you enter a ballpark, and everything turns out just right. Sometimes, you walk out with memories that will last a lifetime.

One other special note from this night, the Heckler’s wife of one-year (and counting) surprised him with one of the coolest gifts ever given to him: his name on the scoreboard in the middle of the sixth inning, wishing him a happy anniversary, love Kathryn. You can see it below (with my secret identity retouched via Photoshop). Man . . . Roger Clemens, the Tigers beating him and remaining in first place, and a woman beside me who loves me enough to do something like that? It doesn’t get much better than that, gang. Sometimes you walk out of a ballpark with far-more than you could have even imagined possible . . .

All photos copyright Baseball Big Mouth and The Heckler
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This entry was posted on Thursday, June 29th, 2006 at 5:04 pm and is filed under Waxing Nostalgic, Baseball News and Views, Baseball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.