Roger Clemens - Classic Or Dud?

I would think in terms of Boston baseball lore, that would be a pretty desirable baseball. (I don't know--is Clemens still a villain there, or has enough time passed?)

enough time has passed. no i think you're probably right. and it's That Team, too - Rich Gedman's on there. Steve Lyons. Marty fucking Barrett.

reading this thread for the first time and, damn, y'all are harsh.

I have no beef with the Rocket though to be fair I was not a baseball fan in the 80s-90s so maybe it was different then. He made a good chicken in the Simpsons.

A comment by Bill James today--"I think (Teddy Higuera) probably had as many really great games as anybody in our lifetime did in a five-year period, not including the 1960s where you have Gibson and Koufax and Drysdale and others"--prompted me to look him up. I remember him as good, but I don't get this at all:

In '86, Clemens' breakthrough season, Clemens threw more innings than Higuera, gave up fewer runs, fewer earned runs, 50 fewer hits, fewer walks, fewer HR, and struck out 30 more batters. Higuera led in bWAR, though, 9.4 to Clemens' 8.8. I find this baffling. I mean, Clemens had one more HBP, three more balks, and eight more wild pitches, but how much does that count for? And Clemens pitched in Fenway.

Sent this in (big surprise) as an "Ask Bill," which in turn ended up as a Tom Tango tweet.

So, @baseball_ref does an OUTSTANDING job in laying out WHY their WAR numbers are what they are. You may disagree as to the individual components, but they are extremely transparent about it.

cc: @billjamesonline

So, let's take it, step by step...https://t.co/ipZtAEsuaB pic.twitter.com/QA6Eqbh5l8

— Tangotiger (@tangotiger) November 21, 2022

"Tom Tango tweet"--will one day rival "toy boat" as a tongue twister.

Clemons will always have the headwind of being a total asshole.

*Clemens. Fuck.

Read “Clemons” in the voice of Cajun man