Roger Clemens: The Greatest Pitcher of All-Time

Major League Pitcher Roger Clemens of the New York Yankees recently earned his 350th win to become only the second pitcher to reach that milestone in the last 75 years. The last to do so was Hall of Fame left-hander Warren Spahn on September 29, 1963. Clemens, 44, also has the second best winning percentage of .659 (350-181) among pitchers with at least that many wins behind Hall of Fame right-hander Christy Mathewson 's .665 who played from 1900-1916 and won 373 games in what is known as the Dead Ball Era.

In Mathewson's time, Home Runs were rare, 1-0 games were routine, and starting pitchers were expected to complete nine innings when making a start every three or four days, with the occasional relief appearance in between. By contrast, the modern era which Clemens has pitched in, who began his career with the Boston Red Sox in 1984, has seen one offensive record after another fall to the annuals of history.

Prevalent use of steroids in Major League Baseball beginning in the late 1980s is only one factor that contributed to the offensive explosion. Recent trends of smaller ballparks, expansion from the original 16 teams to 30 today, harder baseballs, the designated hitter rule introduced to the American League in 1973, and lowering of the pitcher's mound from 15" to 10" after the "year of the pitcher" in 1968, are additional factors which have defined the modern era since 1961, and shaped a game now almost unrecognizable from the days before Babe Ruth began crushing home runs on a regular basis in 1920.

Nevertheless, it may be argued the popularity of the game has never been higher, as evidenced by record-breaking attendance figures in ballparks across the country in recent years. This is in large part due to the home run first made popular by the aforementioned Hall of Famer Babe Ruth. However, after the players' strike of 1994-1995 which forced the cancellation of the World Series for the first time in 90 years, Major League Baseball attendance figures suffered tremendously.

Only during and after the "Home Run Chase" of 1998 between St. Louis Cardinals slugger Mark McGwire and Cubs fan favorite Sammy Sosa, the year in which Roger Maris single season record of 61 home runs was obliterated, did interest in the game begin to return to its pre-strike levels, and attendance has steadily climbed since. San Francisco Giants star Barry Bonds set yet another new mark with 73 home runs just three seasons later in 2001, surpassing McGwire's 70 and Sosa's 66 rather easily.

Despite steroid and other performance-enhancing substance allegations charged to Bonds, McGwire and others, fans have not been deterred from showing up at the ballpark to see a home run or two. In fact, one could argue the fans have been encouraged to go the ballpark to witness the extra offense generated by the steroid era, despite higher ticket and concession prices, and consequently higher salaries of major league ballplayers. Yet fans also come out to the ballpark to see "The Rocket" strike out a few of those power hitters as well.

Despite pitching in such an incredibly offensive era, there are just six other pitchers, in addition to Mathewson, with more wins than Clemens all-time, and most were retired by 1930, including the all-time wins leader himself Cy Young (511). The only exception to that list is Hall of Fame left-hander Warren Spahn, who retired in 1965 with 363 wins, 2,583 K, 382 CG, 63 SHO, 434 home runs allowed, 3.09 ERA, 665 GS, 5,243.2 IP, and a .597 winning percentage over a 21 year career.

Spahn's career bridged the gap between the World War II Era in 1942 through the Expansion Era beginning in 1961, by which time pitching staffs began gradually expanding, only affecting the tail-end of his career where he made on average three or four fewer starts per season for a couple of years, but nevertheless continued to complete nearly two-thirds of his starts.

"The Invincible One" pitched for the Braves franchise, which was originally located in Boston before moving to Milwaukee in 1953, for all but his final season, finishing his career in 1965 by splitting the year with the New York Mets and San Francisco Giants. He made 7 All-Star and 3 World Series appearances, including one world championship in 1957.

Spahn played in an era that included great hitters and a handful of Hall of Famers such as Ted Williams, Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, Ernie Banks, Stan Musial, Duke Snider, Jackie Robinson, and teammates Hank Aaron and Eddie Mathews, all of whom hit at least 400 career home runs. However, the 4-man rotation and complete games were still commonplace throughout Spahn's career, affording him more opportunities for wins, while many ballparks remained pitcher friendly and steroids were never heard of.

All of these factors make Future Hall of Famer Roger Clemens accomplishments all the more impressive, especially in the context of the steroids era. "The Rocket", drafted in the first round out of the University of Texas at Austin in 1983, has amassed over 4,600 strikeouts (K) (currently second all-time to Hall of Fame right-hander Nolan Ryan), an Earned Run Average (ERA) of 3.10 (through 2006), 46 shutouts (SHO), 118 complete games (CG), a record 7 Cy Young Awards, and 2 World Series titles with the Yankees in 1999 and 2000, and is now in his 24^th big league season.

He is the only pitcher to strike out 20 batters in one game twice, once each in 1986 and 1996 (both with the Red Sox). Kerry Wood of the Chicago Cubs is the only other pitcher ever to have done that even once. Clemens had surrendered 354 home runs over his career entering this season as opposed to Mathewson's 91 over 17 years. Mathewson's career ERA was 2.13, with 434 CG, 79 SHO, 2,502 K in 4,780.2 innings pitched (IP) and 551 games started (GS). Clemens had 690 GS, and 4,817.2 IP through 2006.

Clemens has pitched in the era where starting pitchers are not expected to go much beyond six or seven innings per start, and pitch once every five or six days, with as many as seven or eight relief specialists to back him up and a five-man rotation over a grueling 162 game schedule often played in hitter friendly ballparks.

By contrast, in both Mathewson's time, and much of Spahn's era over a 154 game schedule, teams had three or four starters and few relievers, thus creating more decisions for the starter, while runs were harder to come by, an over-the-fence home run was still comparably rare and the size, strength, and conditioning of the hitters of yesteryear are a mere shadow of today's modern athletes. Clemens' greatness is found not only in his statistics , but also in his amazing durability and competitiveness over nearly a quarter century in the modern era of the hitter.