Former San Jacinto-North pitcher Roger Clemens inducted into College Baseball Hall of Fame, Class of 2024
Kansas City, MO: One of the most dominant pitchers in modern baseball and former NJCAA standout, Roger Clemens, has been inducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2024.
A native of Toledo, Ohio, Clemens began his college career pitching for San Jacinto-North (TX) under hall-of-fame coach Wayne Graham. In his lone season for the Gators, Clemens earned a 9-2 record. He then transferred to play for the Texas Longhorns and continued his impressive college career. He was a two-time All-American, compiling a 25-7 record, and led the Longhorns to their fourth World Series title in school history. Clemens took the mound in the national title game, tossing a complete game.
Texas later retired his jersey in 1993, making it the first baseball uniform to be retired in school history. In his honor, the college baseball Pitcher of the Year award is now named the Roger Clemens Award.
Clemens was selected with the 19th overall pick of the 1983 MLB Draft by the Boston Red Sox. "Rocket" as he was nicknamed, used his hard-throwing pitching style to intimidate batters he faced across his 23-year career. He is an 11-time All-Star, seven-time Cy Young award winner (MLB Record), was the 1986 American League Most Valuable Player, and is a two-time World Series Champion. In addition, he led the MLB in wins four times, ERA seven times, and led the American League in strikeouts five times.
In 1999, Major League Baseball held a fan vote for the All-Century team. Over two million fans voted for the top players of the 20th Century, and Clemens received the fourth most votes among pitchers. Nolan Ryan, Sandy Koufax, and Cy Young were the only pitchers to receive more votes.
In addition to the hardware, Clemens holds some of the most unique distinctions in baseball history. Clemens is one of three pitchers to have 20 strikeouts in a single game, and he has achieved this twice. He is also one of two pitchers to throw at least 18 strikeouts in a single game three times. Clemens also earned the Pitching Triple Crown twice in his career, in 1997 and 1998. The Pitching Triple Crown occurs when a pitcher leads the league in strikeouts, ERA, and Wins. Clemens achieving this in 1997 was the first time in over 12 seasons that an MLB pitcher garnered this distinction.
MLB Career Stats
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354 Career wins (Ninth most all-time)
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4,672 strikeouts (Third most all-time)
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3.12 career ERA
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4,916.2 Innings Pitched (16th most all-time)
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139.2 Career WAR (8th most all-time)
